It's a bad thing - effectively it gives a few search companies control over the entire namespace. ie. if it's not searchable, it doesn't exist.
On the bright side, this might kill ICANN or at least make them irrelevant. That is a good thing because ICANN is arguably the worst possible gatekeeper for internet names. They combine the worst aspects of the private and public world: they inherited a monopoly over a public resource which frees them from the constraints of being an efficient and trustworthy business, like so many state bureaucracies; yet they are a private entity not accountable to the public in any way.
Search Engines aren't the end all be all.