Generic top-level domain
Encyclopedia
gTLD intended use
aero
.aero
.aero is a generic top-level domain used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is the first sponsored top-level domain based on a single industrial theme. The aero domain is reserved for companies, organizations, associations, government agencies, and individuals in aviation-related...

the air transport industry.
asia
.asia
.asia is a sponsored top-level domain sponsored by the DotAsia Organization, with the back-end registry operated by Afilias. It was approved by ICANN on 19 October 2006 as a sponsored TLD...

companies, organizations and individuals in the Asia-Pacific region
biz
.biz
biz is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for registration of domains to be used by businesses...

business use
cat
.cat
.cat is a sponsored top-level domain intended to be used to highlight the Catalan language and culture. Its policy has been developed by ICANN and Fundació puntCAT...

Catalan language
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

/culture
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...

commercial organizations, but unrestricted
coop
.coop
The domain coop is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for the use of cooperatives, wholly owned subsidiaries, and other organizations that exist to promote or support co-operatives....

cooperatives
edu
.edu
The domain name edu is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The "domain is intended for accredited post-secondary educational U.S. institutions" and this intention is strictly enforced....

U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 post-secondary educational establishments
gov
.gov
The domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain 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 , an independent...

U.S. government entities
Political divisions of the United States
The political units and divisions of the United States include:*The 50 states are subdivided into counties . The counties may be further subdivided into townships, or towns in New York and New England...

 at the federal
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...

, state
State governments of the United States
State governments in the United States are those republics formed by citizens in the jurisdiction thereof as provided by the United States Constitution; with the original 13 States forming the first Articles of Confederation, and later the aforementioned Constitution. Within the U.S...

, and local
Local government in the United States
Local government in the United States is generally structured in accordance with the laws of the various individual states. Typically each state has at least two separate tiers: counties and municipalities. Some states have their counties divided into townships...

 levels
info
.info
The domain name info is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet, The name is derived from information indicating that the domain is intended for informative Internet resources, although registration requirements do not prescribe any theme orientation.The info TLD was...

informational sites, but unrestricted
int
.int
The domain name int is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the word international, characterizing its use for world-wide purposes....

international organizations established by treaty
jobs
.jobs
The domain name jobs is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Indicated by its name, the domain is restricted to employment-related sites....

employment-related sites
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...

the U.S. military
mobi
.mobi
The domain name mobi is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective mobile, indicating its use by mobile devices for accessing Internet resources via the Mobile Web....

sites catering to mobile devices
museum
.museum
museum is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet used exclusively by museums, museum associations, and individual members of the museum profession, as these groups are defined by the International Council of Museums .In joint action with the J...

museums
name
.name
The domain name "name" is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for use by individuals for representation of their personal names, nicknames, screen names, pseudonyms, or other types of identification labels....

families and individuals
net
.net
The domain name net is a generic top-level domain used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from network, indicating its originally intended purpose for organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and other infrastructure companies...

originally for network infrastructures, now unrestricted
org
.org
The domain name org is a generic top-level domain of the Domain Name System used in the Internet. The name is derived from organization....

originally for organizations not clearly falling within the other gTLDs, now unrestricted
pro
.pro
The domain name pro is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from professional, indicating its intended use by qualified professionals.-History:...

certain professions
tel
.tel
The domain name .tel is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It was approved by ICANN as a sponsored top-level domain, and is operated by Telnic...

services involving connections between the telephone network and the Internet
travel
.travel
The domain name travel is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name suggests the intended and restricted use by travel agents, airlines, bed and breakfast operators, tourism bureaus, and others in the travel industry....

travel agents, airlines, hoteliers, tourism bureaus, etc.
xxx
.xxx
.xxx is a sponsored top-level domain intended as a voluntary option for pornographic sites on the Internet. The sponsoring organization is the International Foundation for Online Responsibility . The registry is operated by ICM Registry LLC. The ICANN Board voted to approve the sTLD on March 18,...

pornography


A generic top-level domain (gTLD) is one of the categories of 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...

s (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System , media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers...

 (IANA) for use 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...

.

Overall, IANA currently distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains:
  • infrastructure top-level domain (arpa
    .arpa
    The domain name arpa is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is used exclusively for technical infrastructure purposes...

    )
  • country-code top-level domains (ccTLD)
  • internationalized top-level domains (IDNs)
    • internationalized country code
      Internationalized country code
      An internationalized country code top-level domain is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet...

       top-level domains
    • testing top-level domains
  • generic top-level domains (gTLD)


The core group of generic top-level domains consists of the 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...

, info
.info
The domain name info is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet, The name is derived from information indicating that the domain is intended for informative Internet resources, although registration requirements do not prescribe any theme orientation.The info TLD was...

, net
.net
The domain name net is a generic top-level domain used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from network, indicating its originally intended purpose for organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and other infrastructure companies...

, and org
.org
The domain name org is a generic top-level domain of the Domain Name System used in the Internet. The name is derived from organization....

domains. In addition, the domains biz
.biz
biz is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for registration of domains to be used by businesses...

, name
.name
The domain name "name" is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for use by individuals for representation of their personal names, nicknames, screen names, pseudonyms, or other types of identification labels....

, and pro
.pro
The domain name pro is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from professional, indicating its intended use by qualified professionals.-History:...

are also considered generic; however, these are designated as restricted, because registrations within them require proof of eligibility within the guidelines set for each.

Historically, the group of generic top-level domains included domains, created in the early development of the domain name system, that are now sponsored by designated agencies or organizations and are restricted to specific types of registrants. Thus, domains edu
.edu
The domain name edu is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The "domain is intended for accredited post-secondary educational U.S. institutions" and this intention is strictly enforced....

, gov
.gov
The domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain 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 , an independent...

, int
.int
The domain name int is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the word international, characterizing its use for world-wide purposes....

, and 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...

are now considered sponsored top-level domain
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....

s, much like the many newly created themed domain names (e.g., jobs
.jobs
The domain name jobs is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Indicated by its name, the domain is restricted to employment-related sites....

). The entire group of domains that do not have a geographic or country designation (see country-code top-level domain) is still often referred to by the term generic TLDs.

History

The initial set of top-level domains, defined by RFC 920 in October 1984, was a set of "general purpose domains": 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...

, edu
.edu
The domain name edu is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The "domain is intended for accredited post-secondary educational U.S. institutions" and this intention is strictly enforced....

, gov
.gov
The domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain 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 , an independent...

, 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...

, org
.org
The domain name org is a generic top-level domain of the Domain Name System used in the Internet. The name is derived from organization....

. The net
.net
The domain name net is a generic top-level domain used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from network, indicating its originally intended purpose for organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and other infrastructure companies...

domain was added with the first implementation of these domains. The com, net, and org TLDs, despite their originally specific goals, are now open for use for any purpose.

In November 1988, another TLD was introduced, int
.int
The domain name int is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the word international, characterizing its use for world-wide purposes....

. This TLD was introduced in response to NATO's request for a domain name which adequately reflected its character as an international organization. It was also originally planned to be used for some Internet infrastructure databases, such as ip6.int, the IPv6
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...

 equivalent of in-addr.arpa. However, in May 2000, the Internet Architecture Board
Internet Architecture Board
The Internet Architecture Board is the committee charged with oversight of the technical and engineering development of the Internet by the Internet Society ....

 proposed to exclude infrastructure databases from the int domain. All new databases of this type would be created in arpa
.arpa
The domain name arpa is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is used exclusively for technical infrastructure purposes...

(a legacy domain from the conversion of ARPANET), and existing usage would move to arpa wherever feasible, which led to the use of ip6.arpa for IPv6 reverse lookups
Reverse DNS lookup
In computer networking, reverse DNS lookup or reverse DNS resolution is the determination of a domain name that is associated with a given IP address using the Domain Name System of the Internet....

.

By the mid-1990s there was discussion of introduction of more TLDs. Jon Postel
Jon Postel
Jonathan Bruce Postel was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards...

, as head of IANA
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System , media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers...

, invited applications from interested parties. In early 1995, Postel created "Draft Postel", an Internet draft containing the procedures to create new domain name registries and new TLDs. Draft Postel created a number of small committees to approve the new TLDs. Because of the increasing interest, a number of large organizations took over the process under the Internet Society
Internet Society
The Internet Society or ISOC is an international, nonprofit organization founded during 1992 to provide direction in Internet related standards, education, and policy...

's umbrella. This second attempt involved setting up a temporary organization called the International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC
IAHC
The IAHC was one of the first organizations to concern itself with the allocation of Internet domain names.- Member organizations :*Internet Society *Internet Assigned Numbers Authority...

). On February 4, 1997, the IAHC issued a report ignoring the Draft Postel recommendations and instead recommended the introduction of seven new TLDs (arts, firm, info, nom, rec, store, and web). However, these proposals were abandoned after the U.S. government intervened.

In September 1998, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was created to take over the task of managing domain names. After a call for proposals (August 15, 2000) and a brief period of public consultation, ICANN announced on November 16, 2000 its selection of the following seven new TLDs: aero
.aero
.aero is a generic top-level domain used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is the first sponsored top-level domain based on a single industrial theme. The aero domain is reserved for companies, organizations, associations, government agencies, and individuals in aviation-related...

, biz
.biz
biz is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for registration of domains to be used by businesses...

, coop
.coop
The domain coop is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for the use of cooperatives, wholly owned subsidiaries, and other organizations that exist to promote or support co-operatives....

, info
.info
The domain name info is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet, The name is derived from information indicating that the domain is intended for informative Internet resources, although registration requirements do not prescribe any theme orientation.The info TLD was...

, museum
.museum
museum is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet used exclusively by museums, museum associations, and individual members of the museum profession, as these groups are defined by the International Council of Museums .In joint action with the J...

, name
.name
The domain name "name" is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for use by individuals for representation of their personal names, nicknames, screen names, pseudonyms, or other types of identification labels....

, pro
.pro
The domain name pro is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from professional, indicating its intended use by qualified professionals.-History:...

.

Biz, info, and museum were activated in June 2001, name and coop in January 2002, pro in May 2002, and aero later in 2002. pro became a gTLD in May 2002, but did not become fully operational until June 2004. xxx was approved in March 2011 and is expected to go live before the end of 2011.

ICANN added further TLDs, starting with a set of sponsored top-level domain
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....

s. The application period for these was from December 15, 2003 until March 16, 2004, and resulted in ten applications. Of these, ICANN has approved asia
.asia
.asia is a sponsored top-level domain sponsored by the DotAsia Organization, with the back-end registry operated by Afilias. It was approved by ICANN on 19 October 2006 as a sponsored TLD...

, cat
.cat
.cat is a sponsored top-level domain intended to be used to highlight the Catalan language and culture. Its policy has been developed by ICANN and Fundació puntCAT...

, jobs
.jobs
The domain name jobs is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Indicated by its name, the domain is restricted to employment-related sites....

, mobi
.mobi
The domain name mobi is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective mobile, indicating its use by mobile devices for accessing Internet resources via the Mobile Web....

, tel
.tel
The domain name .tel is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It was approved by ICANN as a sponsored top-level domain, and is operated by Telnic...

and travel
.travel
The domain name travel is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name suggests the intended and restricted use by travel agents, airlines, bed and breakfast operators, tourism bureaus, and others in the travel industry....

, all of which are now in operation. xxx was finally approved in March 2011, one year after an independent review found ICANN had broken its own bylaws when it rejected its application in 2007. Of the remaining applications (post
.post
The name post is a sponsored top-level domain name for the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended to be restricted to the use of national and regional postal services and private businesses that provide similar services. It is sponsored by the Universal Postal Union, an international...

, mail
.mail
.mail is a generic top-level domain proposed by The Spamhaus Project in 2004, but unapproved by ICANN. Its purpose is to enable responsible message recipients to reliably and efficiently identify and accept spam-free mailstreams.-Core Functionality:...

and an alternative tel proposal), post are still under consideration.

On June 26, 2008, during the 32nd International Public ICANN Meeting in Paris, 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 as a new application and implementation process.
Observers believed that the new rules could result in hundreds of new gTLDs to be registered.

Unrestricted gTLD

Unrestricted generic top-level domains are those domains that are available for registrations by any person or organization for any use. The prominent gTLDs in this group are 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...

, net
.net
The domain name net is a generic top-level domain used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from network, indicating its originally intended purpose for organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and other infrastructure companies...

, org
.org
The domain name org is a generic top-level domain of the Domain Name System used in the Internet. The name is derived from organization....

, and info
.info
The domain name info is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet, The name is derived from information indicating that the domain is intended for informative Internet resources, although registration requirements do not prescribe any theme orientation.The info TLD was...

. However, info was the only one of these, and the first, that was explicitly chartered as unrestricted. The others initially had a specific target audience. However, due to lack of enforcement, they acquired an unrestricted character, which was later grandfathered.

Sponsored gTLD

The term sponsored top-level domain
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....

 is derived from the fact that these domains are based on theme concepts proposed by private agencies or organizations that establish and enforce rules restricting the eligibility of registrants to use the TLD. For example, the aero TLD is sponsored by the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, which limits registrations to members of the air-transport industry.

Geographic gTLD

A geographic TLD (or GeoTLD) is a generic top-level domain using the name of or invoking an association with a geographical, geopolitical, ethnic, linguistic or cultural community. As of 2009, only two GeoTLDs existed: the sponsored domains .cat
.cat
.cat is a sponsored top-level domain intended to be used to highlight the Catalan language and culture. Its policy has been developed by ICANN and Fundació puntCAT...

, for the Catalan language and culture
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

, and .asia
.asia
.asia is a sponsored top-level domain sponsored by the DotAsia Organization, with the back-end registry operated by Afilias. It was approved by ICANN on 19 October 2006 as a sponsored TLD...

, but many others have been proposed (see also proposed top-level domain
Proposed top-level domain
The Domain Name System of the Internet consists of a set of top-level domains which constitute the root domain of the hierarchical name space and database. In the growth of the Internet, it became desirable to expand the set of initially six generic top-level domains in 1984. As a result new...

).

New top-level domains

The introduction of several generic top-level domains over the years has not stopped the demand for more gTLDs and ICANN has received many proposals for establishment of new top-level domains. Proponents have argued for a variety of models ranging from adoption of policies for unrestricted gTLDs (see above) to chartered gTLDs for specialized uses by specialized organizations.

A new initiative started in 2008 foresees a stringent application process for new domains that adhere to a restricted naming policy for open gTLDs, community-based domains, and internationalized domain name
Internationalized domain name
An internationalized domain name is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label that is displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in a language-specific script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi or the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics,...

s (IDNs). According to a guidebook published by ICANN, a community-based gTLD is "a gTLD that is operated for the benefit of a defined community consisting of a restricted population." All other domains fall under the category open gTLD, which "is one that can be used for any purpose consistent with the requirements of the application and evaluation criteria, and with the registry agreement. An open gTLD may or may not have a formal relationship with an exclusive registrant or user population. It may or may not employ eligibility or use restrictions."

The establishment of new gTLDs under this program requires the operation of a domain registry and a demonstration of technical and financial capacity for such operations and the management of registrar relationships.

A fourth version of the draft applicant guidebook (DAG4) was published in May 2011.

June 20, 2011 vote on expansion of gTLDs

On June 20, 2011 ICANN's board voted to end most restrictions on the generic top-level domain names (gTLD) from the 22 currently available. Companies and organizations will be able to choose essentially arbitrary top level Internet domains. The use of non-Latin characters (such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, etc.) will also be allowed in gTLDs. ICANN will begin accepting applications for new gTLDs on January 12, 2012. Entertainment and financial services brands are most likely to apply for new gTLDs for their brands, according to a survey by registrar Melbourne IT. The initial price to apply for a new gTLD will be $185,000, with an annual fee of $25,000. ICANN expects that the first batch of new gTLDs will be operational at the beginning of 2013. ICANN expects the new rules to significantly change the face of the internet. Peter Thrush, chairman of ICANN's board of directors stated after the vote: "Today's decision will usher in a new internet age. We have provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration. Unless there is a good reason to restrain it, innovation should be allowed to run free."
Industry analysts predicted 500–1000 new gTLDs, mostly reflecting names of companies and products, but also cities and generic names like bank and sport. According to Theo Hnarakis, chief executive of 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...

, the decision "will allow corporations to better take control of their brands. For example, apple or ipad would take customers right to those products." However some companies have ruled out a branded gTLD.

Tracking new gTLD applications

ICANN will begin to release official new TLD application information to the public on approximately April 27th, 2012. Several unofficial lists have been established which track new gTLD applications, such as .Nxt, New TLDs.tv, Valideus and Registries.tel.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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