Proposed top-level domain

The Domain Name System of the Internet consists of a set of top-level domains which constitute the root domain of the hierarchical name space and database. In the growth of the Internet, it became desirable to expand the set of initially six generic top-level domains in 1984. As a result, new top-level domain names have been proposed for implementation by ICANN. Such proposals included a variety of models ranging from adoption of policies for unrestricted gTLDs that could be registered by anyone for any purpose, to chartered gTLDs for specialized uses by specialized organizations.^[1] In October 2000, ICANN published a list of proposals for top-level domain strings it had received.^[2]

Geographic proposals

• .geo - Generic geographical locations.
• .wien - Vienna.
• .lat - General category for Latin American websites.
• .africa - General category for African websites.
• .ln and .le - Currently being sold by Dennis Hope's "Lunar Embassy Commission" alongside .lunar, .moon, .venus, .mars, .jupiter, .saturn, .uranus, .neptune, .pluto, .space. People who purchase novelty deeds for outer space property from him are also given free domains.^[3] None of these TLDs are supported at present by root servers.

Internationalized country code top-level domains

The following ccTLDs (Country code top-level domains) have been requested using a procedure known as Internationalized domain name (or IDN) ccTLD Fast Track Process.

DNS name	IDN ccTLD	Country	Transliteration	Script	ccTLD
	.ευ [4]	European Union	ey	Greek	.eu
xn--4dbrk0ce	ישראל.[5]	Israel	Israel	Hebrew	.il
xn--wgv71a	.日本[6][7]	Japan	Nippon or Nihon	Kanji (both Kyūjitai and Shinjitai)	.jp
xn--vcst06ab2a	.日本国[6]		Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku	Kanji (Shinjitai)
xn--q7ce6a	.ລາວ [8]	Laos	Lao or Laao	Lao	.la
xn--mgbb7fyab	ليبيا.	Libya	Lībyā	Arabic	.ly

Language and community

These proposals are centered on creating an independent Internet identity for linguistic and cultural communities. They are mostly inspired by the success of the .cat domain created for websites in the Catalan language or about the Catalan culture.

Domain name	intended use	sponsor	year of proposal	comments
.cym	Welsh language and Wales	dotCYM Cyf	2006	It was proposed by dotCYM for Welsh language and Wales, but ICANN reserved for eventual assignment to the Cayman Islands. See also .cymru and .wales.
.eng	England	DotEng	2008	The DotEng.org website was set up by John Sewell of Maidenhead in Berkshire. Mentioned in PC Pro Online: Campaign begins for .eng domain, Stuart Turton, 23 April 2008
.ker	Cornish language and Cornwall (Kernow) in general	Cornish World Magazine[9]	2008
.lli	Leonese language and Leonese culture	puntuLLI	2007	Several companies, associations, organisations and institutions are involved in this campaign.
.nai	Native, Aboriginal, and Indigenous peoples of the Americas	nai	1999	The original proposal for a Native American managed TLD predates ICANN, and its form was adopted by ICANN as the "sponsored" type of application and eventual contract in the 2001 new gTLD round. .nai's mission is to implement a top-level name space with an indigenous policy, provide an alternative to the several thousand indigenous public administrations, and the larger numbers of indigenous non-governmental, linguistic and cultural institutional, public and private economic enterprises, bands and individuals in the Western Hemisphere currently using name spaces operated under for-profit or colonial policies, and promote the economic development of Indian Country.
.sco[10]	Scotland	dotSCO	2005	dotSCO began in late 2005 and has been campaigning to build support for a new TLD from among the Scots community around the world. The campaign now appears to be defunct, effectively replaced by now approved .scot.
.sic[11]	Székely Land	Pontsic Foundation	2009	pontSIC began in late 2008 and has been campaigning to build support for a new TLD from among the Székely community around the world. The campaign was started by the Szekler National Council, and now are involved several companies and institutions. As of September 2009 there are over 33,200 signatories.

• Note: The dotCYMRU, dotEUS, dotSCOT and dotBZH have formed the ECLID , the European Cultural and Linguistic Internet Domains umbrella group to lobby for the successful and speedy application for the bids.

Domains for children

A top-level domain named kids has been proposed by several entities. As of 2009, none of these proposals have been implemented.

Applications for a kids domain have included:

• Blueberry Hill Communications, Inc., a domain name registration and hosting company in California, submitted a proposal^[12] Registry services would be subcontracted to Neustar and Melbourne IT. Registrars are selected under same criteria and process currently imposed by ICANN. This proposal would not rely on objective criteria for categorizing content.
• DotKids, established in 2000 in Rosemont, Illinois intends to utilize SARAF Software Solutions Inc. for software development of a kids registry. DotKids would deal only with ICANN accredited registrars; content rating information is to be retained in the registry and is to describe ratings for an entire site.^[13]
• ICM Registry, Inc. request the kids TLD^[14] as an integrated solution for improving child safety on the Internet by implicitly attempting to restrict content across both TLDs and targeting a narrow registrant group.
• .KIDS Domains, Inc.^[15] is a California for-profit corporation; the proposed registry operator is Toronto-based domain name registrar Tucows Inc. Kids would be a restricted TLD. .KIDS Domains therefore does not intend to allow other registrars to register domain names.

Current projects also aimed at creating a TLD for children include:

• The DotJunior Project,^[16] an organisation established in late 2014 trying to launch a .Junior TLD for child safety purposes.

The European Parliament has also proposed kid for websites designed for children. It would be monitored by an independent authority.

In US a sub-domain for children had established since 2003 based on "Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002, PL 107-317".(us) exists a second-level domain kids.us. However, on 27 July 2012 NTIA decided to suspend it.^[17][18]

Technical domain name themes

• .mail – A domain for e-mail networks, proposed to facilitate fighting e-mail spam.
• .web – A domain for general use on the world wide web.

Specialized and professional topics

• .eco – environmental causes^[19][20]
• .med – medical practitioners and organizations^[21]
• .shop – electronic commerce sites^[22]
• .sport – sport sites^[23]

Donuts Inc. has invested $57 million in more than 300 applications,^[24][25] while Famous Four Media has applied for 61 applications.^[26]

See also

• List of Internet top-level domains
• Generic top-level domain – New top-level domains

References

1. "Names Council Solicitation of Comments for Consideration of New Generic Top-Level Domains". ICANN. 2000-04-01.
2. "TLD Applications Lodged". ICANN. 2000-10-10.
3. Hope, David. "The Lunar Embassy". Retrieved 24 March 2012.
4. REPORT ... on the implementation, functioning and effectiveness of the .eu Top-Level Domain
5. IDN ccTLD Form of Interest | Israel
6. IDN ccTLD Form of Interest | Japan
7. "About '.日本'". jprs.co.jp.
8. IDN ccTLD Form of Interest | Laos
9. "The campaign for a KER Internet domain name". googlepages.com.
10. "First Minister announces support for Scots internet domain". dotSCO.org. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
11. "SIC domain". http://www.supportnewtlds.com/. Retrieved 2009-09-01. External link in |publisher= (help)
12. Summary of Application of Blueberry Hill
13. "Summary of Application of dotKids Inc". icann.org.
14. "Summary of Application of ICM Registry". icann.org.
15. Summary of Application of .Kids Domains
16. "dotJunior". dotjunior.com.
17. "KIDS.us - Play, Learn, and Surf...". cms.kids.us.
18. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/ustld_27_jun_2012_mod_012.pdf
19. "BBC NEWS - Technology - Al Gore says domain .eco logical". bbc.co.uk.
20. "Launch of .eco (Dot Eco) Application to Empower Global Community – Press Releases on CSRwire.com". csrwire.com.
21. ".med : your safe namespace for medicine". .med.
22. "Home of the dotShop (.shop) top-level domain (TLD) name from Commercial Connect LLC - Commercial Connect, LLC". commercialconnect.net.
23. "Setting a new world record » The .Sport Registry". dotsport.info.
24. "Donuts full application list" (PDF). Donuts Inc. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
25. Natasha Singer (August 17, 2013). "When You Can’t Tell Web Suffixes Without a Scorecard". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
26. domaintyper. "List of new gTLDs Famous Four Media is applied for". domaintyper.com.

External links