.nz
Encyclopedia
.nz is the Internet
country code
top-level domain
(ccTLD) for New Zealand
. It is administered by InternetNZ
through its subsidiary, NZ Registry Services, with oversight and dispute resolution handled by the Domain Name Commission Ltd. Registrations are processed via authorised registrars. As of March 2011 there were 433,183 registered .nz domains.
until the responsibility was delegated to InternetNZ when it was formed in 1995.
Prior to the current structure, the registry operator of .nz was Domainz
. Historically, Domainz was a subsidiary of InternetNZ which also operated as a registrar and vendor of other add-on services such as DNS
. This combination of a natural monopoly
(the registry activities) and vertical integration
(the registrar and other services) was seen by some as restricting competition so InternetNZ moved to separate the provision of registry services into a separate organisation with strong oversight. The final part of this transition process was the sale of Domainz to Melbourne IT
in August 2003.
From 1 April 2008 the "Office of the Domain Name Commissioner" (several employees of InternetNZ, including the Domain Name Commissioner herself) became the "Domain Name Commission Limited", a subsidiary company of InternetNZ.
countries apart from the USA, Canada
and Ireland
, there are a number of second-level domains that identify whether the user is a company, a non-commercial organisation, government body or other classification.
Unlike many other English-speaking countries, New Zealand uses 'govt' instead of 'gov' for government bodies, hence the second-level domain 'govt.nz'. There are also sub-level domains unique to New Zealand, such as 'iwi.nz' and the broader 'maori.nz', for Māori iwi
and other organisations respectively, and 'geek.nz' for 'geek
s' .
The following second-level domains are in use with their official descriptions.
Server operated by the University of Waikato
until the mid 1990s.
Since only some of the domains are moderated, it is possible to register outside of the area intended.
built in to it using PGP, and unlike ".com" there is no concept of "locking" domains - transferring a domain requires only knowledge of a secret called a UDAI key which business rules dictate is sent to registrants during registration (and must be re-issued on demand at no cost). This prevents Domain hijacking
. The protocol was contemporary with EPP
, and due to these extra design features is now being ratified as an internet RFC.
vowels (ā, ē, ī, ō and ū) would be available from the following week to allow Māori language
words to be correctly represented in domain names.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
country code
Country code
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The best known of these is ISO 3166-1...
top-level domain
Top-level domain
A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. 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...
(ccTLD) for New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is administered by InternetNZ
InternetNZ
InternetNZ is a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting the Internet in New Zealand and fostering a coordinated, cooperative approach to its ongoing development.- Current Councillors :The elected InternetNZ council as at 2010-04-08 are Frank March ,...
through its subsidiary, NZ Registry Services, with oversight and dispute resolution handled by the Domain Name Commission Ltd. Registrations are processed via authorised registrars. As of March 2011 there were 433,183 registered .nz domains.
History
As with many long-standing domain registries the registry was maintained informally for some time. The first formally recognised administrative organisation was the University of WaikatoUniversity of Waikato
The University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. It has strengths across a broad range of subject areas, particularly its degrees in Computer Science and in Management...
until the responsibility was delegated to InternetNZ when it was formed in 1995.
Prior to the current structure, the registry operator of .nz was Domainz
Domainz
Domainz Limited was the original .nz registry operator and is now an ICANN accredited domain name registrar and web host.IANA delegated the .nz namespace to John Houlker on 19 January 1987, and the University of Waikato issued .nz domain names and maintained the .nz registry during the early part...
. Historically, Domainz was a subsidiary of InternetNZ which also operated as a registrar and vendor of other add-on services such as DNS
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...
. This combination of a natural monopoly
Natural monopoly
A monopoly describes a situation where all sales in a market are undertaken by a single firm. A natural monopoly by contrast is a condition on the cost-technology of an industry whereby it is most efficient for production to be concentrated in a single form...
(the registry activities) and vertical integration
Vertical integration
In microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to...
(the registrar and other services) was seen by some as restricting competition so InternetNZ moved to separate the provision of registry services into a separate organisation with strong oversight. The final part of this transition process was the sale of Domainz to Melbourne IT
Melbourne IT
Melbourne IT is an Australian Internet company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange . Formed in 1996, its primary business is domain name registration in most of the major national and global top-level domains...
in August 2003.
From 1 April 2008 the "Office of the Domain Name Commissioner" (several employees of InternetNZ, including the Domain Name Commissioner herself) became the "Domain Name Commission Limited", a subsidiary company of InternetNZ.
Second-level domains
As is the case with most other English-speakingEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
countries apart from the USA, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, there are a number of second-level domains that identify whether the user is a company, a non-commercial organisation, government body or other classification.
Unlike many other English-speaking countries, New Zealand uses 'govt' instead of 'gov' for government bodies, hence the second-level domain 'govt.nz'. There are also sub-level domains unique to New Zealand, such as 'iwi.nz' and the broader 'maori.nz', for Māori iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
and other organisations respectively, and 'geek.nz' for 'geek
Geek
The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to...
s' .
The following second-level domains are in use with their official descriptions.
Unmoderated
- .ac.nz—Tertiary educational institutions and related organisations
- .co.nz—Organisations pursuing commercial aims and purposes
- .geek.nz — For people who are concentrative, technically skilled and imaginative who are generally adept with computers
- .gen.nz — Individuals and other organisations not covered elsewhere
- .maori.nz — Māori people, groups, and organisations
- .net.nz — Organisations and service providers directly related to the NZ Internet
- .org.nz — Not-for-profit organisations
- .school.nz — Primary, secondary and pre-schools and related organisations
Moderated
- .cri.nz — Crown Research Institutes.
- .govt.nz — National, regional and local government organisations operating with statutory powers. Registration is only available through the government registrar, DNS.govt.nz, and there is a government portal at www.govt.nz
- .iwi.nz — A traditional Māori tribe, hapu, or Taurahere group. Available from register.iwi.nz.
- .parliament.nz - Reserved for parliamentary agencies, Offices of Parliament, and parliamentary political parties and their elected members.
- .mil.nz — the military organisation of the NZ Government - the New Zealand Defence ForceNew Zealand Defence ForceThe New Zealand Defence Force consists of three services: the Royal New Zealand Navy; the New Zealand Army; and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The Commander-in-Chief of the NZDF is His Excellency Rt. Hon...
. - .health.nz - Health organisations.
Previously used
The Domain archie.nz also existed for an Archie search engineArchie search engine
Archie is a tool for indexing FTP archives, allowing people to find specific files. It is considered to be the first Internet search engine. The original implementation was written in 1990 by Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan, and J...
Server operated by the University of Waikato
University of Waikato
The University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. It has strengths across a broad range of subject areas, particularly its degrees in Computer Science and in Management...
until the mid 1990s.
Since only some of the domains are moderated, it is possible to register outside of the area intended.
Registry Software and Protocol
The .nz registry uses open source software, which is periodically published on SourceForge. The protocol used by this software has non-repudiationNon-repudiation
Non-repudiation refers to a state of affairs where the purported maker of a statement will not be able to successfully challenge the validity of the statement or contract. The term is often seen in a legal setting wherein the authenticity of a signature is being challenged...
built in to it using PGP, and unlike ".com" there is no concept of "locking" domains - transferring a domain requires only knowledge of a secret called a UDAI key which business rules dictate is sent to registrants during registration (and must be re-issued on demand at no cost). This prevents Domain hijacking
Domain hijacking
Domain hijacking or domain theft is the act of changing the registration of a domain name without the permission of its original registrant....
. The protocol was contemporary with EPP
Extensible Provisioning Protocol
The Extensible Provisioning Protocol is a flexible protocol designed for allocating objects within registries over the Internet.The motivation for the creation of EPP was to create a robust and flexible protocol that could provide communication between domain name registries and domain name...
, and due to these extra design features is now being ratified as an internet RFC.
Māori domain names
On 22 July 2010, the Domain Name Commission announced that .nz domain names with macronMacron
A macron, from the Greek , meaning "long", is a diacritic placed above a vowel . It was originally used to mark a long or heavy syllable in Greco-Roman metrics, but now marks a long vowel...
vowels (ā, ē, ī, ō and ū) would be available from the following week to allow Māori language
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
words to be correctly represented in domain names.