Canadian Internet Registration Authority
 | |
| Type: | Non Profit Organization |
| Industry: | Registrar |
| Founded: | Canada (1998) |
| Headquarters: | 350 Sparks Street, Suite 306 Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 7S8 Canada |
| Website: | http://www.cira.ca |
| Key People | |
| Byron Holland, President & CEO Michael Stewart, General Counsel & Director of Policy | |
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the rganization that manages the .CA domain space on behalf of all Canadians, the policies that support Canada’s Internet community and Canada’s involvement in international Internet governance. [1] This Non Profit Organization incorporated in December 1998 and became the official .CA registry on December 1, 2000.[2] A 15 member Board of Directors, consisting of both elected and appointed members, oversee CIRA's operations. Board members are elected annually by CIRA Members through an online process. Membership in CIRA is free, and open to anyone who holds a .CA domain.
Evolution of .ca domain[edit | edit source]
.ca is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. Registrants of .ca domains must meet Canadian Presence Requirements as defined by the registry.
Jon Postel, operator of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), allocated the domain name was originally to John Demco of the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1988.[3] During that time, the Internet was used mostly for small-time research.[4] The first .CA domain name was upei.ca, registered in 1988 by the University of Prince Edward Island. [5] The administrtaion of the .ca domain were carried out by Demco with with assistance of .ca committe of volunteers. The names from .ca domain were assigned without charged to the applicants.
In 1997, at the Canadian Internet community's annual conference, In 1997, at the Canadian Internet community's annual conference, discussions of reform led to the formation of the Canadian Domain.[6]
History of CIRA[edit | edit source]
As the outcome of the the Canadian Internet community's annual conference in 1997, the CDNCC recommended that a private sector, not-for-profit corporation be set up to take over the administration of the .ca from UBC and John Demco.[7] In late December 1998, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) was incorporated to take this function.
In a 1999 letter the Canadian Government recognized CIRA as the new administrator of the .ca domain. [8]
On June 2000, Umbrella Agreement for the Transfer of the .ca Domain Name Registry was signed between the government, CIRA and University of British Columbia. Transition Agreement for the Transfer of the Dot-ca domain name registry was also signed between CIRA and University of British Columbia. By these agreements, CIRA has gained the complete responsibility for managing the .ca domain from further on. [9] By then, ther were there were 86,976 .ca registrations in effect.
CIRA officially opened its offices in Ottawa, Ontario on May 2, 2001. CIRA Members (CIRA Registrants with at least one active .ca domain name) voted in the first Board of Directors election in June 2001. The first CIRA Annual General Meeting was held in Toronto in December 2001. By the end of 2001, the registry contained 270,655 .CA domain names.<ref>CIRA.ca
In June 2003, ICANN Public Meeting in Montreal. <ref>ICANN.org . CIRA also hosted an event during ICANNs 2005 Annual General Meeting in Vancouver.
On April, 2008, CIRA announced that it has surpassed one million dot-ca domain name registrations.<ref>Micheal Geist
On October 12, 2010, CIRA released a new version of its domain name registration system and stopped accepting new registrations for third-level domains. <ref>CIRA.ca
References[edit | edit source]