I’ve been seeing Web addresses ending in unfamiliar monikers. What are they
all about?

The SouthTown
Q and A
Sunday, March 12, 2006

Internet users are no doubt familiar with “.com,” but it is only one
of 264 in the Internet’s master directories. In fact, according to the
company that runs the directories, VeriSign Inc., “.com” accounts for
only about half of all domain names.

Other popular ones include “.net” and “.org,” and countries have their
own suffixes as well, including “.de” for Germany and “.fr” for
France. There’s even a legacy “.su” for the Soviet Union in the
databases, even though the domain name has been formally phased out.

The organization that coordinates all that is the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, a California-based nonprofit
that gets its authority from the U.S. government, which funded much of
the Internet’s early development. In 1998, ICANN took over a naming
system created in the1980s by the Internet’s core engineers.

(While ICANN sets policies and assigns names, subject to Commerce
Department oversight, VeriSign runs the main directory computers under
a contract.

VeriSign separately keeps the lists for names registered under “.com”
and “.net.”)

Three of the original names – “.com,” “.net” and “.org” – are
available to anyone, although “.com” was designated for commercial
entities, “.net” for network providers and “.org” for organizations.

Others are reserved: “.edu” for educational institutions; “.gov” for
U.S.

government; “.mil” for U.S. military and “.int” for organizations
established by international treaty. In addition, “.arpa” is used
internally and is rarely seen by the public.

About 250 two-letter suffixes were initially assigned to various
countries, territories and the continent of Antarctica, and more
recently the Palestinian territories got “.ps” and the European Union
“.eu.” These are generally based on lists kept by the International
Organization for Standardization,which in turn took information from
the United Nations.

Although each country-code domain is meant for a country’s residents
and businesses, some countries have tried to raise money by permitting
anyone in the world to use their suffixes. So an AM radio station can
use “. am” by claiming Armenia’s “. am”, television station anywhere
can claim Tuvalu’s “.tv” and a doctor can use Moldova’s “.md.”

In 2001, ICANN approved the first expansion of the addressing system,
adding seven, including “.info” for general use and “.biz” for
businesses.

Others are restricted: “.aero” for the aviation industry; “.coop” for
business cooperatives like credit unions; “.museum” for accredited
museums worldwide; “.name” for individuals; and “.pro” for
professionals. Each has its own group deciding who qualifies.

ICANN is in the midst of a second expansion, having already approved
“.jobs” for the human resources community, “.travel” for the travel
industry, “.mobi” targeting mobile services and “.cat” for the Catalan
language.

Others in the works include “.xxx,” a controversial proposal to create
a virtual red-light district for porn sites, and “.asia” for the
Asia-Pacific community.

So how do you get one of these names?

It’s pretty easy with the general-use suffixes like “.com” and even
the specialized ones like “.travel.”

ICANN has approved scores of companies to sell those names for as
little asa few dollars. The list is at:

st.html Country-code
suffixes are tougher.

First, you must check whether you even qualify for one, since some are
restricted to residents, and some subdivide their domains so
U.K. businesses must use “.co.uk.” Then you must find the companies
that register names under that particular suffix.

A good rule of thumb is to start by going to
and finding your country’s
two-letter code.

Then, try typing “,” with “xx” representing the
two-letter country code. It doesn’t work with every domain, but for
many of them, you’ll get information about that suffix’s registration
policies and procedures.

Keep in mind, though, that not all of these suffixes will be as
reliable as “.com” and the other major ones.

Iraq’s “.iq” was in limbo for years after the 2002 federal indictment
of the Texas-based company that was running it on charges of funneling
money to a member of the militant group Hamas. Only in July did ICANN
approve transferring the “.iq” name to Iraq’s telecommunications
regulator.

So what are the most popular domain names anyway?

Tops, of course, is “.com.” Germany’s “de” is next, followed by
“.net,” “.uk,” and “.org.”

Despite the United States having the largest Internet population,
“.us” ranks 10th; most simply go for “.com” or one of the other
global domains.

By Anick Jesdanun, The Associated Press