Introduced | January 1, 1985 |
---|---|
Registry | Verisign |
Sponsor | None |
Intended use | Commercial entities |
Actual use | Used for general purposes and is widely regarded as the standard for TLDs |
Registration restrictions | None |
Structure | Registrations are conducted at second level. |
Documents | RFC 920; RFC 1591; ICANN registry agreement |
Dispute policies | UDRP |
DNSSEC | Yes |
IDN | Yes |
Registry website | yourdot |
The domain com is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Created in the first group of Internet domains at the beginning of 1985, its name is derived from the word commercial, [1] indicating its original intended purpose for subdomains registered by commercial organizations. Later, the domain opened for general purposes.
The domain was originally administered by the United States Department of Defense, but is today operated by Verisign, and remains under ultimate jurisdiction of U.S. law. [2] [3] [4] The .com domain is also more commonly used than the more specific .us by American businesses and enterprises. [5] Verisign registrations in the .com domain are processed via registrars accredited by ICANN. The registry accepts internationalized domain names.
The domain was one of the original TLDs of the Internet when the Domain Name System was implemented in January 1985, the others being edu, gov, mil, net, org, and int. [6] It has grown into the largest top-level domain, [7] and has lent its name to the dot-com bubble, the era of the late 1990s during which excessive speculation in Internet-related concepts and companies led to rapid growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.
The domain com was one of the first set of top-level domains when the Domain Name System was first implemented for the Internet on January 1, 1985. [8] The domain was administered by the U.S. Department of Defense, but the department contracted the domain maintenance to SRI International. SRI created DDN-NIC, also known as SRI-NIC, or simply the NIC (Network Information Center), [9] then accessible online with the domain name nic.ddn.mil. Beginning October 1, 1991, an operations contract was awarded to Government Systems Inc. (GSI), which sub-contracted it to Network Solutions Inc. (NSI). [10]
On January 1, 1993, the National Science Foundation assumed responsibility of maintenance, as com was primarily being used for non-defense interests. The NSF contracted operation to Network Solutions (NSI). In 1995, the NSF authorized NSI to begin charging registrants an annual fee for the first time since the domain's inception. Initially, the fee was US$50 (equivalent to $100in 2023) per year, with US$35 going to NSI, and US$15 going to a government fund. New registrations had to pay for the first two years, making the new-domain registration fee US$100. In 1997, the United States Department of Commerce assumed authority over these first seven generic TLDs. It is currently operated by Verisign, which had acquired Network Solutions. Verisign later spun off Network Solutions' non-registry functions into a separate company that continues as a registrar. In the English language, the domain is often spelled with a leading period and commonly pronounced as dot-com, and has entered common parlance this way.
Although com domains were initially intended to designate commercial entities, [11] the domain has had no restrictions for eligible registrants since the mid-1990s. With the commercialization and popularization of the Internet, the domain was opened to the public and quickly became the most common top-level domain for websites, email, and networking. Many companies that flourished in the period from 1997 to 2001—the time known as the "dot-com bubble"—incorporated the label com into company names; these became known as dot-coms or dot-com companies. The introduction of domain biz in 2001, which was aimed at companies that failed to register a suitable com-domain name, intended to make customers realize that they had arrived at a legitimate business website, although it did not achieve widespread use. [12]
Although companies anywhere in the world can register com domains, many countries have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their country code top-level domain (ccTLD), such as Australia (com.au), China (com.cn), Greece (com.gr), Israel (co.il), India (co.in), Indonesia (co.id), Japan (co.jp), Mexico (com.mx), Nepal (.com.np), Pakistan (.com.pk), South Korea (co.kr), Sri Lanka (com.lk), United Kingdom (co.uk), and Vietnam (.com.vn).
Many non-commercial sites and networks use com names to benefit from the perceived recognizability of a com domain. However, the registration statistics show varying popularity over the years. [7]
In December 2011, Verisign reported that approximately 100 million com domains were registered. [13] According to the Domain Name Industry Brief published in March 2020, which publishes every quarter, com domain registration totaled 145.4 [14] million. As of March 2009, Verisign reported that 926 accredited registrars serve the domain. [13]
On November 29, 2012, the U.S. Department of Commerce approved the renewal of the com Registry Agreement between Verisign, Inc., and ICANN. Through this agreement, Verisign managed the com registry until November 30, 2018. [15]
The following are the 100 oldest still-existing registered com domains. [16]
Rank | Creation date | Domain name |
---|---|---|
1 | March 15, 1985 | symbolics.com |
2 | April 24, 1985 | BBN.com |
3 | May 24, 1985 | think.com |
4 | July 11, 1985 | MCC.com |
5 | September 30, 1985 | DEC.com |
6 | November 7, 1985 | northrop.com |
7 | January 9, 1986 | xerox.com |
8 | January 17, 1986 | SRI.com |
9 | March 3, 1986 | HP.com |
10 | March 5, 1986 | bellcore.com |
11 | March 19, 1986 | IBM.com |
11 | March 19, 1986 | sun.com |
13 | March 25, 1986 | intel.com |
13 | March 25, 1986 | TI.com |
15 | April 25, 1986 | ATT.com |
16 | May 8, 1986 | GMR.com |
16 | May 8, 1986 | tek.com |
18 | July 10, 1986 | FMC.com |
18 | July 10, 1986 | UB.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | bell-atl.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | GE.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | grebyn.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | ISC.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | NSC.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | stargate.com |
26 | September 2, 1986 | boeing.com |
27 | September 18, 1986 | ITCorp.com |
28 | September 29, 1986 | siemens.com |
29 | October 18, 1986 | pyramid.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | alphaDC.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | BDM.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | fluke.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | inmet.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | kesmai.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | mentor.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | NEC.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | ray.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | rosemount.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | vortex.com |
40 | November 5, 1986 | alcoa.com |
40 | November 5, 1986 | GTE.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | adobe.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | AMD.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | DAS.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | data-IO.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | octopus.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | portal.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | teltone.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | 3Com.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | amdahl.com |
Rank | Creation date | Domain name |
---|---|---|
49 | December 11, 1986 | CCUR.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | CI.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | convergent.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | DG.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | peregrine.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | quad.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | SQ.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | tandy.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | TTI.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | unisys.com |
61 | January 19, 1987 | CGI.com |
61 | January 19, 1987 | CTS.com |
61 | January 19, 1987 | SPDCC.com |
64 | February 19, 1987 | apple.com |
65 | March 4, 1987 | NMA.com |
65 | March 4, 1987 | prime.com |
67 | April 4, 1987 | philips.com |
68 | April 23, 1987 | datacube.com |
68 | April 23, 1987 | KAI.com |
68 | April 23, 1987 | TIC.com |
68 | April 23, 1987 | vine.com |
72 | April 30, 1987 | NCR.com |
73 | May 14, 1987 | cisco.com |
73 | May 14, 1987 | RDL.com |
75 | May 20, 1987 | SLB.com |
76 | May 27, 1987 | parcplace.com |
76 | May 27, 1987 | UTC.com |
78 | June 26, 1987 | IDE.com |
79 | July 9, 1987 | TRW.com |
80 | July 13, 1987 | unipress.com |
81 | July 27, 1987 | dupont.com |
81 | July 27, 1987 | lockheed.com |
83 | July 28, 1987 | rosetta.com |
84 | August 18, 1987 | toad.com |
85 | August 31, 1987 | quick.com |
86 | September 3, 1987 | allied.com |
86 | September 3, 1987 | DSC.com |
86 | September 3, 1987 | SCO.com |
89 | September 22, 1987 | gene.com |
89 | September 22, 1987 | KCCS.com |
89 | September 22, 1987 | spectra.com |
89 | September 22, 1987 | WLK.com |
93 | September 30, 1987 | mentat.com |
94 | October 14, 1987 | WYSE.com |
95 | November 2, 1987 | CFG.com |
96 | November 9, 1987 | marble.com |
97 | November 16, 1987 | cayman.com |
97 | November 16, 1987 | entity.com |
99 | November 24, 1987 | KSR.com |
100 | November 30, 1987 | NYNEXST.com |
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet, ensuring the Internet's stable and secure operation. ICANN performs the actual technical maintenance work of the Central Internet Address pools and DNS root zone registries pursuant to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function contract. The contract regarding the IANA stewardship functions between ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the United States Department of Commerce ended on October 1, 2016, formally transitioning the functions to the global multistakeholder community.
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. 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 non-empty label of a fully qualified domain name. For example, in the domain name www.example.com, the top-level domain is .com. Responsibility for management of most top-level domains is delegated to specific organizations by the ICANN, an Internet multi-stakeholder community, which operates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and is in charge of maintaining the DNS root zone.
In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. Domain names are used in various networking contexts and for application-specific naming and addressing purposes. In general, a domain name identifies a network domain or an Internet Protocol (IP) resource, such as a personal computer used to access the Internet, or a server computer.
InterNIC, known as the Network Information Center (NIC) until 1993, was the organization primarily responsible for Domain Name System (DNS) domain name allocations and X.500 directory services. From its inception in 1972 until October 1, 1991, it was run by the Stanford Research Institute, now known as SRI International, and led by Jake Feinler. From October 1991 until September 18, 1998, it was run by Network Solutions. Thereafter, the responsibility was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
A domain name registry is a database of all domain names and the associated registrant information in the top level domains of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet that enables third party entities to request administrative control of a domain name. Most registries operate on the top-level and second-level of the DNS.
The domain name .org is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) of the Domain Name System (DNS) used on the Internet. The name is truncated from 'organization'. It was one of the original domains established in 1985, and has been operated by the Public Interest Registry since 2003. The domain was originally "intended as the miscellaneous TLD for organizations that didn't fit anywhere else." It is commonly used by non-profit organizations, open-source projects, and communities, but is an open domain that can be used by anyone. The number of registered domains in .org has increased from fewer than one million in the 1990s, to ten million in 2012, and held steady between ten and eleven million since then.
Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic and the .cc country-code top-level domains, and the back-end systems for the and .edu sponsored top-level domains.
A domain name registrar is a company, person, or office that manages the reservation of Internet domain names.
The domain name is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for use by individuals for representation of their personal name, nicknames, screen names, pseudonyms, or other types of identification labels.
The domain name net is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from the word network, indicating it was originally intended for organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and other infrastructure companies. However, there are no official restrictions and the domain is now a general-purpose namespace.
AlterNIC was an unofficial, controversial Internet domain name registry that relied on an alternative DNS root. The primary purpose of the project was to challenge the monopoly of InterNIC, the official governing body for generic top-level domains (gTLDs) until the creation of the ICANN in 1998. AlterNIC offered second level domain registration in its own TLDs at lower prices than InterNIC. However, these domain names could only be resolved by name servers that were specifically configured to use the AlterNIC root zone. The project is now defunct; the domain name alternic.net is parked and no longer associated with AlterNIC.
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.
Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet. A top-level domain is the last level of every fully qualified domain name. They are called generic for historical reasons; initially, they were contrasted with country-specific TLDs in RFC 920.
.so is the internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Somalia. After a long absence, the .so domain was officially relaunched on November 1, 2010, by .SO Registry, which is regulated by the nation's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. It was launched through various accredited registrars around the world.
.web is a proposed top-level domain (TLD) that was created and assigned by an auction process to several bidding companies. It was awarded to Nu Dot Co LLC, which is primarily funded by Verisign.
WHOIS is a query and response protocol that is used for querying databases that store an Internet resource's registered users or assignees. These resources include domain names, IP address blocks and autonomous systems, but it is also used for a wider range of other information. The protocol stores and delivers database content in a human-readable format. The current iteration of the WHOIS protocol was drafted by the Internet Society, and is documented in RFC 3912.
Domain registration is the process of acquiring a domain name from a domain name registrar.
Public Interest Registry is a not-for-profit based in Reston, Virginia, created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the .ORG top-level domain. It took over operation of .ORG in January 2003 and launched the .NGO and .ONG top-level domains in March 2015.
The Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) is a computer network communications protocol standardized by a working group at the Internet Engineering Task Force in 2015, after experimental developments and thorough discussions. It is a successor to the WHOIS protocol, used to look up relevant registration data from such Internet resources as domain names, IP addresses, and autonomous system numbers.
COM = Commercial, any commercial related domains meeting the second level requirements.