Domain Name
Content
DOMAIN NAME IIT 022 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BATH7/2012 NAME MUHAMMAD FITRI MUHAMMAD HAMIDI MEGAT DENNIS HUANG
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TABLE OF CONTENT
1.) Objectie of this findings----------------------------------------------------3 2.) Introduction to Information Technology-----------------------------------4 3.) What is domain--------------------------------------------------------------5 4.) Top level domain names--------------------------------------------------6-7 5.) History of domain---------------------------------------------------------8-9 6.) Domain uses and abuses ------------------------------------------------10-14
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Objective
The objective from our group findings is to know the definition of information technology. Besides, we also identify what is the DOMAIN definition. We also list down top level domain names(TLD‟s).Our group found out the history of domain names and it uses and abuses. Finally, we also find out the most expensive domain name sales on record.
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Information Technology – A Definition:
Information technology (IT) is concerned with the development, management, and use of computer-based information systems. Humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating and communicating information since the Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3000 BC, but the term "information technology" in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authors Leavitt and Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)." Based on the storage and processing technology employed, it is possible to distinguish four distinct phases of IT development: premechanical (3000 BC – 1450 AD), mechanical (1450–1840), electromechanical (1840–1940) and electronic. This article focuses on the latter of those periods, which began in about 1940.
The Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology (IT) as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems", but the term has also been applied more narrowly to describe a branch of engineering dealing with the use of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data. Although commonly used to refer to computers and computer networks, IT encompasses other information-distribution technologies such as television and telephones, a wider field more explicitly known as information and communications technology.
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What is DOMAIN NAME
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control on the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS). Domain names are used in various networking contexts and application-specific naming and addressing purposes. In general, a domain name represents an Internet Protocol (IP) resource, such as a personal computer used to access the Internet, a server computer hosting a web site, or the web site itself or any other service communicated via the Internet. Domain names are organized in subordinate levels (subdomains) of the DNS root domain, which is nameless. The first-level set of domain names are the top-level domains (TLDs), including the generic top-level domains (gTLDs), such as the prominent domains com, info, net and org, and thecountry code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Below these top-level domains in the DNS hierarchy are the second-level and third-level domain names that are typically open for reservation by end-users who wish to connect local area networks to the Internet, create other publicly accessible Internet resources or run web sites. The registration of these domain names is usually administered by domain name registrars who sell their services to the public. Although the Domain Name System is case-insensitive, to better fit in with the flow of textual information, domain names are usually written in lowercase.
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Top Level Domain Names (TLD’s)
Top-level domains
Every domain name ends in a top-level domain (TLD) name, which is always either one of a small list of generic names (three or more characters), or a two characters territory code based on ISO-3166 (there are few exceptions and new codes are integrated case by case). Top-level domains are sometimes also called first-level domains.
Generic top-level domain
The generic top-level domain (gTLD) extensions are: A generic top-level domain (gTLD) is a top-level domain used (at least in theory) by a particular class of organization. These are three or more letters long, and are named for the type of organization that they represent (for example, .com for commercial organizations). [1] The following gTLDs currently exist (as does .arpa, which is sometimes considered a gTLD): .aero – for the air transport industry .biz – for business use .cat – for Catalan language/culture .com – for commercial organizations, but unrestricted .coop – for cooperatives .edu – for post-secondary educational establishments .gov – for governments and their agencies in the United States .info – for informational sites, but unrestricted .int – for international organizations established by treaty .jobs – for employment-related sites .mil – for the US military .mobi – for sites catering to mobile devices .museum – for museums .name – for families and individuals .net – originally for network infrastructures, now unrestricted .org – originally for organizations not clearly falling within the other gTLDs, now unrestricted .pro – for certain professions .tel – for services involving connections between the telephone network and the Internet (added March 2, 2007) .travel – for travel agents, airlines, hoteliers, tourism bureaus, etc.
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The following gTLDs are in the process of being approved, and may be added to the root nameservers in the near future: .asia – for the Asian community .post – for postal services .geo – for geographically related sites .cym – for Welsh language/culture
Other-level domains
In addition to the top-level domains, there are second-level domain (SLD) names. These are the names directly to the left of .com, .net, and the other top-level domains. As an example, in the domain en.ozdomainer.com, ―ozdomainer‖ is the second-level domain. On the next level are third-level domains. These domains are immediately to the left of a second-level domain. In the en.wikipedia.org example, ―en‖ is a third-level domain. There can be fourth and fifth level domains and so on, with virtually no limitation. An example of a working domain with five levels iswww.sos.state.oh.us. Each level is separated by a dot or period symbol between them. Domains of third or higher level are also known as subdomains, though this term technically applies to a domain of any level, since even a top-level domain is a ―subdomain‖ of the ―root‖ domain (a ―zeroth-level‖ domain that is designated by a dot alone). Traditionally, the second level domain was the name of the company or the name used on the internet. The third level was commonly used to designate a particular host server. Therefore, ftp.ozdomainer.com might be an FTP server,www.ozdomainer.com would be a World Wide Web Server, andmail.ozdomainer.com could be an email server. Modern technology now allows multiple servers to serve a single subdomain, or multiple protocols or domains to be served by a single computer. Therefore, subdomains may or may not have any real purpose.
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History of Domain Names
History
When generic top-level domains were first implemented, in January 1985, there were six: .com .edu .gov .mil .net .org
While .net was not listed in the original RFC document describing the domain name system, it was added by the time the first group of names were implemented. The .com, .net, and .org gTLDs, despite their original different uses, are now in practice open for use by anybody for any purpose. In November 1988, another gTLD was introduced, .int. This gTLD was introduced in response to NATO’s request for a domain name which adequately reflected its character as an international organization. It was also originally planned to be used for some Internet infrastructure databases, such as .ip6.int, the IPv6 equivalent of .in-addr.arpa. However, in May 2000, the Internet Architecture Board proposed to close the .int domain to new infrastructure databases. All future such databases would be created in .arpa (a legacy of the pre-TLD system), and existing ones would move to .arpa wherever feasible, which led to the use of .ip6.arpa for IPv6 reverse lookups. By the mid-1990s there was pressure for more gTLDs to be introduced. Jon Postel, as head of IANA, invited applications from interested parties. In early 1995, Postel created ―Draft Postel‖, an Internet draft containing the procedures to create new domain name registries and new TLDs. Draft Postel created a number of small committees to approve the new TLDs. Because of the increasing interest, a number of large organizations took over the process under the Internet Society’s umbrella. This second attempt involved the setting up of a temporary organization called the International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC). On February 4, 1997, the IAHC issued a report ignoring the Draft Postel recommendations and instead recommended the introduction of seven new gTLDs (.arts, .firm, .info, .nom, .rec, .store, and .web). However, progress on this stalled after the U.S. government intervened and nothing ever came of it.
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In October 1998, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) formed to take over the task of managing domain names. After a call for proposals (August 15, 2000) and a brief period of public consultation, ICANN announced on November 16, 2000 its selection of the following seven new gTLDs: .aero .biz .coop .info .museum .name .pro
These new gTLDs started to come into use in June 2001, and by the end of that year all except .pro existed, with .biz, .info and .museum already in full operation. .name and .coop became fully operational in January 2002, and .aero followed later in the year. .pro became a gTLD in May 2002, but did not become fully operational until June 2004. ICANN is adding further gTLDs, starting with a set of sponsored top-level domains (like the previous .aero, .coop, and .museum). The application period for these lasted from 15 December 2003 until 16 March 2004, and resulted in ten applications. As of June 2005, ICANN had announced the approval in principle of several new TLDs, with details still being worked out and implementation still in the future: .cat (now live) .jobs (now live) .mobi (now live) .post .tel .travel (now live) .xxx (approval revoked by ICANN)
Proposals for .mail were still under consideration. There was also a second proposal for .tel.
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Domains Uses & Abuses
Uses and abuses
As domain names became attractive to marketers, rather than just the technical audience for which they were originally intended, they began to be used in manners that in many cases did not fit in their intended structure. As originally planned, the structure of domain names followed a strict hierarchy in which the top level domain indicated the type of organization (commercial, governmental, etc.), and addresses would be nested down to third, fourth, or further levels to express complex structures, where, for instance, branches, departments, and subsidiaries of a parent organization would have addresses which were subdomains of the parent domain. Also, hostnames were intended to correspond to actual physical machines on the network, generally with only one name per machine. However, once the World Wide Web became popular, site operators frequently wished to have memorable addresses, regardless of whether they fit properly in the structure; thus, since the .com domain was the most popular and memorable, even noncommercial sites would often get addresses under it, and sites of all sorts wished to have second-level domain registrations even if they were parts of a larger entity where a logical subdomain would have made sense (e.g., abcnews.com instead of news.abc.com). A Web site found at http://www.example.org/ will often be advertised without the “http://”, and in most cases can be reached by just entering “example.org” into a Web browser. In the case of a .com, the Web site can sometimes be reached by just entering “example” (depending on browser versions and configuration settings, which vary in how they interpret incomplete addresses). The popularity of domain names also led to uses which were regarded as abusive by established companies with trademark rights; this was known as cybersquatting, in which somebody took a name that resembled a trademark in order to profit from traffic to that address. To combat this, various laws and policies were enacted to allow abusive registrations to be forcibly transferred, but these were sometimes themselves abused by overzealous companies committing reverse domain hijacking against domain users who had legitimate grounds to hold their names, such as their being generic words as well as trademarks in a particular context, or their use in the context of fan or protest sites with free speech rights of their own. Laws that specifically address domain name conflicts include the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in the United States and the Trademarks Act, 1999, in India. Alternatively, domain registrants are bound by contract under the UDRP to comply with mandatory arbitration proceedings should someone challenge their ownership of the domain name.
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Generic domain names — problems arising out of unregulated name selection
Within a particular top-level domain, parties are generally free to select an unallocated domain name as their own on a first come, first served basis, resulting in Harris‟s lament, all the good ones are taken. For generic or commonly used names, this may sometimes lead to the use of a domain name which is inaccurate or misleading. This problem can be seen with regard to the ownership or control of domain names for a generic product or service. By way of illustration, there has been tremendous growth in the number and size of literary festivals around the world in recent years. In this context, currently a generic domain name such as literary.org is available to the first literary festival organisation which is able to obtain registration, even if the festival in question is very young or obscure. Some critics would argue that there is greater amenity in reserving such domain names for the use of, for example, a regional or umbrella grouping of festivals. Related issues may also arise in relation to non-commercial domain names.
Unconventional domain names
Due to the rarity of one-word dot-com domain names, many unconventional domain names, domain hacks, have been gaining popularity. They make use of the top-level domain as an integral part of the Web site‟s title. Two popular domain hack Web sites are del.icio.us and blo.gs, which spell out “delicious” and “blogs”, respectively. Unconventional domain names are also used to create unconventional email addresses. Non-working examples that spell „James‟ are [email protected] [email protected], which use the domain names m.es (of Spain‟s .es) andmes.com, respectively.
Commercial resale of domain names
An economic effect of the widespread usage of domain names has been the resale market (after-market) for generic domain names that has sprung up in the last decade. Certain domains, especially those related to business, gambling, pornography, and other commercially lucrative fields of digital world trade have become very much in demand to corporations and entrepreneurs due to their importance in attracting clients. The most expensive Internet domain name to date, according to Guinness World Records, is business.com which was resold in 1999 for $7.5 million, but this was $7.5 million in stock options, not in cash. The stock was later redeemed for $2 million, “So it was $2 million.”[1]. There are disputes about the high values of domain names claimed and the actual cash prices of many sales such Business.com.
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Another high-priced domain name, sex.com, was stolen from its rightful owner by means of a forged transfer instruction via fax. During the height of the dot-com era, the domain was earning millions of dollars per month in advertising revenue from the large influx of visitors that arrived daily. The sex.com sale may have never been final as the domain is still with the previous owner. Also, that sale was not just a domain but an income stream, a web site, a domain name with customers and advertisers, etc. Two long-running U.S. lawsuits resulted, one against the thief and one against the domain registrar VeriSign. In one of the cases, Kremen v. Network Solutions, the court found in favor of the plaintiff, leading to an unprecedented ruling that classified domain names as property, granting them the same legal protections. In 1999, Microsoft traded the name Bob.com with internet entrepreneur Bob Kerstein for the name Windows2000.com which was the name of their new operating system. One of the reasons for the value of domain names is that even without advertising or marketing, they attract clients seeking services and products who simply type in the generic name. Furthermore, generic domain names such as movies.com or Books.com are extremely easy for potential customers to remember, increasing the probability that they become repeat customers or regular clients. Although the current domain market is nowhere as strong as it was during the dotcom heyday, it remains strong and is currently experiencing solid growth again. Annually tens of millions of dollars change hands due to the resale of domains. Large numbers of registered domain names lapse and are deleted each year. On average 25,000 domain names drop (are deleted) every day. It is very important to remember that a domain (name, address) must be valued separately from the website (content, revenue) that it is used for. The high prices have usually been paid for the revenue that was generated from the website at the domain‟s address (url.). The intrinsic value of a domain is the registration fee. There is no such a thing as a current market value for a domain: It just takes what somebody pays. The Fair Market Value of a domain can be anything from the registration fee: The lowest known past selling price, the highest known past selling, price, the most recent selling price, or just any past selling price and any of these (or any sum resp. division etc.) is usually added to the current or expected revenue from the web content (advertising, sales, etc.). Domain (name + ext.) should not be mixed with website (content + revenue). The estimation by appraisers are always the addition of what they would like that a domain is worth together with the effective/expected/desired revenue from the web content. Some people put value on the length of the SLD (name) and other people prefer description capability, but the shorter a SLD is, the less descriptive it can be. Also, if short is crucial, then the TLD (extension) should be short too. It is less realistic to get a domain like LL.travel or LL.mobi than a domain travel.LL or mobi.LL. This illustrates the relativity of domain value estimation. It can be safely put that the revenue af a web (content) can be easily stated, but that the value of a domain
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(SLD.TLD aka name.ext) is a matter of opinions and preferences. In the end, however, any sale depend of the estimates by the domain seller and the domain buyer. People who buy and sell domain names are known as domainers. People who sell value estimation services are known as appraisers. According to Guiness Book of World Records and MSNBC, the most expensive domain name sales on record as of 2004 were: Business.com for $7.5 million in December 1999, AsSeenOnTv.com for $5.1 million in January 2000, Altavista.com for $3.3 million in August 1998, Wine.com for $2.9 million in September 1999, CreditCards.com for $2.75 million in July 2004, and Autos.com for $2.2 million in December 1999. More recently though in 2006 / 2007 there have been some high value names sold including www.sex.com for $12 million, www.porn.com $9.5 Million. For the complete and up to date list of domain name sales you should check out Ron Rackson‟s website.
Domain name confusion
Intercapping is often used to clarify a domain name. However, DNS is caseinsensitive, and some names may be misinterpreted when converted to lowercase. For example: Who Represents, a database of artists and agents, chose whorepresents.com; a therapists‟ network thoughttherapistfinder.com looked good; and another website operating as of October 2006, is penisland.net a website for Pen Island, a site that claims to be an online pen vendor, but exists primarily as a joke, as it has no products for sale. In such situations, the proper wording can be clarified by use of hyphens. For instance, Experts Exchange, the programmers‟ site, for a long time used expertsexchange.com, but ultimately changed the name toexperts-exchange.com. Leo Stoller threatened to sue the owners of StealThisEmail.com on the basis that, when read as stealthisemail.com, it infringed on claimed trademark rights to the word “stealth”.
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.COM Domains For Sale
Some of the names listed here are at BIN (Buy It Now) prices others are open to offers. All sales will be handled through SEDO.com All .COM prices are in US$ and Sedo fees are paid by me. Please email offers to edkeaysmith(@)gmail.com FiberOpticEndoscopes.com US$350 ServoControlSystem.com US$350 HeavyDutyTruckBumpers.com US$350
.NET Domains For Sale
Some of the names listed here are at BIN (Buy It Now) prices others are open to offers. All sales will be handled through SEDO.com All .NET prices are in US$ and Sedo fees are paid by me. Please email offers to edkeaysmith(@)gmail.com LedGlobe.net US$200 FifthWheelRv.net US$200 FifthWheelRvs.net US$200 (or both FifthWheelRv.com & FifthWheelRvs.com for US$350 for the pair)
.ORG Domains For Sale
Some of the names listed here are at BIN (Buy It Now) prices others are open to offers. All sales will be handled through SEDO.com All .ORG prices are in US$ and Sedo fees are paid by me. Please email offers to edkeaysmith(@)gmail.com BenchScales.org US$450 MechanicalScales.org US$450 LearnFirstAid.org US$450
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TABLE OF CONTENT
1.) Objectie of this findings----------------------------------------------------3 2.) Introduction to Information Technology-----------------------------------4 3.) What is domain--------------------------------------------------------------5 4.) Top level domain names--------------------------------------------------6-7 5.) History of domain---------------------------------------------------------8-9 6.) Domain uses and abuses ------------------------------------------------10-14
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Objective
The objective from our group findings is to know the definition of information technology. Besides, we also identify what is the DOMAIN definition. We also list down top level domain names(TLD‟s).Our group found out the history of domain names and it uses and abuses. Finally, we also find out the most expensive domain name sales on record.
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Information Technology – A Definition:
Information technology (IT) is concerned with the development, management, and use of computer-based information systems. Humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating and communicating information since the Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3000 BC, but the term "information technology" in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authors Leavitt and Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)." Based on the storage and processing technology employed, it is possible to distinguish four distinct phases of IT development: premechanical (3000 BC – 1450 AD), mechanical (1450–1840), electromechanical (1840–1940) and electronic. This article focuses on the latter of those periods, which began in about 1940.
The Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology (IT) as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems", but the term has also been applied more narrowly to describe a branch of engineering dealing with the use of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data. Although commonly used to refer to computers and computer networks, IT encompasses other information-distribution technologies such as television and telephones, a wider field more explicitly known as information and communications technology.
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What is DOMAIN NAME
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control on the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS). Domain names are used in various networking contexts and application-specific naming and addressing purposes. In general, a domain name represents an Internet Protocol (IP) resource, such as a personal computer used to access the Internet, a server computer hosting a web site, or the web site itself or any other service communicated via the Internet. Domain names are organized in subordinate levels (subdomains) of the DNS root domain, which is nameless. The first-level set of domain names are the top-level domains (TLDs), including the generic top-level domains (gTLDs), such as the prominent domains com, info, net and org, and thecountry code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Below these top-level domains in the DNS hierarchy are the second-level and third-level domain names that are typically open for reservation by end-users who wish to connect local area networks to the Internet, create other publicly accessible Internet resources or run web sites. The registration of these domain names is usually administered by domain name registrars who sell their services to the public. Although the Domain Name System is case-insensitive, to better fit in with the flow of textual information, domain names are usually written in lowercase.
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Top Level Domain Names (TLD’s)
Top-level domains
Every domain name ends in a top-level domain (TLD) name, which is always either one of a small list of generic names (three or more characters), or a two characters territory code based on ISO-3166 (there are few exceptions and new codes are integrated case by case). Top-level domains are sometimes also called first-level domains.
Generic top-level domain
The generic top-level domain (gTLD) extensions are: A generic top-level domain (gTLD) is a top-level domain used (at least in theory) by a particular class of organization. These are three or more letters long, and are named for the type of organization that they represent (for example, .com for commercial organizations). [1] The following gTLDs currently exist (as does .arpa, which is sometimes considered a gTLD): .aero – for the air transport industry .biz – for business use .cat – for Catalan language/culture .com – for commercial organizations, but unrestricted .coop – for cooperatives .edu – for post-secondary educational establishments .gov – for governments and their agencies in the United States .info – for informational sites, but unrestricted .int – for international organizations established by treaty .jobs – for employment-related sites .mil – for the US military .mobi – for sites catering to mobile devices .museum – for museums .name – for families and individuals .net – originally for network infrastructures, now unrestricted .org – originally for organizations not clearly falling within the other gTLDs, now unrestricted .pro – for certain professions .tel – for services involving connections between the telephone network and the Internet (added March 2, 2007) .travel – for travel agents, airlines, hoteliers, tourism bureaus, etc.
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The following gTLDs are in the process of being approved, and may be added to the root nameservers in the near future: .asia – for the Asian community .post – for postal services .geo – for geographically related sites .cym – for Welsh language/culture
Other-level domains
In addition to the top-level domains, there are second-level domain (SLD) names. These are the names directly to the left of .com, .net, and the other top-level domains. As an example, in the domain en.ozdomainer.com, ―ozdomainer‖ is the second-level domain. On the next level are third-level domains. These domains are immediately to the left of a second-level domain. In the en.wikipedia.org example, ―en‖ is a third-level domain. There can be fourth and fifth level domains and so on, with virtually no limitation. An example of a working domain with five levels iswww.sos.state.oh.us. Each level is separated by a dot or period symbol between them. Domains of third or higher level are also known as subdomains, though this term technically applies to a domain of any level, since even a top-level domain is a ―subdomain‖ of the ―root‖ domain (a ―zeroth-level‖ domain that is designated by a dot alone). Traditionally, the second level domain was the name of the company or the name used on the internet. The third level was commonly used to designate a particular host server. Therefore, ftp.ozdomainer.com might be an FTP server,www.ozdomainer.com would be a World Wide Web Server, andmail.ozdomainer.com could be an email server. Modern technology now allows multiple servers to serve a single subdomain, or multiple protocols or domains to be served by a single computer. Therefore, subdomains may or may not have any real purpose.
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History of Domain Names
History
When generic top-level domains were first implemented, in January 1985, there were six: .com .edu .gov .mil .net .org
While .net was not listed in the original RFC document describing the domain name system, it was added by the time the first group of names were implemented. The .com, .net, and .org gTLDs, despite their original different uses, are now in practice open for use by anybody for any purpose. In November 1988, another gTLD was introduced, .int. This gTLD was introduced in response to NATO’s request for a domain name which adequately reflected its character as an international organization. It was also originally planned to be used for some Internet infrastructure databases, such as .ip6.int, the IPv6 equivalent of .in-addr.arpa. However, in May 2000, the Internet Architecture Board proposed to close the .int domain to new infrastructure databases. All future such databases would be created in .arpa (a legacy of the pre-TLD system), and existing ones would move to .arpa wherever feasible, which led to the use of .ip6.arpa for IPv6 reverse lookups. By the mid-1990s there was pressure for more gTLDs to be introduced. Jon Postel, as head of IANA, invited applications from interested parties. In early 1995, Postel created ―Draft Postel‖, an Internet draft containing the procedures to create new domain name registries and new TLDs. Draft Postel created a number of small committees to approve the new TLDs. Because of the increasing interest, a number of large organizations took over the process under the Internet Society’s umbrella. This second attempt involved the setting up of a temporary organization called the International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC). On February 4, 1997, the IAHC issued a report ignoring the Draft Postel recommendations and instead recommended the introduction of seven new gTLDs (.arts, .firm, .info, .nom, .rec, .store, and .web). However, progress on this stalled after the U.S. government intervened and nothing ever came of it.
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In October 1998, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) formed to take over the task of managing domain names. After a call for proposals (August 15, 2000) and a brief period of public consultation, ICANN announced on November 16, 2000 its selection of the following seven new gTLDs: .aero .biz .coop .info .museum .name .pro
These new gTLDs started to come into use in June 2001, and by the end of that year all except .pro existed, with .biz, .info and .museum already in full operation. .name and .coop became fully operational in January 2002, and .aero followed later in the year. .pro became a gTLD in May 2002, but did not become fully operational until June 2004. ICANN is adding further gTLDs, starting with a set of sponsored top-level domains (like the previous .aero, .coop, and .museum). The application period for these lasted from 15 December 2003 until 16 March 2004, and resulted in ten applications. As of June 2005, ICANN had announced the approval in principle of several new TLDs, with details still being worked out and implementation still in the future: .cat (now live) .jobs (now live) .mobi (now live) .post .tel .travel (now live) .xxx (approval revoked by ICANN)
Proposals for .mail were still under consideration. There was also a second proposal for .tel.
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Domains Uses & Abuses
Uses and abuses
As domain names became attractive to marketers, rather than just the technical audience for which they were originally intended, they began to be used in manners that in many cases did not fit in their intended structure. As originally planned, the structure of domain names followed a strict hierarchy in which the top level domain indicated the type of organization (commercial, governmental, etc.), and addresses would be nested down to third, fourth, or further levels to express complex structures, where, for instance, branches, departments, and subsidiaries of a parent organization would have addresses which were subdomains of the parent domain. Also, hostnames were intended to correspond to actual physical machines on the network, generally with only one name per machine. However, once the World Wide Web became popular, site operators frequently wished to have memorable addresses, regardless of whether they fit properly in the structure; thus, since the .com domain was the most popular and memorable, even noncommercial sites would often get addresses under it, and sites of all sorts wished to have second-level domain registrations even if they were parts of a larger entity where a logical subdomain would have made sense (e.g., abcnews.com instead of news.abc.com). A Web site found at http://www.example.org/ will often be advertised without the “http://”, and in most cases can be reached by just entering “example.org” into a Web browser. In the case of a .com, the Web site can sometimes be reached by just entering “example” (depending on browser versions and configuration settings, which vary in how they interpret incomplete addresses). The popularity of domain names also led to uses which were regarded as abusive by established companies with trademark rights; this was known as cybersquatting, in which somebody took a name that resembled a trademark in order to profit from traffic to that address. To combat this, various laws and policies were enacted to allow abusive registrations to be forcibly transferred, but these were sometimes themselves abused by overzealous companies committing reverse domain hijacking against domain users who had legitimate grounds to hold their names, such as their being generic words as well as trademarks in a particular context, or their use in the context of fan or protest sites with free speech rights of their own. Laws that specifically address domain name conflicts include the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in the United States and the Trademarks Act, 1999, in India. Alternatively, domain registrants are bound by contract under the UDRP to comply with mandatory arbitration proceedings should someone challenge their ownership of the domain name.
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Generic domain names — problems arising out of unregulated name selection
Within a particular top-level domain, parties are generally free to select an unallocated domain name as their own on a first come, first served basis, resulting in Harris‟s lament, all the good ones are taken. For generic or commonly used names, this may sometimes lead to the use of a domain name which is inaccurate or misleading. This problem can be seen with regard to the ownership or control of domain names for a generic product or service. By way of illustration, there has been tremendous growth in the number and size of literary festivals around the world in recent years. In this context, currently a generic domain name such as literary.org is available to the first literary festival organisation which is able to obtain registration, even if the festival in question is very young or obscure. Some critics would argue that there is greater amenity in reserving such domain names for the use of, for example, a regional or umbrella grouping of festivals. Related issues may also arise in relation to non-commercial domain names.
Unconventional domain names
Due to the rarity of one-word dot-com domain names, many unconventional domain names, domain hacks, have been gaining popularity. They make use of the top-level domain as an integral part of the Web site‟s title. Two popular domain hack Web sites are del.icio.us and blo.gs, which spell out “delicious” and “blogs”, respectively. Unconventional domain names are also used to create unconventional email addresses. Non-working examples that spell „James‟ are [email protected] [email protected], which use the domain names m.es (of Spain‟s .es) andmes.com, respectively.
Commercial resale of domain names
An economic effect of the widespread usage of domain names has been the resale market (after-market) for generic domain names that has sprung up in the last decade. Certain domains, especially those related to business, gambling, pornography, and other commercially lucrative fields of digital world trade have become very much in demand to corporations and entrepreneurs due to their importance in attracting clients. The most expensive Internet domain name to date, according to Guinness World Records, is business.com which was resold in 1999 for $7.5 million, but this was $7.5 million in stock options, not in cash. The stock was later redeemed for $2 million, “So it was $2 million.”[1]. There are disputes about the high values of domain names claimed and the actual cash prices of many sales such Business.com.
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Another high-priced domain name, sex.com, was stolen from its rightful owner by means of a forged transfer instruction via fax. During the height of the dot-com era, the domain was earning millions of dollars per month in advertising revenue from the large influx of visitors that arrived daily. The sex.com sale may have never been final as the domain is still with the previous owner. Also, that sale was not just a domain but an income stream, a web site, a domain name with customers and advertisers, etc. Two long-running U.S. lawsuits resulted, one against the thief and one against the domain registrar VeriSign. In one of the cases, Kremen v. Network Solutions, the court found in favor of the plaintiff, leading to an unprecedented ruling that classified domain names as property, granting them the same legal protections. In 1999, Microsoft traded the name Bob.com with internet entrepreneur Bob Kerstein for the name Windows2000.com which was the name of their new operating system. One of the reasons for the value of domain names is that even without advertising or marketing, they attract clients seeking services and products who simply type in the generic name. Furthermore, generic domain names such as movies.com or Books.com are extremely easy for potential customers to remember, increasing the probability that they become repeat customers or regular clients. Although the current domain market is nowhere as strong as it was during the dotcom heyday, it remains strong and is currently experiencing solid growth again. Annually tens of millions of dollars change hands due to the resale of domains. Large numbers of registered domain names lapse and are deleted each year. On average 25,000 domain names drop (are deleted) every day. It is very important to remember that a domain (name, address) must be valued separately from the website (content, revenue) that it is used for. The high prices have usually been paid for the revenue that was generated from the website at the domain‟s address (url.). The intrinsic value of a domain is the registration fee. There is no such a thing as a current market value for a domain: It just takes what somebody pays. The Fair Market Value of a domain can be anything from the registration fee: The lowest known past selling price, the highest known past selling, price, the most recent selling price, or just any past selling price and any of these (or any sum resp. division etc.) is usually added to the current or expected revenue from the web content (advertising, sales, etc.). Domain (name + ext.) should not be mixed with website (content + revenue). The estimation by appraisers are always the addition of what they would like that a domain is worth together with the effective/expected/desired revenue from the web content. Some people put value on the length of the SLD (name) and other people prefer description capability, but the shorter a SLD is, the less descriptive it can be. Also, if short is crucial, then the TLD (extension) should be short too. It is less realistic to get a domain like LL.travel or LL.mobi than a domain travel.LL or mobi.LL. This illustrates the relativity of domain value estimation. It can be safely put that the revenue af a web (content) can be easily stated, but that the value of a domain
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(SLD.TLD aka name.ext) is a matter of opinions and preferences. In the end, however, any sale depend of the estimates by the domain seller and the domain buyer. People who buy and sell domain names are known as domainers. People who sell value estimation services are known as appraisers. According to Guiness Book of World Records and MSNBC, the most expensive domain name sales on record as of 2004 were: Business.com for $7.5 million in December 1999, AsSeenOnTv.com for $5.1 million in January 2000, Altavista.com for $3.3 million in August 1998, Wine.com for $2.9 million in September 1999, CreditCards.com for $2.75 million in July 2004, and Autos.com for $2.2 million in December 1999. More recently though in 2006 / 2007 there have been some high value names sold including www.sex.com for $12 million, www.porn.com $9.5 Million. For the complete and up to date list of domain name sales you should check out Ron Rackson‟s website.
Domain name confusion
Intercapping is often used to clarify a domain name. However, DNS is caseinsensitive, and some names may be misinterpreted when converted to lowercase. For example: Who Represents, a database of artists and agents, chose whorepresents.com; a therapists‟ network thoughttherapistfinder.com looked good; and another website operating as of October 2006, is penisland.net a website for Pen Island, a site that claims to be an online pen vendor, but exists primarily as a joke, as it has no products for sale. In such situations, the proper wording can be clarified by use of hyphens. For instance, Experts Exchange, the programmers‟ site, for a long time used expertsexchange.com, but ultimately changed the name toexperts-exchange.com. Leo Stoller threatened to sue the owners of StealThisEmail.com on the basis that, when read as stealthisemail.com, it infringed on claimed trademark rights to the word “stealth”.
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.COM Domains For Sale
Some of the names listed here are at BIN (Buy It Now) prices others are open to offers. All sales will be handled through SEDO.com All .COM prices are in US$ and Sedo fees are paid by me. Please email offers to edkeaysmith(@)gmail.com FiberOpticEndoscopes.com US$350 ServoControlSystem.com US$350 HeavyDutyTruckBumpers.com US$350
.NET Domains For Sale
Some of the names listed here are at BIN (Buy It Now) prices others are open to offers. All sales will be handled through SEDO.com All .NET prices are in US$ and Sedo fees are paid by me. Please email offers to edkeaysmith(@)gmail.com LedGlobe.net US$200 FifthWheelRv.net US$200 FifthWheelRvs.net US$200 (or both FifthWheelRv.com & FifthWheelRvs.com for US$350 for the pair)
.ORG Domains For Sale
Some of the names listed here are at BIN (Buy It Now) prices others are open to offers. All sales will be handled through SEDO.com All .ORG prices are in US$ and Sedo fees are paid by me. Please email offers to edkeaysmith(@)gmail.com BenchScales.org US$450 MechanicalScales.org US$450 LearnFirstAid.org US$450
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