.us
 | |
| Industry: | TLD |
| Founded: | 1985 |
| Country: | USA |
| Website: | http://www.neustar.us |
| Key People | |
| Allen Gorldberg, Corporate Communications | |
[edit]
.us is the country code top-level domain name (ccTLD) for the United States. Its operations is overseen by the Department of Commerce (DOC). DOC is also responsible for choosing an administrator for .us. Neustar is the current administrator.[1]
History edit
.us was first established in 1985. Second level domains under .us did not become available for registration until April 2002.[2]
Jon Postel was one of the original administrators for .us. At the time of its foundation, he served as manager of the Internet Assigned Numbers and Authority (IANA), delegating the management of localities within the usTLD hierarchy to individuals, organizations, and State governments. The operational guidelines drafted by the original administrators of the us TLd states that the delegated managers are "trustees for the delegated domain and have a duty to serve the community. The designated [delegated] manager is the trustee of the domain for the domain itself and the global Internet community. Concerns about “rights” and “ownership” of domains are inappropriate. It is appropriate to be concerned about “responsibilities” and “service” to the community.” The delegated managers worked voluntarily without pay as they perform registry or registration operations. [3]
In 2001, the Department of Commerce through the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded Neustar to serve as the administrator of the us TLD with the objective to further develop and expand the operation of the United States domain name. The agency renewed Neustar's contract to administer the us TLD on October 25, 2007.[4]
As of 2007, there are 1.26 million domain names under the us TLD administeres by Neustar, one of the leaders in providing registry and clearinghouse services in telecommunications and Internet networks. The company projected that the US domain name will grow at an average rate of 23% per year.[5]
Structure edit
The basic structure of the .us TLD is as follows: <organization>.<locality>.<state>.us, where the state is represented by its two-digit postal code.
The delegated managers also known as "delegees" or "locality delegees" supervise the operations of the locality space of majority of the usTLD. Although Neustar administers an expanded a second level .us domain name, it still maintains the hierarchical locality space to provide structure, name uniqueness and geographic reference point for registrants.[6]
Management Framework for us TLD edit
The Department of Commerce and Neustar has been successful in managing and developing the usTLD because of their continuous development and implementation of unique policies and procedures to support a more certain, reliable and robust DNS. Neustar worked hand in hand with the agency in creating the us TLD management framework of us TLd based on four primary segments which include (1) legacy hierarchical locality space (2) expanded second-level space(3) kids.us and (4) reserved names.[7]
Nexus Requirements edit
To be able to register a .us domain name any individual should be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States of America while entities or organizations should incorporated within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States possessions or territories or should be organized under the laws of the U.S. government.[8]
us TLD Dispute Resolution Policy edit
Any complaint regarding the us TLD should be filed to the approved dispute resolution service providers which include the American Arbitration Association (AAA)[9]and the National Arbitration Forum (NAF).[10]