Sponsored top-level domain

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A sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) is 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, alongside [1] country-code top-level domains (ccTLD) and generic top-level domains (gTLD).

A sponsored TLD is a specialized top-level domain that has a sponsor representing a specific community served by the domain. The communities involved are based on ethnic, geographical, professional, technical or other theme concepts proposed by private agencies or organizations that establish and enforce rules restricting the eligibility of registrants to use the TLD.

Generally speaking, a sponsored TLD is a specialized TLD that has a sponsor representing the narrower community that is most affected by the TLD, while an unsponsored TLD operates under policies established by the global Internet community directly through the ICANN process. [2] For example, the .aero TLD is sponsored by SITA, which limits registrations to members of the air transport industry.

TLDEligibilitySponsors
.aero Members of the air-transport industry SITA
.asia Companies, organisations and individuals in the Asia-Pacific region DotAsia Organisation
.cat Catalan linguistic and cultural community Fundació puntCat
.coop Cooperative associations DotCooperation LLC
.edu US Institutions of higher education Educause
.gov United States government, states and local governments Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (an independent agency of the US government)
.int International treaty-based organisations Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
.jobs Human resource managersSince 2005: IANA states that the sponsoring organization is Employ Media LLC [3] (private company), but also presents a delegation report that states Employ Media LLC is a registry, and the sponsoring organization is The Society for Human Resource Management [4] (nonprofit organization)
.mil US Military entities Defense Information Systems Agency (US government)
.museum Museums Museum Domain Management Association
.post Postal services Universal Postal Union
.tel For businesses and individuals to publish contact dataSince 2008: Telnic Limited [5]

Since 2017: Telnames Limited [6] (private company)

.travel Travel agents, airlines, hoteliers, tourism bureaus, etc.Since 2005: Registry is Tralliance Corporation, [7] who was in some arrangement with The Travel Partnership Corporation, [7] : III.1.g  but no mention in contracts of who is the "sponsor".

Since 2015: Registry is Tralliance Registry Management Company, LLC [8]
Since 2018: Registry is Dog Beach, LLC [9]
Since 2020: Registry is Donuts Inc. [10] (private company)

.xxx Pornographic sites ICM Registry

ICANN only applied the term sponsored TLD to TLDs in the first two rounds of new gTLDs. It did not use the distinction between sponsored and unsponsored for new gTLDs in the 2012 round. [11]

Types

As of 2015, IANA distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains: [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ICANN</span> American nonprofit organization that coordinates several Internet address databases

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization head-quartered 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domain name</span> Identification string in the Internet

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. As of 2017, 330.6 million domain names had been registered. 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.

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.

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.

Western Sahara is a disputed territory, and as such it has no country code top-level domain (ccTLD). .eh is reserved for this purpose, and will be assigned if the Western Sahara conflict results in an agreement between the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Morocco. IANA has not designated a ccTLD manager for the .eh domain.

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.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages the .ca country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. Its offices are located at 979 Bank Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. CIRA sets the policies and agendas that support Canada's internet community and Canada's involvement in international internet governance. It is a member-driven organization with membership open to all that hold a .ca domain. As of March 2023, there were more than 3.3 million active .ca domains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.co</span> Internet country-code top level domain for Colombia

.co is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Colombia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.post</span> Sponsored top-level domain for the postal sector

.post is a sponsored top-level domain (STLD) available exclusively for the postal sector. It is the first STLD to be 100% secured by DNSSEC. The domain aims to integrate the physical, financial and electronic dimensions of postal services to enable and facilitate e-post, e-finance, e-commerce and e-government services. The domain was approved by ICANN on April 8, 2005 as a sponsored TLD in the second group of new TLD applications evaluated in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.mobi</span> Generic top-level Internet domain

The domain name mobi is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective mobile.

An unsponsored top-level domain (uTLD) is 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. IANA currently distinguishes 3 groups of top-level domains: country-code top-level domains (ccTLD), generic top-level domains (gTLD) and infrastructure top-level domain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.me</span> Internet country-code top level domain for Montenegro

.me is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Montenegro.

The Domain Name System of the Internet consists of a set of top-level domains that constitute the root domain of the hierarchical name space and database. In the growth of the Internet, it became desirable to expand the initial set of six generic top-level domains in 1984. As a result, new top-level domain names have been proposed for implementation by ICANN. Such proposals included a variety of models ranging from adoption of policies for unrestricted gTLDs that could be registered by anyone for any purpose, to chartered gTLDs for specialized uses by specialized organizations. In October 2000, ICANN published a list of proposals for top-level domain strings it had received.

Prior to the globalization of the Internet, its assignment of domain names was administered within the research and academic communities through the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). As the Internet grew to a global service, in the 1990s, there was increasing pressure to add more "generic" top-level domain names, beyond the initial set, such as .com and .org and the two-letter country codes. Extensive debate within the Internet operational community did not resolve this. Finally, a composite group was formed, to create a proposal for the enhancement. The International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC) was composed of members named by a variety of Internet and International sponsoring organizations.

A geographic top-level domain is any of an unofficial group of top-level domains in the Domain Name System of the Internet using the name of or invoking an association with a geographical, geopolitical, ethnic, linguistic or cultural community. The IANA does not recognize these domains as their own group within the Root Zone Database, rather classifying them as generic top-level domains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.africa</span> Internet TLD for the African Union

.africa is the officially designated top-level domain (TLD) for the African and Pan African communities and users wherever they reside. It is a sponsored generic top-level domain (gTLD) operated by the Registry Africa. The .africa namespace is open to individuals, businesses and organizations around the world. The .africa domains are intended to showcase their brand and commitment to the African continent, establishing a home for Africa-specific products and services, expanding a brand's regional influence and acquiring online real-estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.wiki</span> Generic top-level Internet domain

.wiki is a top-level domain name. It was proposed in ICANN's New generic top-level domain (gTLD) Program, and became available to the general public on May 26, 2014. Top Level Design is the domain name registry for the string.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.kaufen</span>

.kaufen is a proposed top-level domain (TLD) in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Demand Media. The proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 29 December 2013.

References

  1. ↑ "Root Zone Database". Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
  2. ↑ "Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)". ICANN Archives.
  3. ↑ "Delegation Record for .JOBS". 2005-09-08. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  4. ↑ "IANA Report on the Delegation of the .JOBS Top-Level Domain". 2005-08-31. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  5. ↑ "Delegation Record for .TEL". IANA. 2007-03-02. Archived from the original on 2008-11-21.
  6. ↑ ".tel Registry Agreement". ICANN. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2021-02-13. Effective 28 February 2017, the Registry Agreement was assigned by Telnic Limited to Telnames Limited
  7. 1 2 ".travel Registry Agreement". 2005-05-05. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  8. ↑ ".travel Registry Agreement". 2015-10-09. Registry Agreement. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  9. ↑ ".travel Registry Agreement". 2018-02-12. Assignment and Assumption Agreement. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  10. ↑ ".travel Registry Agreement". 2020-06-01. Amendment No.3. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  11. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions on new gTLDs". ICANN.org.
  12. ↑ "IANA root zone database". Iana.org. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
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