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.org

From ICANNWiki
gTLD
Type: gTLD
Status: Active
Implemented: 1985
Registry: Afilias

.org is one of the first generic top-level domains (gTLD) to be included in the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). It is managed by Public Interest Registry (PIR).[1]

History[edit | edit source]

.org was proposed by Jon Postel and Joyce Reynolds as one of the initial gTLDs ( along with .com, .edu, .gov, and .mil) for the DNS System in RFC 920, entitled "Domain Requirements", dated October 1994. It was implemented in January 1985.

From the deployment of the DNS until the end of 1992, the gTLDs were managed by SRI International's Network Information Center (SRI-NIC).[2] In 1993, the registration function within gTLDs was assumed by Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) through a cooperative agreement with USA's National Science Foundation. However, in 1998, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued the White Paper in response to the instruction of American president Bill Clinton to form a new non-profit organization to take over the responsibilities in improving the technical management of the Internet Domain Name System, which would become ICANN. As a result, Network Solutions' contract to manage the registration services of the .org was extended by the Department of Commerce until September 30, 2000.[3] In 1999, Network Solutions entered an agreement with ICANN to remain as the registry operator of the .org gTLD until December 31, 2002.[4]

The control of Network Solutions changed hands in 2000, when Verisign acquired the majority shareholding at a price of USD 21 billion.[5]

In May 2001, the ICANN-NSI registry agreement covering .com, .net, and .org, was replaced with three registry agreements for each gTLDs. The registry agreement for .org provided that Verisign would give up the operatorship of the .org registry December 31, 2002, after which a successor registry operator designated by ICANN would assume responsibility for the operation.[2]

Transition to Current Management[edit | edit source]

During the meeting in Accra, Ghana in March of 2002, the ICANN Board resolved the request for proposals from parties interested in taking over the registry operations of the .org TLD from Verisign.[6]

ICANN received 11 proposals by June 2002 and created four teams to evaluate the proposals. The teams were:[7]

  • Gartner, Inc., which was tasked to evaluate the technical aspects of the proposals;
  • an international team of Chief Information Officers, which conducted an independent technical evaluation using a different methodology;
  • Noncommercial Domain Name Holders Constituency of ICANN's DNSO, that was responsible for usage evaluation of the proposals
  • ICANN's General Counsel, that evaluated the procedural aspects of the bids.

After evaluating the proposals, the teams recommended these candidates to succeed in the management of the .org registration services from Verisign:

The Department of Commerce approved Public Interest Registry to take over the management of the .org TLD registry.[8] PIR officially assumed the functions of .org registry operator on January 1, 2003.[9] In 2006, PIR renewed its .org Registry Agreement with ICANN until June 30, 2013.[10]

Registration Statistics[edit | edit source]

The first .org domain was registered by MITRE Corporation, a non-profit organization providing systems engineering and information technology support to the US government, on July 10, 1985.[11]

On June 24th, 2012, registration for .org passed the 10 million mark. The 10th million registration was for JADFORUM.org, registered by the Jordan River and Dead Sea Basin Forum via GoDaddy. It was the 7th TLD to pass the 10 million mark; the others being .com, .de (2006), .net (2007) .cn (2008), .uk (2012), .tk.[12]

.org IDN[edit | edit source]

The Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) registration for the .org TLD is available in German, Danish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean (Hangul), Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Swedish scripts since 2005. The Spanish language script became available in 2007, while Chinese IDN registration became available in January of 2010; IDN registration for Bosnian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian languages using the Cyrillic script started on February 19, 2011.[13]

U.S. Seizures of Domain Names[edit | edit source]

The U.S. government has stated that because .org's registry operator, PIR, is based in the United States, it has the right to seize any .org domain names at any time. The government goes straight to the registry in cases where the domain name is foreign, as foreign registrars are not required to comply with U.S. law. By early 2012, the government had seized 750 domain names like this, most registered through foreign registrars. Usually, the domain names are redirected at the DNS level to a U.S. government IP address that informs visitors that the site has been seized. Recently Bodog.com was targeted because federal law in the United States makes it illegal to offer online sports wagering and to payoff online bets, although online gambling isn’t illegal globally. The domain name was registered through a Canadian registrar, but the United States closed the site without any intervention from Canadian authorities or companies.[14]

References[edit | edit source]

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