.gov
Encyclopedia
The domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain
(sTLD) in the Domain Name System
of the Internet
. The name is derived from government, indicating its restricted use by government
entities in the United States
. The gov domain is administered by the General Services Administration
(GSA), an independent agency
of the United States federal government
.
The U.S. is the only country that has a government-specific top-level domain in addition to its country-code top-level domain. This is a result of the origins of the Internet as a U.S. federal government-sponsored research network (see ARPANET
and National Science Foundation Network
). Other countries typically delegate a second-level domain for this purpose.
Some U.S. federal agencies use fed.us rather than gov. The Department of Defense
and its subsidiary organizations use the mil
sTLD. Some U.S. governmental entities use other domains, such as com
domains by the United States Postal Service
(which uses both usps.gov and usps.com for the same website, although it only advertises the com address), and the United States Army
's recruitment website (goarmy.com, this trend is repeated at the recruitment websites of the other branches of the U.S. military).
Additionally, some technically private organizations having some formal association with the federal government make use of gov, such as the Federal Reserve System
(federalreserve.gov).
All governments in the U.S. are allowed to apply for delegations in gov, such as atlantaga.gov for the city
of Atlanta
, loudoun.gov for the county of Loudoun, Virginia and georgia.gov for the U.S. state
of Georgia
. This was not always true; under an earlier policy, only federal agencies were allowed to use the domain, and agencies beneath cabinet level were required to use subdomains of their parent agency. There is a lack of consistency in addresses of state and local government sites, with some using gov, some us, some using both (the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
uses www.pa.gov, www.pennsylvania.gov and www.state.pa.us for the same web site) and still others in com, org or other TLDs.
, programs, and agencies on the federal level; federally recognized tribes (referred to by the GSA as Native Sovereign Nations, which must use the suffix -NSN.gov); State government
al entities and programs; cities and townships represented by an elected body of officials; counties
and parishes
represented by an elected body of officials; and U.S. territories
.
The URL
for registration services is http://www.dotgov.gov.
(CIO). For state governments, authorization from the governor
or state CIO is required. Domain names for cities require authorization from the mayor
or equivalent official; for counties, authorization may be submitted by county commission
ers or equivalent officials, or by the highest-ranking county official. For Native Sovereign Nations, the authorization must come from the Bureau of Indian Affairs
.
for naming of second-level domain
s, such as those used by state and local governments. For states, the domain name must include the full state name or postal abbreviation
, and the abbreviation must not be obscured by inclusion in a larger word. For example, invalid.gov for Idaho
would be an unacceptable domain name. For local governments, the domain name must include the state name or abbreviation. However, many .gov domain names (such as boston.gov and seattle.gov) do not conform to the naming convention because they were already registered before the GSA enacted this policy.
Part 102-173, a Final Rule promulgated by the GSA in the Federal Register
on March 28, 2003.
Effective June 13, 2011, there has been a freeze on issuing of new gov domains for U.S. federal executive branch departments, as a result of the implementation of Executive Order 13571 issued by President Obama
. This move is part of a general attempt to improve the efficiency of governmental Web usage by weeding out unnecessary, redundant, outdated, or wasteful sites. This freeze is currently scheduled to last until December 31, 2011.
The District of Columbia follows this trend with dc.gov
Sponsored top-level domain
A sponsored top-level domain is one of the categories of top-level domains maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet....
(sTLD) in the Domain Name System
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. The name is derived from government, indicating its restricted use by government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
entities in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The gov domain is administered by the General Services Administration
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S...
(GSA), an independent agency
Independent agencies of the United States government
Independent agencies of the United States federal government are those agencies that exist outside of the federal executive departments...
of the United States federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
.
The U.S. is the only country that has a government-specific top-level domain in addition to its country-code top-level domain. This is a result of the origins of the Internet as a U.S. federal government-sponsored research network (see ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
and National Science Foundation Network
National Science Foundation Network
The National Science Foundation Network was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation beginning in 1985 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States...
). Other countries typically delegate a second-level domain for this purpose.
Some U.S. federal agencies use fed.us rather than gov. The Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
and its subsidiary organizations use the mil
.mil
The domain name mil is the sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet for the United States Department of Defense and its subsidiary or affiliated organizations. The name is derived from military. It was one of the first top-level domains, created in January 1985.The...
sTLD. Some U.S. governmental entities use other domains, such as com
.com
The domain name com is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from commercial, indicating its original intended purpose for domains registered by commercial organizations...
domains by the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
(which uses both usps.gov and usps.com for the same website, although it only advertises the com address), and the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
's recruitment website (goarmy.com, this trend is repeated at the recruitment websites of the other branches of the U.S. military).
Additionally, some technically private organizations having some formal association with the federal government make use of gov, such as the Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
(federalreserve.gov).
All governments in the U.S. are allowed to apply for delegations in gov, such as atlantaga.gov for the city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, loudoun.gov for the county of Loudoun, Virginia and georgia.gov for the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. This was not always true; under an earlier policy, only federal agencies were allowed to use the domain, and agencies beneath cabinet level were required to use subdomains of their parent agency. There is a lack of consistency in addresses of state and local government sites, with some using gov, some us, some using both (the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
uses www.pa.gov, www.pennsylvania.gov and www.state.pa.us for the same web site) and still others in com, org or other TLDs.
Availability
Use of the gov domain is restricted to governments entities. According to GSA guidelines, this includes U.S. Governmental departmentsUnited States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
, programs, and agencies on the federal level; federally recognized tribes (referred to by the GSA as Native Sovereign Nations, which must use the suffix -NSN.gov); State government
State government
A state government is the government of a subnational entity in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government...
al entities and programs; cities and townships represented by an elected body of officials; counties
County (United States)
In the United States, a county is a geographic subdivision of a state , usually assigned some governmental authority. The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states; Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs. Parishes and boroughs are called "county-equivalents" by the U.S...
and parishes
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
represented by an elected body of officials; and U.S. territories
United States territory
United States territory is any extent of region under the jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters including all U.S. Naval carriers. The United States has traditionally proclaimed the sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing its...
.
The URL
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
for registration services is http://www.dotgov.gov.
Authorization
To register a gov domain, a letter of authorization must be submitted to the GSA. For federal agencies, the authorization must be submitted by cabinet-level chief information officerChief information officer
Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...
(CIO). For state governments, authorization from the governor
Governor (United States)
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...
or state CIO is required. Domain names for cities require authorization from the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
or equivalent official; for counties, authorization may be submitted by county commission
County commission
A county commission is a group of elected officials charged with administering the county government in local government in some states of the United States. County commissions are usually made up of three or more individuals...
ers or equivalent officials, or by the highest-ranking county official. For Native Sovereign Nations, the authorization must come from the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
.
Naming conventions
The GSA provides guidelinesStyle guide
A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field...
for naming of second-level domain
Second-level domain
In the Domain Name System hierarchy, a second-level domain is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain . For example, in example.com, example is the second-level domain of the .com TLD....
s, such as those used by state and local governments. For states, the domain name must include the full state name or postal abbreviation
Postal abbreviation
Postal abbreviation can refer to:*Australian postal abbreviations*Canadian subnational postal abbreviations*United States postal abbreviations...
, and the abbreviation must not be obscured by inclusion in a larger word. For example, invalid.gov for Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
would be an unacceptable domain name. For local governments, the domain name must include the state name or abbreviation. However, many .gov domain names (such as boston.gov and seattle.gov) do not conform to the naming convention because they were already registered before the GSA enacted this policy.
Policy
Policy regarding the gov domain is laid out in 41 CFRCode of Federal Regulations
The Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States.The CFR is published by the Office of the Federal Register, an agency...
Part 102-173, a Final Rule promulgated by the GSA in the Federal Register
Federal Register
The Federal Register , abbreviated FR, or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains most routine publications and public notices of government agencies...
on March 28, 2003.
Effective June 13, 2011, there has been a freeze on issuing of new gov domains for U.S. federal executive branch departments, as a result of the implementation of Executive Order 13571 issued by President Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. This move is part of a general attempt to improve the efficiency of governmental Web usage by weeding out unnecessary, redundant, outdated, or wasteful sites. This freeze is currently scheduled to last until December 31, 2011.
States in GOV
As of November 2009, all states in the U.S. have operational domains in gov:| Alabama | al.gov and alabama.gov |
| Alaska | alaska.gov |
| Arizona | az.gov |
| Arkansas | ar.gov and arkansas.gov |
| California | ca.gov and california.gov |
| Colorado | colorado.gov |
| Connecticut | ct.gov |
| Delaware | Delaware.gov |
| Florida | florida.gov and fl.gov (redirects to myflorida.com) |
| Georgia | georgia.gov and ga.gov |
| Guam | guam.gov |
| Hawaii | hawaii.gov (redirects to ehawaii.gov) |
| Idaho | idaho.gov |
| Illinois | Illinois.gov |
| Indiana | in.gov |
| Iowa | iowa.gov and ia.gov |
| Kansas | ks.gov and kansas.gov |
| Kentucky | ky.gov and kentucky.gov |
| Louisiana | louisiana.gov |
| Maine | maine.gov |
| Maryland | maryland.gov |
| Massachusetts | mass.gov |
| Michigan | michigan.gov |
| Minnesota | mn.gov (redirects to state.mn.us) |
| Mississippi | mississippi.gov |
| Missouri | mo.gov |
| Montana | mt.gov and montana.gov |
| Nebraska | nebraska.gov |
| Nevada | nv.gov |
| New Hampshire | nh.gov and visitnh.gov |
| New Jersey | nj.gov and newjersey.gov |
| New Mexico | newmexico.gov |
| New York | ny.gov |
| North Carolina | nc.gov and northcarolina.gov |
| North Dakota | nd.gov |
| Ohio | ohio.gov and oh.gov |
| Oklahoma | ok.gov |
| Oregon | oregon.gov |
| Pennsylvania | pa.gov and pennsylvania.gov |
| Puerto Rico | pr.gov |
| Rhode Island | ri.gov |
| South Carolina | sc.gov |
| South Dakota | sd.gov |
| Tennessee | tennessee.gov and tn.gov |
| Texas | texas.gov |
| Utah | utah.gov |
| Vermont | vermont.gov |
| Virginia | virginia.gov |
| Washington | wa.gov and washington.gov |
| West Virginia | wv.gov |
| Wisconsin | wisconsin.gov |
| Wyoming | wyoming.gov |
The District of Columbia follows this trend with dc.gov
External links
- IANA .gov whois information
- RFC 920 defined .com and the other original top-level domains.
- RFC 2146 (U.S. Government Internet Domain Names)