What is WHOIS?
When you register a domain name, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires your domain name registrar to submit your personal contact information to the WHOIS database. Once your listing appears in this online directory, it is publicly available to anyone who chooses to check domain names using the WHOIS search tool.
There are a variety of third parties who may check domain names in the WHOIS database, including:
Individuals check domain names for expiration dates
Registrars check domain names when transferring ownership
Authorities check domain names when investigating criminal activity
As an accredited domain names registrar, Network Solutions® must comply with the WHOIS database requirements set forth by ICANN. However, in an effort to ensure that customers feel comfortable with the visibility of their personal information, Network Solutions offers three options for your WHOIS database listing.
Public WHOIS Database Listing
If you're comfortable with having your information available to the public — and don't want the extra fee associated with private domain registration — Network Solutions will submit a public listing to the WHOIS database. This listing will include your name, address, phone number, email address and domain name expiration date. Your website hosting IP address and host name will also be listed.
Private WHOIS Database Listing
Having your personal information made available to the public will increase your risk of becoming a victim of hackers, spammers and even data miners. To keep your contact information out of the hands of those who may use it maliciously, Network Solutions® offers private domain name registration. For a small monthly fee, we'll act as your proxy — which means that anyone who does a WHOIS lookup for your domain name information will find our contact information, not yours.
Enhanced Business Listing in WHOIS Database
Network Solutions strives to bring online solutions to small business owners. By advertising your business in the WHOIS database, you can leverage over 30 million people who check domain names in the WHOIS database every month to help drive more traffic to your Website and your offline business location. Your enhanced business listing can be customized to meet your needs and may include: your location, operating hours, products and services, special offers, and even domain names for sale.
Network Solutions® believes that its customers should ultimately decide how their contact information will be listed in the WHOIS database. When you're ready to register a domain name, consider your options before your personal information becomes available to the public.
If you're comfortable with having your information available to the public — and don't want the extra fee associated with private domain registration — Network Solutions will submit a public listing to the WHOIS database. This listing will include your name, address, phone number, email address and domain name expiration date. Your website hosting IP address and host name will also be listed.
Private WHOIS Database Listing
Having your personal information made available to the public will increase your risk of becoming a victim of hackers, spammers and even data miners. To keep your contact information out of the hands of those who may use it maliciously, Network Solutions® offers private domain name registration. For a small monthly fee, we'll act as your proxy — which means that anyone who does a WHOIS lookup for your domain name information will find our contact information, not yours.
Enhanced Business Listing in WHOIS Database
Network Solutions strives to bring online solutions to small business owners. By advertising your business in the WHOIS database, you can leverage over 30 million people who check domain names in the WHOIS database every month to help drive more traffic to your Website and your offline business location. Your enhanced business listing can be customized to meet your needs and may include: your location, operating hours, products and services, special offers, and even domain names for sale.
Network Solutions® believes that its customers should ultimately decide how their contact information will be listed in the WHOIS database. When you're ready to register a domain name, consider your options before your personal information becomes available to the public.
Public Domain Information
UNESCO strongly promotes access to public domain information, also known as the “information commons”. Public domain information is publicly accessible information, the use of which does not infringe any legal right, or breach any other communal right (such as indigenous rights) or any obligation of confidentiality.
Public domain information refers to the realm of all works or objects of related rights, which can be exploited by everybody without any authorisation, for instance because protection is not granted under national or international law, or because of the expiration of the term of protection, or due to the absence of an international instrument ensuring protection in the case of foreign works or objects of related rights.
UNESCO advocates that Member States should recognise and enact the right of universal online access to public and government-held records including information relevant for citizens in a modern democratic society, giving due account to confidentiality, privacy and national security concerns, as well as to intellectual property rights to the extent that they apply to the use of such information. International organizations should recognise and promulgate the right for each State to have access to essential data relating to its social or economic situation.
UNESCO strongly promotes access to public domain information, also known as the “information commons”. Public domain information is publicly accessible information, the use of which does not infringe any legal right, or breach any other communal right (such as indigenous rights) or any obligation of confidentiality.
Public domain information refers to the realm of all works or objects of related rights, which can be exploited by everybody without any authorisation, for instance because protection is not granted under national or international law, or because of the expiration of the term of protection, or due to the absence of an international instrument ensuring protection in the case of foreign works or objects of related rights.
UNESCO advocates that Member States should recognise and enact the right of universal online access to public and government-held records including information relevant for citizens in a modern democratic society, giving due account to confidentiality, privacy and national security concerns, as well as to intellectual property rights to the extent that they apply to the use of such information. International organizations should recognise and promulgate the right for each State to have access to essential data relating to its social or economic situation.
Domain name web adress registration & hosting resources
Welcome to Domain Names Web Address information website. This website is specially designed to help beginners and experienced Internet users to make sense of domain name which is also called web address and choose the most suitable domain name for your personal use or for your business. You can also learn about how to choose resources essential to hosting a domain name such as a low cost web hosting service provider. We also have a list ofcheap domain name registration companies.
DomainNamesWebAddress.com Domain Names FAQ section provides details answer to frequently asked question about domain name registration and web hosting. You will find the resources that will answers any question you might have, but just in case you are unable to find suitable answer, please use our contact form, we will be pleased to find the answer you require for you free of charge as soon as possible.
The registrar and registry we currently provide information on are limited but within a few weeks we will expand the information database to cover all major top level domain names such as dot com dot net dot org, dot biz dot info dot TV dot EU dot co.uk dot org.uk dot me.uk. Information about alternative domain registry such as centralnic and newnet and the domain extensions they register such as .uk.com , .gb.com, .eu.com, net.uk, .de.com and many other alternative domain names extension provided by New.net included: .agent .love .arts .ltd .med .auction .chat .mp3 .church .school .club .scifi .family .shop
.free .soc .game .sport .golf .tech .inc .travel .kids .video .law .xxx .llcand .llp Information on expired domain names and how to backorder an expired or expiring domain names also covered.
We start domainnameswebaddress.com website with the most basic of question that every completely new potential domain name registrant always ask: What is a domain name?
Welcome to Domain Names Web Address information website. This website is specially designed to help beginners and experienced Internet users to make sense of domain name which is also called web address and choose the most suitable domain name for your personal use or for your business. You can also learn about how to choose resources essential to hosting a domain name such as a low cost web hosting service provider. We also have a list ofcheap domain name registration companies.
DomainNamesWebAddress.com Domain Names FAQ section provides details answer to frequently asked question about domain name registration and web hosting. You will find the resources that will answers any question you might have, but just in case you are unable to find suitable answer, please use our contact form, we will be pleased to find the answer you require for you free of charge as soon as possible.
The registrar and registry we currently provide information on are limited but within a few weeks we will expand the information database to cover all major top level domain names such as dot com dot net dot org, dot biz dot info dot TV dot EU dot co.uk dot org.uk dot me.uk. Information about alternative domain registry such as centralnic and newnet and the domain extensions they register such as .uk.com , .gb.com, .eu.com, net.uk, .de.com and many other alternative domain names extension provided by New.net included: .agent .love .arts .ltd .med .auction .chat .mp3 .church .school .club .scifi .family .shop
.free .soc .game .sport .golf .tech .inc .travel .kids .video .law .xxx .llcand .llp Information on expired domain names and how to backorder an expired or expiring domain names also covered.
We start domainnameswebaddress.com website with the most basic of question that every completely new potential domain name registrant always ask: What is a domain name?
what is a domain name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names:domainnameswebaddress.com mail.domainnameswebaddress.com
webhosting.domainnameswebaddress.com can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names
(domainnameswebaddress.com in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names:domainnameswebaddress.com mail.domainnameswebaddress.com
webhosting.domainnameswebaddress.com can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names
(domainnameswebaddress.com in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
Choosing and Registering a Domain Name
For small businesses hoping to establish a presence on the World Wide Web, choosing an Internet domain name is nearly as important as choosing a company name. The name must fit the firm's overall marketing strategy and convey a positive message to potential customers. In addition to registering a domain name for the company's Web site, small business owners might also consider registering the names of major products, important markets, or well-known slogans. As Bill Roberts explained in Electronic Business, small business owners must make sure that the domain names they choose are not overly long and avoid unconventional spellings that may be difficult for people to remember. Since doing business on the Internet immediately exposes companies to international markets, it is also important to be careful of trademark infringement issues and cultural problems in other languages.
There are a number of ways to handle the registration of an Internet domain name. In most cases, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) can register a small business's domain name and maintain the company's Web site on its server. The ISP can conduct an online search to make sure that the domain name does not duplicate any existing name or infringe on the trademark of any other business. Although registering through an ISP can simplify the process for small businesses, it is important for the business to secure ownership of the domain name. Otherwise, it may be difficult to keep the domain name if the company decides to change ISPs.
Small business owners can also register a domain name through Network Solutions Inc. (NSI), a private company which began registering names in 1993 through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. government. The process involves conducting a free online search, filling out a form on the NSI Web site (networksolutions.com), and paying a fee of approximately $70 for two years of ownership. Finally, small businesses can register domain names through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that has been taking over increased responsibility for the registration process (details are available online at www.icann.org).
With authority from the U.S. government, ICANN has begun addressing the problems of Internet site registration, including the diminishing supply of domain names and the resolution of disputes over names. As Walter Eidson outlined in the Washington Business Journal, ICANN implemented a new dispute resolution policy on January 1, 2000, to settle questions over ownership and use of popular domain names. In order to dispute another party's use of a domain name, a small business must prove that the name is identical or confusingly similar to a previously registered trademark and that the other party has no legitimate business interest in it. Businesses are unlikely toprevail in such disputes if the other party had registered the name in good faith and was using it for legitimate purposes. But businesses do have recourse in cases where the other party is using the name in bad faith—for example, holding it for the purpose of selling it, blocking the legitimate owner from using it, or attracting customers through deception.
For small businesses hoping to establish a presence on the World Wide Web, choosing an Internet domain name is nearly as important as choosing a company name. The name must fit the firm's overall marketing strategy and convey a positive message to potential customers. In addition to registering a domain name for the company's Web site, small business owners might also consider registering the names of major products, important markets, or well-known slogans. As Bill Roberts explained in Electronic Business, small business owners must make sure that the domain names they choose are not overly long and avoid unconventional spellings that may be difficult for people to remember. Since doing business on the Internet immediately exposes companies to international markets, it is also important to be careful of trademark infringement issues and cultural problems in other languages.
There are a number of ways to handle the registration of an Internet domain name. In most cases, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) can register a small business's domain name and maintain the company's Web site on its server. The ISP can conduct an online search to make sure that the domain name does not duplicate any existing name or infringe on the trademark of any other business. Although registering through an ISP can simplify the process for small businesses, it is important for the business to secure ownership of the domain name. Otherwise, it may be difficult to keep the domain name if the company decides to change ISPs.
Small business owners can also register a domain name through Network Solutions Inc. (NSI), a private company which began registering names in 1993 through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. government. The process involves conducting a free online search, filling out a form on the NSI Web site (networksolutions.com), and paying a fee of approximately $70 for two years of ownership. Finally, small businesses can register domain names through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that has been taking over increased responsibility for the registration process (details are available online at www.icann.org).
With authority from the U.S. government, ICANN has begun addressing the problems of Internet site registration, including the diminishing supply of domain names and the resolution of disputes over names. As Walter Eidson outlined in the Washington Business Journal, ICANN implemented a new dispute resolution policy on January 1, 2000, to settle questions over ownership and use of popular domain names. In order to dispute another party's use of a domain name, a small business must prove that the name is identical or confusingly similar to a previously registered trademark and that the other party has no legitimate business interest in it. Businesses are unlikely toprevail in such disputes if the other party had registered the name in good faith and was using it for legitimate purposes. But businesses do have recourse in cases where the other party is using the name in bad faith—for example, holding it for the purpose of selling it, blocking the legitimate owner from using it, or attracting customers through deception.
Top-level domain
An Internet domain name is a string of typographic characters used to describe the location of a specific individual, business, computer, or piece of information online. Formally known as the Uniform Resource Locator or URL, it is often considered to be the address of a certain World Wide Web site. Obtaining an Internet domain name is a vital step for small businesses hoping to establish a presence on the Internet. "To be a major league team in the Internet game, your business will want a domain name of its own, " Vince Emery wrote in How to Grow Your Business on the Internet. "These valuable intellectual assets … make the difference in your image between Internet pro and fumbling amateur. Your domain name is more than your address. It tells the world who you are and what you are.
A typical domain name consists of several parts. As an example, consider an auto parts business with the domainwww.spareparts.com. The letters www. before the domain name mean that what follows describes the location of a site on the World Wide Web. The last two or three letters of a URL are known as its top-level domain. About 250 top-level domains existed on the Internet as of the year 2000.
Some of the most common top-level domains include .com, which usually indicates a business or commercial site; .org, which generally describes a nonprofit, charity, or cultural organization site; .gov, which indicates a governmental site; and .net, which is most often used by network-related businesses. Other common top-level domains are country codes, like .us for United States and .au for Australia. Small businesses can put as many subdomains as needed in front of their domain names. For example, the customer service department of the aforementioned auto parts business might be designated aswww.service.spareparts.com.
Internet domain names are fairly easy and inexpensive to obtain. The process of registering a domain name involves searching to see if the desired name is already taken, filling out a form online, and paying a fee of $100 or so. But small businesses may find it exceedingly difficult to secure the exact domain name they want. As Jacqueline Emigh noted in Computer-world, the supply of available domain names is dwindling rapidly, particularly in the popular .com toplevel domain. In some cases, the best domain names are simply already being used by other individuals or firms. Some larger businesses will register several different domain names in case they might be needed in the future, or in order to protect themselves against competing sites. But in other cases, the best domain names are held by cybersquatters or cyberpirates. These individuals register a number of domain names that are likely to be coveted by businesses in hopes of selling them in the future for a significant profit. The U.S. government and several international authorities are beginning to crack down on the activities of cybersquatters.
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of theInternet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a fully qualified domain name. For example, in the domain name www.example.com, the top-level domain is com, or COM, as domain names are not case-sensitive. Management of most top-level domains is delegated to responsible organizations by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which operates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and is in charge of maintaining the DNS root zone.
Originally, the top-level domain space was organized into three main groups,[1] Countries, Categories, andMultiorganizations. An additional temporary group consisted only of the initial DNS domain,[2] arpa, intended for transitional purposes toward the stabilization of the domain name system.
Countries are designated in the Domain Name System by their two-letter ISO country code;[3] there are exceptions, however (e.g., .uk). This group of domains is therefore commonly known as country-code top-level domains (ccTLD). Since 2009, countries with non-Latin based alphabets or scripting systems may apply for internationalized country code top-level domain names, which are displayed in end-user applications in their language-native script or alphabet, but use a Punycode-translated ASCII domain name in the Domain Name System.
The Categories group has become known as the generic top-level domains. Initially this group consisted of GOV, EDU,COM, MIL, ORG, and NET.
In the growth of the Internet, it became desirable to create additional generic top-level domains. Some of the initial domains' purposes were also generalized, modified, or assigned for maintenance to special organizations affiliated with the intended purpose.
As a result, IANA today distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains:[4
country-code top-level domains (ccTLD): Two letter domains established for countries or territories. With some historical exceptions, the code for any territory is the same as its two-letter ISO 3166 code.
internationalized country code top-level domains (IDN ccTLD).
generic top-level domains (gTLD): Top-level domains with three or more characters
unsponsored top-level domains: domains that operate directly under policies established by ICANN processes for the global Internet community.
sponsored top-level domains (sTLD): These domains are proposed and sponsored by private agencies or organizations that establish and enforce rules restricting the eligibility to use the TLD. Use is based on community theme concepts.
infrastructure top-level domain: This group consists of one domain, the Address and Routing Parameter Area(ARPA). It is managed by IANA on behalf of the Internet Engineering Task Force for various purposes specified in the Request for Comments publications.
In addition, a group of internationalized domain name (IDN) top-level domains has been installed under test for testing purposes in the IDN development process.
An Internet domain name is a string of typographic characters used to describe the location of a specific individual, business, computer, or piece of information online. Formally known as the Uniform Resource Locator or URL, it is often considered to be the address of a certain World Wide Web site. Obtaining an Internet domain name is a vital step for small businesses hoping to establish a presence on the Internet. "To be a major league team in the Internet game, your business will want a domain name of its own, " Vince Emery wrote in How to Grow Your Business on the Internet. "These valuable intellectual assets … make the difference in your image between Internet pro and fumbling amateur. Your domain name is more than your address. It tells the world who you are and what you are.
A typical domain name consists of several parts. As an example, consider an auto parts business with the domainwww.spareparts.com. The letters www. before the domain name mean that what follows describes the location of a site on the World Wide Web. The last two or three letters of a URL are known as its top-level domain. About 250 top-level domains existed on the Internet as of the year 2000.
Some of the most common top-level domains include .com, which usually indicates a business or commercial site; .org, which generally describes a nonprofit, charity, or cultural organization site; .gov, which indicates a governmental site; and .net, which is most often used by network-related businesses. Other common top-level domains are country codes, like .us for United States and .au for Australia. Small businesses can put as many subdomains as needed in front of their domain names. For example, the customer service department of the aforementioned auto parts business might be designated aswww.service.spareparts.com.
Internet domain names are fairly easy and inexpensive to obtain. The process of registering a domain name involves searching to see if the desired name is already taken, filling out a form online, and paying a fee of $100 or so. But small businesses may find it exceedingly difficult to secure the exact domain name they want. As Jacqueline Emigh noted in Computer-world, the supply of available domain names is dwindling rapidly, particularly in the popular .com toplevel domain. In some cases, the best domain names are simply already being used by other individuals or firms. Some larger businesses will register several different domain names in case they might be needed in the future, or in order to protect themselves against competing sites. But in other cases, the best domain names are held by cybersquatters or cyberpirates. These individuals register a number of domain names that are likely to be coveted by businesses in hopes of selling them in the future for a significant profit. The U.S. government and several international authorities are beginning to crack down on the activities of cybersquatters.
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of theInternet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a fully qualified domain name. For example, in the domain name www.example.com, the top-level domain is com, or COM, as domain names are not case-sensitive. Management of most top-level domains is delegated to responsible organizations by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which operates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and is in charge of maintaining the DNS root zone.
Originally, the top-level domain space was organized into three main groups,[1] Countries, Categories, andMultiorganizations. An additional temporary group consisted only of the initial DNS domain,[2] arpa, intended for transitional purposes toward the stabilization of the domain name system.
Countries are designated in the Domain Name System by their two-letter ISO country code;[3] there are exceptions, however (e.g., .uk). This group of domains is therefore commonly known as country-code top-level domains (ccTLD). Since 2009, countries with non-Latin based alphabets or scripting systems may apply for internationalized country code top-level domain names, which are displayed in end-user applications in their language-native script or alphabet, but use a Punycode-translated ASCII domain name in the Domain Name System.
The Categories group has become known as the generic top-level domains. Initially this group consisted of GOV, EDU,COM, MIL, ORG, and NET.
In the growth of the Internet, it became desirable to create additional generic top-level domains. Some of the initial domains' purposes were also generalized, modified, or assigned for maintenance to special organizations affiliated with the intended purpose.
As a result, IANA today distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains:[4
country-code top-level domains (ccTLD): Two letter domains established for countries or territories. With some historical exceptions, the code for any territory is the same as its two-letter ISO 3166 code.
internationalized country code top-level domains (IDN ccTLD).
generic top-level domains (gTLD): Top-level domains with three or more characters
unsponsored top-level domains: domains that operate directly under policies established by ICANN processes for the global Internet community.
sponsored top-level domains (sTLD): These domains are proposed and sponsored by private agencies or organizations that establish and enforce rules restricting the eligibility to use the TLD. Use is based on community theme concepts.
infrastructure top-level domain: This group consists of one domain, the Address and Routing Parameter Area(ARPA). It is managed by IANA on behalf of the Internet Engineering Task Force for various purposes specified in the Request for Comments publications.
In addition, a group of internationalized domain name (IDN) top-level domains has been installed under test for testing purposes in the IDN development process.
Internationalized country code TLDs
An internationalized country code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) is a top-level domain with a specially encoded domain name that is displayed in an end user application, such as a web browser, in its language-native script oralphabet, such as the Arabic alphabet, or a non-alphabetic writing system, such as Chinese characters. IDN ccTLDs are an application of the internationalized domain name (IDN) system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, or independent geographic regions.
ICANN started to accept applications for IDN ccTLDs in November 2009,[5] and installed the first set into the Domain Names System in May 2010. The first set was a group of Arabic names for the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. By May 2010, 21 countries had submitted applications to ICANN, representing 11 languages.[6]
Infrastructure domain
The domain arpa was the first Internet top-level domain. It was intended to be used only temporarily, aiding in the transition of traditional ARPANET host names to the domain name system. However, after it had been used forreverse DNS lookup, it was found impractical to retire it, and is used today exclusively for Internet infrastructure purposes such as in-addr.arpa for IPv4 and ip6.arpa for IPv6 reverse DNS resolution, uri.arpa and urn.arpa for the Dynamic Delegation Discovery System, and e164.arpa for telephone number mapping based on NAPTR DNS records. For historical reasons, arpa is sometimes considered to be a generic top-level domain.
Reserved domains
RFC 2606 reserves the following four top-level domain names to avoid confusion and conflict.[7] They may be used for various specific purposes however, with the intention that these should not occur in production networks within the global domain name system:
example: reserved for use in examples
invalid: reserved for use in obviously invalid domain names
localhost: reserved to avoid conflict with the traditional use of localhost as a hostname
test: reserved for use in tests
The test domain has seen usage by ICANN in the testing of internationalized domain names, a program started in 2007.[8][9]
xn—kgbechtv Arabic (إختبار)
xn—hgbk6aj7f53bba Persian (آزمایشی)
xn—0zwm56d Chinese, simplified (测试)
xn—g6w251d Chinese, traditional (測試)
xn—80akhbyknj4f Cyrillic (испытание)
xn—11b5bs3a9aj6g Hindi (परीक्षा)
xn—jxalpdlp Greek (δοκιμή)
xn—9t4b11yi5a Korean (테스트)
xn—deba0ad Yiddish, Hebrew (טעסט)
xn—zckzah Japanese (テスト)
xn—hlcj6aya9esc7a Tamil (பரிட்சை)
Historical domains
In the late 1980s InterNIC created the nato domain for use by NATO. NATO considered none of the then existing TLDs as adequately reflecting their status as an international organization. Soon after this addition, however, InterNIC also created the int TLD for the use by international organizations in general, and persuaded NATO to use the second level domain nato.int instead. The nato TLD, no longer used, was finally removed in July 1996.
Other historical TLDs are cs for Czechoslovakia (now cz for Czech Republic and sk for Slovak Republic), dd for East Germany (using de after reunification of Germany), yu for SFR Yugoslavia (now: ba for Bosnia and Herzegovina, hr forCroatia, me for Montenegro, mk for Macedonia, rs for Serbia and si for Slovenia), and zr for Zaire (now cd forDemocratic Republic of the Congo). In contrast to these, the TLD su has remained active despite the demise of theSoviet Union that it represents.
An internationalized country code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) is a top-level domain with a specially encoded domain name that is displayed in an end user application, such as a web browser, in its language-native script oralphabet, such as the Arabic alphabet, or a non-alphabetic writing system, such as Chinese characters. IDN ccTLDs are an application of the internationalized domain name (IDN) system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, or independent geographic regions.
ICANN started to accept applications for IDN ccTLDs in November 2009,[5] and installed the first set into the Domain Names System in May 2010. The first set was a group of Arabic names for the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. By May 2010, 21 countries had submitted applications to ICANN, representing 11 languages.[6]
Infrastructure domain
The domain arpa was the first Internet top-level domain. It was intended to be used only temporarily, aiding in the transition of traditional ARPANET host names to the domain name system. However, after it had been used forreverse DNS lookup, it was found impractical to retire it, and is used today exclusively for Internet infrastructure purposes such as in-addr.arpa for IPv4 and ip6.arpa for IPv6 reverse DNS resolution, uri.arpa and urn.arpa for the Dynamic Delegation Discovery System, and e164.arpa for telephone number mapping based on NAPTR DNS records. For historical reasons, arpa is sometimes considered to be a generic top-level domain.
Reserved domains
RFC 2606 reserves the following four top-level domain names to avoid confusion and conflict.[7] They may be used for various specific purposes however, with the intention that these should not occur in production networks within the global domain name system:
example: reserved for use in examples
invalid: reserved for use in obviously invalid domain names
localhost: reserved to avoid conflict with the traditional use of localhost as a hostname
test: reserved for use in tests
The test domain has seen usage by ICANN in the testing of internationalized domain names, a program started in 2007.[8][9]
xn—kgbechtv Arabic (إختبار)
xn—hgbk6aj7f53bba Persian (آزمایشی)
xn—0zwm56d Chinese, simplified (测试)
xn—g6w251d Chinese, traditional (測試)
xn—80akhbyknj4f Cyrillic (испытание)
xn—11b5bs3a9aj6g Hindi (परीक्षा)
xn—jxalpdlp Greek (δοκιμή)
xn—9t4b11yi5a Korean (테스트)
xn—deba0ad Yiddish, Hebrew (טעסט)
xn—zckzah Japanese (テスト)
xn—hlcj6aya9esc7a Tamil (பரிட்சை)
Historical domains
In the late 1980s InterNIC created the nato domain for use by NATO. NATO considered none of the then existing TLDs as adequately reflecting their status as an international organization. Soon after this addition, however, InterNIC also created the int TLD for the use by international organizations in general, and persuaded NATO to use the second level domain nato.int instead. The nato TLD, no longer used, was finally removed in July 1996.
Other historical TLDs are cs for Czechoslovakia (now cz for Czech Republic and sk for Slovak Republic), dd for East Germany (using de after reunification of Germany), yu for SFR Yugoslavia (now: ba for Bosnia and Herzegovina, hr forCroatia, me for Montenegro, mk for Macedonia, rs for Serbia and si for Slovenia), and zr for Zaire (now cd forDemocratic Republic of the Congo). In contrast to these, the TLD su has remained active despite the demise of theSoviet Union that it represents.
Proposed domains
Further information: Proposed top-level domain
Around late 2000 when ICANN discussed and finally introduced[10] aero, biz, coop, info, museum, name, and proTLDs, site owners argued that a similar TLD should be made available for adult and pornographic websites to settle the dispute of obscene content on the Internet and the responsibility of US service providers under the USCommunications Decency Act of 1996. Several options were proposed including xxx, sex and adult[11]. As of June 2010, the .xxx TLD has received initial approval from the ICANN, based upon a proposal by the sponsoring agency for this TLD, a Florida-based company called ICM Registry[12][13].
An older proposal[14] consisted of seven new gTLDs: arts, firm, info, nom, rec, shop, and web. Later biz, info,museum, and name covered most of these old proposals.
During the 32nd International Public ICANN Meeting in Paris in 2008,[15] ICANN started a new process of TLD naming policy to take a "significant step forward on the introduction of new generic top-level domains." This program envisions the availability of many new or already proposed domains, as well a new application and implementation process.[16] Observers believed that the new rules could result in hundreds of new gTLDs to be registered.[17]Proposed TLDs include music, shop, berlin and nyc.
Alternative DNS roots
Further information: Alternative DNS root
ICANN's slow progress in creating new generic top-level domains, and the high application costs associated with TLDs, contributed to the creation of alternate DNS roots with different sets of top-level domains. Such domains may be accessed by configuration of a computer with alternate or additional (forwarder) DNS servers or plugin modules for web browsers. Browser plugins detect alternate root domain requests and access an alternate domain name server for such requests.
Pseudo-domains
Several networks, such as BITNET, CSNET, UUCP or other networks, existed that were in widespread use among computer professionals and academic users, that were incompatible with the Internet and exchanged e-mail with the Internet via special e-mail gateways. For relaying purposes on the gateways, messages associated with these networks were labeled with suffixes such as bitnet, oz, csnet, or uucp, but these domains did not exist as top-level domains in the public Domain Name System of the Internet.
Most of these networks have long since ceased to exist, and although UUCP still gets significant use in parts of the world where Internet infrastructure has not yet become well-established, it subsequently transitioned to using Internet domain names, so pseudo-domains now largely survive as historical relics. One notable exception is the 2007 emergence of SWIFTNet Mail, which uses the swift pseudo-domain.[18]
The top-level pseudo domain local is required by the Zeroconf protocol. It is also used by many organizations internally, which may become a problem for those users as Zeroconf becomes more popular. Both site andinternal have been suggested for private usage, but no consensus has emerged[citation needed].
The anonymity network Tor has a top-level pseudo-domain onion, which can only be reached with a Tor client because it uses the Tor-protocol (onion routing) to reach the hidden service to protect the anonymity of users.
See also
Document classification
List of Internet top-level domains
Domain hack
Public Suffix List
Further information: Proposed top-level domain
Around late 2000 when ICANN discussed and finally introduced[10] aero, biz, coop, info, museum, name, and proTLDs, site owners argued that a similar TLD should be made available for adult and pornographic websites to settle the dispute of obscene content on the Internet and the responsibility of US service providers under the USCommunications Decency Act of 1996. Several options were proposed including xxx, sex and adult[11]. As of June 2010, the .xxx TLD has received initial approval from the ICANN, based upon a proposal by the sponsoring agency for this TLD, a Florida-based company called ICM Registry[12][13].
An older proposal[14] consisted of seven new gTLDs: arts, firm, info, nom, rec, shop, and web. Later biz, info,museum, and name covered most of these old proposals.
During the 32nd International Public ICANN Meeting in Paris in 2008,[15] ICANN started a new process of TLD naming policy to take a "significant step forward on the introduction of new generic top-level domains." This program envisions the availability of many new or already proposed domains, as well a new application and implementation process.[16] Observers believed that the new rules could result in hundreds of new gTLDs to be registered.[17]Proposed TLDs include music, shop, berlin and nyc.
Alternative DNS roots
Further information: Alternative DNS root
ICANN's slow progress in creating new generic top-level domains, and the high application costs associated with TLDs, contributed to the creation of alternate DNS roots with different sets of top-level domains. Such domains may be accessed by configuration of a computer with alternate or additional (forwarder) DNS servers or plugin modules for web browsers. Browser plugins detect alternate root domain requests and access an alternate domain name server for such requests.
Pseudo-domains
Several networks, such as BITNET, CSNET, UUCP or other networks, existed that were in widespread use among computer professionals and academic users, that were incompatible with the Internet and exchanged e-mail with the Internet via special e-mail gateways. For relaying purposes on the gateways, messages associated with these networks were labeled with suffixes such as bitnet, oz, csnet, or uucp, but these domains did not exist as top-level domains in the public Domain Name System of the Internet.
Most of these networks have long since ceased to exist, and although UUCP still gets significant use in parts of the world where Internet infrastructure has not yet become well-established, it subsequently transitioned to using Internet domain names, so pseudo-domains now largely survive as historical relics. One notable exception is the 2007 emergence of SWIFTNet Mail, which uses the swift pseudo-domain.[18]
The top-level pseudo domain local is required by the Zeroconf protocol. It is also used by many organizations internally, which may become a problem for those users as Zeroconf becomes more popular. Both site andinternal have been suggested for private usage, but no consensus has emerged[citation needed].
The anonymity network Tor has a top-level pseudo-domain onion, which can only be reached with a Tor client because it uses the Tor-protocol (onion routing) to reach the hidden service to protect the anonymity of users.
See also
Document classification
List of Internet top-level domains
Domain hack
Public Suffix List
References
^ RFC 920, Domain Requirements, J. Postel, J. Reynolds, The Internet Society (October 1984)
^ RFC 921, Domain Name System Implementation Schedule - Revised, J. Postel, The Internet Society (October 1984)
^ Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries, ISO-3166, International Organization for Standardization. (May 1981)
^ IANA root zone database
^ Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (30 October 2009). "ICANN Bringing the Languages of the World to the Global Internet". Press release. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
^ "'Historic' day as first non-Latin web addresses go live". BBC News. May 6, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
^ RFC 2606 (BCP 32), Reserved Top Level DNS Names, D. Eastlake, A. Panitz, The Internet Society (June 1999)
^ ICANN IDN wiki
^ IANA (ICANN) list of extant TLDs
^ InterNIC FAQs on New Top-Level Domains
^ RFC 3675: .sex Considered Dangerous
^ For X-Rated, a Domain of Their Own
^ Sex domain .xxx approved by regulators
^ (historical) gTLD MoU
^ "32nd International Public ICANN Meeting". ICANN. 22 June 2008.
^ "New gTLD Program". ICANN. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
^ ICANN Board Approves Sweeping Overhaul of Top-level Domains, CircleID, 26 June 2008.
^ "SWIFTNet Mail now available". SWIFT. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
Addressing the World: National Identity and Internet Country Code Domains, edited by Erica Schlesinger Wass (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, ISBN 0-7425-2810-3) [1], examines connections between cultures and their ccTLDs.
Ruling the Root by Milton Mueller (MIT Press, 2001, ISBN 0-262-13412-8) [2], discusses TLDs and domain name policy more generally.
RFC 1591 - Domain Name System Structure and Delegation
RFC 3071 - Reflections on the DNS, RFC 1591, and Categories of Domains
Domain Name Registration
Verio offers tons of FREE tools with every domain and FREE domain registration when you order a hosting plan.
Enter the domain name you are searching for and check the box next to the appropriate extension(s) and search criteria. This search is a free service that instantly checks availability based on the details you specify.
^ RFC 920, Domain Requirements, J. Postel, J. Reynolds, The Internet Society (October 1984)
^ RFC 921, Domain Name System Implementation Schedule - Revised, J. Postel, The Internet Society (October 1984)
^ Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries, ISO-3166, International Organization for Standardization. (May 1981)
^ IANA root zone database
^ Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (30 October 2009). "ICANN Bringing the Languages of the World to the Global Internet". Press release. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
^ "'Historic' day as first non-Latin web addresses go live". BBC News. May 6, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
^ RFC 2606 (BCP 32), Reserved Top Level DNS Names, D. Eastlake, A. Panitz, The Internet Society (June 1999)
^ ICANN IDN wiki
^ IANA (ICANN) list of extant TLDs
^ InterNIC FAQs on New Top-Level Domains
^ RFC 3675: .sex Considered Dangerous
^ For X-Rated, a Domain of Their Own
^ Sex domain .xxx approved by regulators
^ (historical) gTLD MoU
^ "32nd International Public ICANN Meeting". ICANN. 22 June 2008.
^ "New gTLD Program". ICANN. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
^ ICANN Board Approves Sweeping Overhaul of Top-level Domains, CircleID, 26 June 2008.
^ "SWIFTNet Mail now available". SWIFT. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
Addressing the World: National Identity and Internet Country Code Domains, edited by Erica Schlesinger Wass (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, ISBN 0-7425-2810-3) [1], examines connections between cultures and their ccTLDs.
Ruling the Root by Milton Mueller (MIT Press, 2001, ISBN 0-262-13412-8) [2], discusses TLDs and domain name policy more generally.
RFC 1591 - Domain Name System Structure and Delegation
RFC 3071 - Reflections on the DNS, RFC 1591, and Categories of Domains
Domain Name Registration
Verio offers tons of FREE tools with every domain and FREE domain registration when you order a hosting plan.
Enter the domain name you are searching for and check the box next to the appropriate extension(s) and search criteria. This search is a free service that instantly checks availability based on the details you specify.
