Nyetprom CEO Mikhail Kouylekov told the Unassociated Press, “We buy dot nyet because nyet is core part of Russian culture.”

The new top-level domain will be one of the earliest made available since ICANN, the International Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Ns, began allowing private companies to administer new TLDs.

The development follows the withdrawl of an American protest.  U.S. officials had felt “.nyet” could be confusing for people searching for “.net” domain names.

American Undersecretary for the Internet, Cat Photos and LOLz Chuck Norris said, “We also thought it could be a really bad joke.  Or a delivery mechanism for spam.”

Kouyelekov quickly quelled any concerns about humorous intent by noting, “I am Russian.  We have no sense of humor that we know of.  Look at Yakov Smirnov.”

In related news, $54,000 is now considered an acceptable levy of damages for downloading 24 songs.

P2P and online rights groups accepted the verdict.  A spokeperson for the Electronic Frontier Foundation told reporters, “Ya know, I could probably download $54,000 worth of songs and break even if I’m ever caught.  So, ya know, there’s nothing but upside, right?”

A spokesperson for the Recording Industry Association of America replied in a press release, “$1.92 million was restrained.  We feel betrayed by this ruling, and will use every fiber of our being to grab the few people left who care about music by the ankles and shake them until every last penny falls out.”

In a local twist, the last record store in West Dakota will be closing its doors on January 31st.  We say good-bye to Randy’s Record Mart, and look forward to whatever brand of wireless phone store will replace in the mall.