Happy 25th Birthday, .Com

The famous .com Internet domain will celebrate its 25th anniversary Tuesday while the federal government prepares to unveil a sweeping proposal to overhaul U.S. broadband policy and increase high-speed Web access across the country.

Some things people may not readily know about the ubiquitous domain: according to All Things Digital, it was nearly called .cor, for corporate. And the first .com address was Symbolics.com, the Web home of a now defunct Massachusetts computer company.

VeriSign, the administrator of .com domain names, is holding a policy forum in Washington, D.C. in honor of the anniversary, which will include former President Bill Clinton as the keynote speaker.

Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission will unveil its new broadband proposal the same day. Their aim: to bring affordable, high-speed Internet connections to all Americans and make access much faster for people who already have broadband.

Yet it's not certain the FCC can find the funding, corporate support and legal clearance to carry out the entire vision of the plan.

Already, broadcasters oppose one key element of the proposal. That would seek to reclaim some airwaves now in the hands of TV stations and instead sell some of those frequencies to companies that deliver wireless Internet access. And the FCC also will be trying yet again to reform a program that subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas.