.ac
| Introduced | 1997 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | Ascension Island Network Information Centre (run by Internet Computer Bureau) |
| Sponsor | Cable and Wireless (Ascension Island) |
| Intended use |
Entities connected with  Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha |
| Actual use | Various uses, sometimes connected to education and academia; a few sites actually on Ascension Island |
| Registration restrictions | 2nd-level registrant must have professional or academic qualification ; 3rd level registrant must be resident on Ascension Island |
| Structure | Registrations are taken directly at the second level or at third level beneath various 2nd-level labels |
| Documents | Terms & Conditions; Rules |
| Dispute policies | Dispute Resolution Policy |
| Website | NIC.AC |
| DNSSEC | yes |
.ac is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is administered by NIC.AC, a subsidiary of the Internet Computer Bureau based in the United Kingdom.
Registration for this domain is open to anyone. The registry accepts registrations of internationalized domain names.[1]
.ac is marketed by some domain-brokers as a domain for the city of Aachen in Germany, using the analogy to the automotive license plate designation ("AC") for the city.
Use as an abbreviation for "academic"
Due to its similarity to the .ac (“academic”) second-level domain that exists under some country code top-level domains, some educational institutions also register under the .ac top-level domain:
- The University of Kurdistan - Hawler[2]
- Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia, USA[3]
- The Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh, Scotland[4]
- The Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok, Thailand[5]
- INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements), based at the London School of Economics[6]
- Newcastle University, an online institution unconnected with Newcastle University in the United Kingdom and the University of Newcastle, Australia[7]
Several leading British universities have registered their .ac domain and use this to redirect to their .ac.uk webpages. Examples include:
- University of Oxford[8] from http://www.oxford.ac
- University of Manchester[9] from http://www.manchester.ac
- University of Leeds[10] from http://www.leeds.ac through http://www.leeds.edu/, a placeholder URL.
- University of Bath[11] from http://www.bath.ac
Notable uses
- On 10 December 2013, The Pirate Bay switched to an .ac domain.[12]
See also
References
- ↑ "IDN Code Points Policy for the .AC Top Level Domain" (PDF). nic.ac. 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- ↑ http://ukh.ac
- ↑ http://www.ralston.ac
- ↑ http://www.fmbc.ac
- ↑ http://www.tropmedres.ac
- ↑ http://inform.ac
- ↑ http://www.unc.ac
- ↑ http://www.ox.ac.uk
- ↑ http://www.manchester.ac.uk
- ↑ http://www.leeds.ac.uk
- ↑ http://www.bath.ac.uk
- ↑ "The Pirate Bay Moves to .AC After Domain Name Seizure".
External links
- "Delegation Record for .AC". 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- .AC Domain Name Registry