The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the associated entities. Most prominently, it translates readily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for locating and identifying computer services and devices with the underlying network protocols. The Domain Name System has been an essential component of the functionality of the Internet since 1985.
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.
An anonymous remailer is a server that receives messages with embedded instructions on where to send them next, and that forwards them without revealing where they originally came from. There are cypherpunk anonymous remailers, mixmaster anonymous remailers, and nym servers, among others, which differ in how they work, in the policies they adopt, and in the type of attack on the anonymity of e-mail they can resist. Remailing as discussed in this article applies to e-mails intended for particular recipients, not the general public. Anonymity in the latter case is more easily addressed by using any of several methods of anonymous publication.
The Penet remailer was a pseudonymous remailer operated by Johan "Julf" Helsingius of Finland from 1993 to 1996. Its initial creation stemmed from an argument in a Finnish newsgroup over whether people should be required to tie their real name to their online communications. Julf believed that people should not—indeed, could not—be required to do so. In his own words:
The Internet uses the Domain Name System (DNS) to associate numeric computer IP addresses with human-readable names. The top level of the domain name hierarchy, the DNS root, contains the top-level domains that appear as the suffixes of all Internet domain names. The most widely used DNS root is administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). In addition, several organizations operate alternative DNS roots, often referred to as alt roots. These alternative domain name systems operate their own root name servers and commonly administer their own specific name spaces consisting of custom top-level domains.
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us.
.se, formerly branded as .SE, is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Sweden. It is operated by The Swedish Internet Foundation, but domains must be registered through one of the approved registrars. The Internet Foundation in Sweden is managed on the basis of its charter of foundation and its statutes. The Foundation is managed by a board of directors, whose decisions are executed by the executive management.
.ee is the internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Estonia, operated by the Estonian Internet Foundation.
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.
.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.
.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.
.la is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Laos.
.ly is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Libya.
Johan "Julf" Helsingius, born in 1961 in Helsinki, Finland, started and ran the Anon.penet.fi internet remailer.
This article presents a comparison of the features, platform support, and packaging of many independent implementations of Domain Name System (DNS) name server software.
CZ.NIC is a Czech interest association of legal persons established by leading Internet service providers in 1998. The main activity of the association is administration of domain names .cz and 0.2.4.e164.arpa (ENUM), administration of .cz top-level domains and education in the area of domain names. Currently, the employees of the association are intensively working on expanding the DNSSEC technology, developing the domain administration system and mojeID service and promoting new technologies and projects beneficial to the Internet infrastructure in the Czech Republic.
The domain name .рф is the Cyrillic country code top-level domain for the Russian Federation, in the Domain Name System of the Internet. In the Domain Name System it has the ASCII DNS name xn--p1ai. The domain accepts only Cyrillic subdomain applications, and is the first Cyrillic implementation of the Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) system. The domain became operational on 13 May 2010. As of 2014 it is the most used internationalized country code top-level domain, with around 900,000 domain names.
.at is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Austria. It is administered by nic.at.
The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, abbreviated to FICORA, was the public authority responsible for communication regulations in Finland. FICORA regulated radio frequencies and television broadcast permits, supervised the operation of Internet service providers, and managed the .fi domain zone. FICORA was headquartered in Helsinki.
