.org

sbT

Introduced	1985
TLD type	Generic top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	Public Interest Registry (operated by Afilias)
Sponsor	Not technically sponsored, but PIR is connected with the Internet Society
Intended use	Miscellaneous organizations not fitting in other categories (generally noncommercial)
Actual use	Nonprofits; personal sites; open-source projects; sometimes used by commercial entities
Registration restrictions	None
Structure	Registrations at second level permitted
Documents	RFC 920; RFC 1591; ICANN registry agreement
Dispute policies	UDRP
Website	Public Interest Registry
DNSSEC	yes

The domain name org is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) of the Domain Name System (DNS) used in the Internet. The name is derived from organization.

The org domain was one of the original top-level domains,^[1] with com, edu, gov, mil and net, established in January 1985. It was originally intended for non-profit organizations or organizations of a non-commercial character that did not meet the requirements for other gTLDs. The MITRE Corporation was the first group to register an org domain with mitre.org^[2] in July 1985.

Registrations in the org are processed via accredited registrars worldwide. Anyone can register an org second-level domain. Although org was recommended for non-commercial entities, there are no restrictions to registration.^{[3] [4]} There are many instances of org being used by commercial sites. org was also commonly used by individuals, although name and info are now alternatives. According to the ICANN Dashboard (Domain Name) report, the composition of org is diverse, including cultural institutions; associations; sports/teams; religious and civic organizations; open-source software; schools; environmental initiatives; social/fraternal organizations; health organizations; legal services; clubs and community volunteer groups. There are also cases where companies or organizations have created sites under org for crisis management.

The org TLD has been operated since January 1, 2003 by Public Interest Registry, who assumed the task from VeriSign Global Registry Services, a division of VeriSign.^[5]

Although organizations anywhere in the world may register org domains, many countries, for example, Australia (au), Japan (jp), Argentina (ar), Bolivia (bo), Uruguay (uy), Turkey(tr), Somalia (so), Sierra Leone (sl), Russia (ru), Bangladesh (bd), and the United Kingdom (uk), have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own country code top-level domain (ccTLD). Such second-level domains are usually named org or or.

On 17 March 2010, the Public Interest Registry announced that there are over 8 million domain names registered as .org, making it the third largest generic top-level domain (gTLD).^[6]

Internationalized domain names

The org domain registry allows the registration of selected internationalized domain names (IDNs) as second-level domains.^[7] For German, Danish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Swedish IDNs this has been possible since 2005. Spanish IDN registrations have been possible since 2007.

Domain name security

On June 2, 2009, The Public Interest Registry announced^[8] that the org domain is the first generic top-level domain and the largest registry overall that has signed its DNS zone with Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). This allows the verification of the origin authenticity and integrity of DNS data by conforming DNS clients.

As of June 23, 2010, DNSSEC was enabled for individual second-level domains,^[9] starting with 13 registrars.

Example use

In addition to its wide use in charitable fields, the org domain is often preferred by projects in the free software movement. Many political parties and support groups use org.

Cost of registration

The Public Interest Registry (PIR) charges its accredited registrars US$6.75^[10] for each domain name. Accredited registrars may charge anything they wish to the end customer.

See also

• .org.sg

References

1. ^ RFC 920, Domain Requirements, J. Postel, J. Reynolds, The Internet Society (October 1984)
2. ^ Mitre.org
3. ^ ICANN Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) ,Retrieved 2011-03-31.
4. ^ Buy .ORG (Registrant) General Questions, Retrieved 2011-10-25.
5. ^ InterNIC - FAQs on org transition
6. ^ Marketwire.com 17-03-10
7. ^ "Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Questions". Public Interest Registry. http://www.pir.org/why/global/idn. Retrieved 2010-03-28. 
8. ^ Ajay D'Souza. "DNSSEC announcement in The .ORG Blog". Archived from the original on 2009-07-20. http://blog.pir.org/?p=349. Retrieved 2009-07-02. 
9. ^ "List of .ORG registrars". http://www.pir.org/get/registrars. Retrieved 2010-06-23. 
10. ^ ICANN.org

External links

• PIR Public Interest Registry .org whois information
• InterNIC FAQs on the .org Transition
• Whois.net - Domain Based Research
• [1] - .org Registration Information