Individuals shouldn't even be playing in the same sandbox as companies. From the beginning, there should have been something like .name or .me for these noncommercial purposes.
One of the special qualities of the web has been that the New York Times is suddenly on a level playing field with some random blog... some random blog that might grow into, say, Buzzfeed, and eat its lunch. This breaking down of the moat around companies has allowed all kinds of disruption.
I got <firstname><lastname>.co.uk for me in 2011, first time it was ever registered I was really surprised it was still around, never letting that one go.