.cx

.cx is the ccTLD for Christmas Island. It is managed by the Christmas Island Domain Administration Limited (CXDA).

Delegation History

In 1997, the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (USC-ISI), which then performed the IANA functions, approved a request for establishment of the .cx top-level domain. The domain was delegated on 23 April 1997 to Karinna Love of what became Planet Three Ltd., a company based in London, United Kingdom. In 1999, the local Internet community on Christmas Island had expressed an interest in bringing the domain under local control, and initiated efforts to effect a redelegation.

In 2000, Dot CX Limited was initially identified as the appropriate entity to receive the delegation for the .CX domain, with supporting documentation and the agreement of the existing delegee. However, negotiations with ICANN over an agreement were prolonged, and no final terms were reached despite multiple proposals. During this time, IANA continued processing name server changes approved by Australia’s Department of Communications, ensuring the domain remained active.

In 2005, after further discussions, a new redelegation request was submitted, this time with the endorsement of the Christmas Island Shire Council. The organization, now renamed Christmas Island Internet Administration Limited (CIIA), was recognized as the appropriate delegee. In November 2005, the Australian government supported this redelegation.

In January 2006, ICANN's Board authorized moving forward with the redelegation. IANA concluded that CIIA met the criteria for redelegation and supported their request, stating that CIIA was already functioning as the de facto operator of the .cx domain.

Rules and Restrictions

Anyone who wishes to register under .cx must guarantee that:

• to the best of the Registrant’s knowledge and belief, neither the registration of the .cx domain name nor the manner in which it is to be directly or indirectly used infringes the legal rights or intellectual property rights of a third party;
• the Registrant will use, display, or exploit the .cx Domain name in good faith, and in accordance with the laws of Australia, international law, and applicable state laws and regulations, and will not use the .cx Domain name in any way which may violate a subsisting right of CXDA or any third party;
• the Registrant is either (a) an identifiable human individual (over the age of 18 years); or (b) a legally recognized statutory entity (such as a Limited Liability Company, Partnership, Association, Society or Proprietary Limited Company);
• the Registrant will promptly notify CXDA of any actual or threatened proceedings brought in respect of the words used as or incorporated in the .cx domain name whether by or against the Registrant;
• the Registrant will not, directly or indirectly, through registration or use of the .cx domain name or otherwise:
  • register a .cx Domain name for the purpose of diverting trade from another business or website;
  • deliberately register as a .cx Domain name misspellings of another entity’s personal, company or brand name in order to pass-off or trade on the business, goodwill or reputation of another.

Shock Site

One of the web's most famous "shock sites" was hosted under .cx. A hacker group found an explicit pornographic picture and used it to prank themselves and others. One of the group members then registered the domain Goatse.cx in 1999, a web page set up for sharing the photo more easily by making it a shareable link. In the late 90s and early 2000s, the Goatse website became a massively popular prank. On January 14, 2004, the domain name goatse.cx was suspended by CXDA after a local resident filed a complaint. By January 2007, the CXDA had lifted the domain name suspension, which subsequently became available for purchase. Some tried to relive the website with different purposes, but as of 2024, those attempts were unsuccessful.

Country code top-level domain