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Introduced | 18 April 1989 |
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TLD type | Country code top-level domain (ccTLD) |
Status | Active |
Registry | Registro.br |
Sponsor | CGI.br |
Intended use | Entities connected with Brazil |
Actual use | Very popular in Brazil (largest Portuguese language Web presence) [1] |
Registered domains | 5,226,129 (2023-08-28) [2] |
Registration restrictions | Varying restrictions based on which second-level name registration is within. In all cases the registrant must have either a CPF or CNPJ, documents usually granted only to Brazilian residents or recognized companies |
Structure |
|
DNSSEC | yes |
Registry website | registro |
.br is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Brazil. It was administered by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee until 2005 when it started being administered by Brazilian Network Information Center. A local contact is required for any registration. Registrations of domain names with Portuguese characters are also accepted.
With the exception of universities, the second-level domain is fixed and selected from a list that defines the category. For example, .art.br is in the art (music, folklore etc.) category, and .org.br is in the non-governmental organization category. Institutions of tertiary education were allowed to use the ccSLD .edu.br, although some use .com.br and others (mainly public universities) use .br. There are also some other few exceptions that were allowed to use the second level domain until the end of 2000. As of April 2010, most domain registrations ignore categories and register in the .com.br domain, which has over 90% of all registered domains. The .jus.br (Judiciary), and .b.br (banks) domains have mandatory DNSSEC use.
Created and delegated to Brazil in 1989 [3] by Jon Postel, [4] initially the domain was operated manually by Registro.br and administered by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). Originally, only researchers and institutions to which they belonged had the interest and ability to adopt the new system and register domains under .br.
At the time, networks prevalent in the Brazilian academic setting were the BITNET ("Because It's Time NETwork"), the HEPnet ("High Energy Physics Network") and the UUCP ("Unix-to-Unix Copy Program"). As such, even before Brazil officially connected to the Internet in 1991, the .br domain was used to identify the machines participating in networks already in use by academics.
In 1995 the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (Portuguese : Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil, or simply CGI.br) was created with an objective to coordinate the allocation of Internet addresses (IPs) and the registration of .br domain names. There were 851 domains registered with the Brazilian DNS by the beginning of 1996, thereafter experiencing rapid growth with the mass arrival of companies, Internet providers and media onto the Internet. The registration system was automated in 1997 and was developed using open source software.
In 2005, CGI.br created its own executive arm, the Brazilian Network Information Center (Portuguese : Núcleo de Informação e Coordenação do Ponto BR, or simply NIC.br), [5] which currently serves in both administrative and operational capacity for the registry.
In 2017, accounts associated with DNS records of Brazilian banks were hacked. Kaspersky's researchers pointed out to a vulnerability in NIC.br's website and suggested its infrastructure had been compromised. NIC's director at the time, Frederico Neves, denied that NIC.br was "hacked", although NIC.br admitted the vulnerability. [6]
To register any domains under .br, it is necessary to enter into contact with Registro.br. Entities legally established in Brazil as a company ("pessoa jurídica") or a physical person ("profissional liberal" and "pessoas físicas") that has a contact within Brazil can register domains. [7] Foreign companies that have a power-of-attorney legally established in Brazil can also do it by following specific rules.
The registration of domains including non-ASCII Portuguese characters (à, á, â, ã, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú, ü and ç) is accepted since 2005. [8]
The .BR TLD is the most common Portuguese language website suffix, [1] surpassing all other Portuguese-speaking countries' TLDs as well as .COM in popularity.[ citation needed ][ original research? ]
As of 28 August 2023, Registro.br's statistics page reported the following: [2]
Category | Total domain count | Most registered | Least registered |
---|---|---|---|
Generic | 4,994,486 (95.57%) | COM.BR (4,856,420, or 92.93% of the total) | EMP.BR (843, or 0.02% of the total) |
Legal persons | 112,175 (2.15%) | ORG.BR (52,423, or 1.00% of the total) | DEF.BR and TC.BR (28 each, or 0.0005% of the total) |
Professionals | 92,478 (1.77%) | ADV.BR (46,574, or 0.89% of the total) | ZLG.BR (8, or 0.0002% of the total) |
Cities | 13,711 (0.26%) | RIO.BR (2,618, or 0.05% of the total) | SAOGONCA.BR (1, or 0.00002% of the total) |
Natural persons | 8,594 (0.16%) | BLOG.BR (6,519, or 0.12% of the total) | FLOG.BR (105, or 0.002% of the total) |
Universities | 4,685 (0.09%) | EDU.BR (3,478, or 0.07% of the total) | — |
The "Universities" category only has a single predefined second-level domain, EDU.BR, but it also includes 1,207 (0.02% of the total) custom second-level domains registered directly under .BR – for example, the National Observatory at ON.BR.
In 1991, it was decided that universities and research institutes would be allowed second-level .br domains directly. For example: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro got ufrj.br; University of São Paulo got usp.br; National Institute for Space Research got inpe.br; and so on. [9]
In late 2000, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee reported abuse in this system, and called for all institutions directly under .br to be moved to .edu.br – so, for example, ufrj.br would become ufrj.edu.br. During a meeting in early 2001, however, the Committee decided it would be of public interest to not move every second-level domain as to avoid confusion, but instead established rules regarding their registration: [10]
As of August 2023, Registro.br reports 1207 domains registered directly under .br. [2]
As of August 2021, there are 140 different second-level domains of .br under which custom domains can be registered, and they are divided into six categories: "Generic", "Cities", "Universities", "Professionals", "Natural persons" and "Legal persons". [11] They are the following:
"Generic" second-level .br domains | |
---|---|
Domain | Intended use |
APP.br | Apps |
ART.br | Arts: music, painting, folklore |
COM.br | Commercial activities |
DEV.br | Developers and development platforms |
ECO.br | Eco- or environment focused activities |
EMP.br | Small and micro-enterprises |
LOG.br | Transport and logistics |
NET.br | Commercial activities |
ONG.br | Non-governmental organizations |
SEG.br | Security |
TEC.br | Technology |
"Universities" second-level .br domains | |
---|---|
Domain | Intended use |
EDU.br | Higher education institutions |
"Natural persons" second-level .br domains | |
---|---|
Domain | Intended use |
BLOG.br | Web logs |
FLOG.br | Photo logs |
NOM.br | Natural persons |
VLOG.br | Video logs |
WIKI.br | Wiki-like pages |
"Legal persons" second-level .br domains | |
---|---|
Unrestricted | |
Domain | Intended use |
AGR.br | Agriculture- or farm-related companies |
ESP.br | Sport in general |
ETC.br | Companies that do not fit into other categories |
FAR.br | Pharmacies and drugstores |
IMB.br | Real estate agencies |
IND.br | Industries |
INF.br | Media and information (radios, newspapers, libraries, ...) |
RADIO.br | "Companies wishing to transmit audio through the network" |
REC.br | Recreational activities, games |
SRV.br | Work for hire |
TMP.br | Temporary events, such as fairs and expos |
TUR.br | Tourism-related companies |
TV.br | "Internet transmission of sounds and images" |
Restricted | |
Domain | Intended use |
AM.br | Radio companies |
COOP.br | Cooperatives |
FM.br | Radio companies |
G12.br | Primary or secondary schools (K–12 equivalent) |
GOV.br | Federal government institutions |
MIL.br | Brazilian Armed Forces |
ORG.br | Not-for-profit non-governmental organizations |
PSI.br | Internet service providers |
DNSSEC required | |
Domain | Intended use |
B.br | Banks |
DEF.br | Public defenders |
JUS.br | Judiciary institutions |
LEG.br | Legislative institutions |
MP.br | Public Ministry institutions |
TC.br | Tribunal de Contas da União |
"Cities" second-level .br domains | |
---|---|
Domain | Intended use |
9GUACU.br | Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro |
ABC.br | ABC Region, São Paulo |
AJU.br | Aracaju, Sergipe |
ANANI.br | Ananindeua, Pará |
APARECIDA.br | Aparecida, São Paulo |
BARUERI.br | Barueri, São Paulo |
BELEM.br | Belém, Pará |
BHZ.br | Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais |
BOAVISTA.br | Boa Vista, Roraima |
BSB.br | Brasília, Federal District |
CAMPINAGRANDE.br | Campina Grande, Paraíba |
CAMPINAS.br | Campinas, São Paulo |
CAXIAS.br | Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro [12] |
CONTAGEM.br | Contagem, Minas Gerais |
CUIABA.br | Cuiabá, Mato Grosso |
CURITIBA.br | Curitiba, Paraná |
FEIRA.br | Feira de Santana, Bahia |
FLORIPA.br | Florianópolis, Santa Catarina |
FORTAL.br | Fortaleza, Ceará |
FOZ.br | Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná |
GOIANIA.br | Goiânia, Goiás |
GRU.br | Guarulhos, São Paulo |
JAB.br | Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Pernambuco |
JAMPA.br | João Pessoa, Paraíba |
JDF.br | Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais |
JOINVILLE.br | Joinville, Santa Catarina |
LONDRINA.br | Londrina, Paraná |
MACAPA.br | Macapá, Amapá |
MACEIO.br | Maceió, Alagoas |
MANAUS.br | Manaus, Amazonas |
MARINGA.br | Maringá, Paraná |
MORENA.br | Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul |
NATAL.br | Natal, Rio Grande do Norte |
NITEROI.br | Niterói, Rio de Janeiro |
OSASCO.br | Osasco, São Paulo |
PALMAS.br | Palmas, Tocantins |
POA.br | Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul |
PVH.br | Porto Velho, Rondônia |
RECIFE.br | Recife, Pernambuco |
RIBEIRAO.br | Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo [13] |
RIO.br | Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro |
RIOBRANCO.br | Rio Branco, Acre |
RIOPRETO.br | São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo |
SALVADOR.br | Salvador, Bahia |
SAMPA.br | São Paulo, São Paulo |
SANTAMARIA.br | Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul |
SANTOANDRE.br | Santo André, São Paulo |
SAOBERNARDO.br | São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo |
SAOGONCA.br | São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro |
SJC.br | São José dos Campos, São Paulo |
SLZ.br | São Luís, Maranhão |
SOROCABA.br | Sorocaba, São Paulo |
THE.br | Teresina, Piauí |
UDI.br | Uberlândia, Minas Gerais |
VIX.br | Vitória, Espírito Santo |
From 2000 until 2009, during election cycles, electoral candidates could register domains under CAN.br, with the format [name][number].can.br – where the name is the registered candidate name, and the number is the identification number for that candidate in the election (related to the party's identification number). [14] [15] The second-level domain was in a category of its own, called "natural persons, special". [16]
As an example, during the 2004 elections for mayor of Aracaju: [17]
Domains were free for registered candidates. Additionally, domains were automatically cancelled at the end of the first round if the candidate lost, and remaining ones were cancelled after the end of the second round. [14]
No new .can.br domains have been registered since 2009. [18]
There are multiple agencies registered directly under .br, as second-level domains, that are not higher education or research institutions. The following list might not be exhaustive:
Domain | Domain meaning | Description |
---|---|---|
CGI.br | Acronym for "Comitê Gestor da Internet" (lit. 'Internet Administration Committee') | The Committee establishes strategic directives related to the use and development of the internet in Brazil, directives for the registration of domain names, IP allocation and administration regarding the .br TLD |
NIC.br | Acronym for Network Information Center | Created to implement decisions and projects of the Committee (CGI.br) |
IX.br PTT.br (old) | IX: Acronym for Internet eXchange PTT: Acronym for "Ponto de Troca de Tráfego" (lit. 'Traffic Exchange Point') | Handles the internet exchange point system of Brazil |
REGISTRO.br | Portuguese for "registration" | .br registry |
CETIC.br | Acronym for "CEntro de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação" (lit. 'Center of Information and Communications Technology') | Officially called "Centro Regional de Estudos para o Desenvolvimento da Sociedade da Informação", it monitors the adoption of information and communications technology in Brazil |
CEPTRO.br | Acronym for "Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas em Tecnologia de Redes e Operações" (lit. 'Center for Studies and Research in Network Technology and Operations') | Responsible for initiatives and projects that support or perfect the internet infrastructure in Brazil |
CERT.br | Acronym for Computer Emergency Response Team | Has the mission to increase the security levels and incident handling capabilities regarding networks connected to Brazil's internet |
CEWEB.br | Acronym for "Centro de Estudos sobre Tecnologias Web" (lit. 'Center for Studies on Web Technologies') | Has the mission to enable the participation of the Brazilian community in the global development of the web |
W3C.br | W3C | Brazilian branch of the World Wide Web Consortium |
NTP.br | Acronym for Network Time Protocol | Provides the legal, standard time for Brazil |
IPV6.br | IPv6 | Promote and disseminate IPv6 usage in Brazil |
ANTISPAM.br | Anti-spam | Has the mission to inform users and network administrators about spam, its implications and forms of protection and combat |
INTERNETSEGURA.br | Portuguese for "Safe Internet" | Has the mission to incentivize the safe use of the internet |
ZAPPIENS.br | Named after Portugal's now defunct Zappiens.pt, managed by the FCCN | Has the mission to be a free service for the aggregation and distribution of audiovisual scientific, educational, artistic and cultural content in Portuguese |
Most of these agencies are subsidiaries of CGI.br and, as such, they follow a similar corporate identity. The "logos" are combinations of the names of the agencies with the logo for .br, all of which are simply typed out with Brandon Schoech (Tepid Monkey)'s freeware font "Qhytsdakx":
There are multiple networks registered directly under .br, usually of academic nature. Again, this list may not be exhaustive:
Domain | Domain meaning | Description |
---|---|---|
RNP.br RNP2.br | Acronym for "Rede Nacional de ensino e Pesquisa" (lit. 'National Network of Education and Research') | An academic backbone of Brazilian internet |
RCT-SC.br | Acronym for "Rede Catarinense de Ciência e Tecnologia" (lit. 'Santa Catarina Network for Science and Technology') | Academic network for the state of Santa Catarina |
REDERIO.br | "Rede Rio" (lit. 'Rio Network') | Academic network for the state of Rio de Janeiro |
REDNESP.br ANSP.br (old) | Acronym for "Research and EDucation NEtwork at São Paulo" | Academic network for the state of São Paulo |
TCHE.br | "Rede Tchê" (lit. 'Tchê Network'), named after the interjection common in the South of Brazil, tchê | Academic network for the South Region of Brazil |
LACNIC is the regional Internet registry for the Latin American and Caribbean regions.
A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.
.ar is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Argentina. It is administered by NIC Argentina. Registering an .ar domain directly is allowed as of 2020. Previously, only 9 of the second-level domains listed below were open for registration, and a local presence in Argentina was required. Recently the extension has become synonymous with Augmented Reality and is being by many prominent AR and XR startups.
.sa is the Latin alphabet Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Saudi Arabia. Domains of this type can be registered through SaudiNIC, a department of the Communications and Information Technology Commission. The Arabic alphabet ccTLD of Saudi Arabia is السعودية.
.es (españa) is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Spain. It is administered by the Network Information Centre of Spain.
.co is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Colombia.
.cl is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Chile. It was created in 1987 and is administered by the University of Chile. Registration of second-level domains under this TLD is open to anyone, as established by the current regulation for the operation of the Domain Name Registration .CL since December 2013, which eliminated the requirement for foreign registrants to have a local contact with a RUN, the Chilean national identification number.
.cv is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cape Verde. It is managed by the National Communications Agency. It was introduced on 21 October 1996 and initially it was managed by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia e Ciências do Mar (ISECMAR), later the School of Maritime Sciences, and finally a campus of the University of Cape Verde, until its redelegation in August 2009 by the current National Communications Agency.
.do is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Dominican Republic. The Network Information Center .do has administered the domain since 1991.
.ve is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Venezuela.
.uy is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Uruguay. Domain names can be registered at second-level or at third-level. As of 11 June 2012, second level .uy registrations are possible.
.it is the national top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Italy.
.mx is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Mexico, which in 2009 was re-opened to new registrations by NIC México. In 2009, the .mx ccTLD was rolled out in three steps:
.hn is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Honduras.
Domain privacy is a service offered by a number of domain name registrars. A user buys privacy from the company, who in turn replaces the user's information in the WHOIS with the information of a forwarding service.
.rs is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Serbia. The domain name registry that operates it is the Serbian National Internet Domain Registry (RNIDS). The letters rs stand for Republika Srbija/Република Србија.
A country code second-level domain is a second-level domain to a country code top-level domain. Such a domain may be reserved by a domain name registry for the registration of third-level domains, or assigned to a third party as a subdomain.
The domain name rio is a top-level domain (TLD) for Rio de Janeiro in the Domain Name System of the Internet. On 27 February 2014, ICANN and Empresa Municipal de Informática SA – IPLANRIO entered into a Registry Agreement under which Empresa Municipal de Informática SA – IPLANRIO operates the rio TLD. It was officially launched in 2015.
The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee is a Brazilian government agency, first proposed in May 1995 by the then Ministry of Communication and the Ministry of Science and Technology, and officially created on 3 September 2003. It is a multi-stakeholder organization with members from the government, the corporate sector, the third sector and the academic community.
The Núcleo de Informação e Coordenação do Ponto BR is a non-profit organization created to implement the decisions and projects designed by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee. Some of NIC.br's responsibilities include maintaining Registro.br, responsible for the .br domain name, handle internet security and network security in Brazil, handle infrastructure for the Internet in Brazil, and gather and publish statistics about internet usage in Brazil.
Kaspersky believes the attackers compromised NIC.br (...) Kaspersky points to a January blog post from NIC.br that admitted to a vulnerability in its website (...) [Frederico Neves] denied that NIC.br had been "hacked." But he conceded that accounts may have been altered