- .gov
-
.gov 
Introduced 1985 TLD type Sponsored top-level domain Status Active Registry General Services Administration Sponsor General Services Administration Intended use Governmental entities Actual use United States government; formerly only federal government but later expanded to include state and local government Registration restrictions Must meet eligibility requirements and submit authorization letter Structure Registrations at second level permitted Documents RFC 920; RFC 1591; RFC 2146 Dispute policies None Website dotgov.gov DNSSEC yes The domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from government, indicating its restricted use by government entities in the United States. The gov domain is administered by the General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency of the United States federal government.
The U.S. is the only country that has a government-specific top-level domain in addition to its country-code top-level domain. This is a result of the origins of the Internet as a U.S. federal government-sponsored research network (see ARPANET and National Science Foundation Network). Other countries typically delegate a second-level domain for this purpose.
Some U.S. federal agencies use fed.us rather than gov. The Department of Defense and its subsidiary organizations use the mil sTLD. Some U.S. governmental entities use other domains, such as com domains by the United States Postal Service (which uses both usps.gov and usps.com for the same website, although it only advertises the com address), and the United States Army's recruitment website (goarmy.com, this trend is repeated at the recruitment websites of the other branches of the U.S. military).
Additionally, some technically private organizations having some formal association with the federal government make use of gov, such as the Federal Reserve System (federalreserve.gov).
All governments in the U.S. are allowed to apply for delegations in gov, such as atlantaga.gov for the city of Atlanta, loudoun.gov for the county of Loudoun, Virginia and georgia.gov for the U.S. state of Georgia. This was not always true; under an earlier policy, only federal agencies were allowed to use the domain, and agencies beneath cabinet level were required to use subdomains of their parent agency. There is a lack of consistency in addresses of state and local government sites, with some using gov, some us, some using both (the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania uses www.pa.gov, www.pennsylvania.gov and www.state.pa.us for the same web site) and still others in com, org or other TLDs.
Contents
Availability
Use of the gov domain is restricted to governments entities. According to GSA guidelines, this includes U.S. Governmental departments, programs, and agencies on the federal level; federally recognized tribes (referred to by the GSA as Native Sovereign Nations, which must use the suffix -NSN.gov); State governmental entities and programs; cities and townships represented by an elected body of officials; counties and parishes represented by an elected body of officials; and U.S. territories.[1]
The URL for registration services is http://www.dotgov.gov.[2]
Authorization
To register a gov domain, a letter of authorization must be submitted to the GSA. For federal agencies, the authorization must be submitted by cabinet-level chief information officer (CIO). For state governments, authorization from the governor or state CIO is required. Domain names for cities require authorization from the mayor or equivalent official; for counties, authorization may be submitted by county commissioners or equivalent officials, or by the highest-ranking county official.[3] For Native Sovereign Nations, the authorization must come from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.[4]
Naming conventions
The GSA provides guidelines for naming of second-level domains, such as those used by state and local governments. For states, the domain name must include the full state name or postal abbreviation, and the abbreviation must not be obscured by inclusion in a larger word. For example, invalid.gov for Idaho would be an unacceptable domain name. For local governments, the domain name must include the state name or abbreviation. However, many .gov domain names (such as boston.gov and seattle.gov) do not conform to the naming convention because they were already registered before the GSA enacted this policy. [5]
Policy
Policy regarding the gov domain is laid out in 41 CFR Part 102-173, a Final Rule promulgated by the GSA in the Federal Register on March 28, 2003.[6]
Effective June 13, 2011, there has been a freeze on issuing of new gov domains for U.S. federal executive branch departments, as a result of the implementation of Executive Order 13571[7] issued by President Obama. This move is part of a general attempt to improve the efficiency of governmental Web usage by weeding out unnecessary, redundant, outdated, or wasteful sites. This freeze is currently scheduled to last until December 31, 2011.[8]
States in GOV
As of November 2009, all states in the U.S. have operational domains in gov:
Alabama al.gov and alabama.gov Alaska alaska.gov Arizona az.gov Arkansas ar.gov and arkansas.gov California ca.gov and california.gov Colorado colorado.gov Connecticut ct.gov Delaware Delaware.gov Florida florida.gov and fl.gov (redirects to myflorida.com) Georgia georgia.gov and ga.gov Guam guam.gov Hawaii hawaii.gov (redirects to ehawaii.gov) Idaho idaho.gov Illinois Illinois.gov Indiana in.gov Iowa iowa.gov and ia.gov Kansas ks.gov and kansas.gov Kentucky ky.gov and kentucky.gov Louisiana louisiana.gov Maine maine.gov Maryland maryland.gov Massachusetts mass.gov Michigan michigan.gov Minnesota mn.gov (redirects to state.mn.us) Mississippi mississippi.gov Missouri mo.gov Montana mt.gov and montana.gov Nebraska nebraska.gov Nevada nv.gov New Hampshire nh.gov and visitnh.gov New Jersey nj.gov and newjersey.gov New Mexico newmexico.gov New York ny.gov North Carolina nc.gov and northcarolina.gov North Dakota nd.gov Ohio ohio.gov and oh.gov Oklahoma ok.gov Oregon oregon.gov Pennsylvania pa.gov and pennsylvania.gov Puerto Rico pr.gov Rhode Island ri.gov South Carolina sc.gov South Dakota sd.gov Tennessee tennessee.gov and tn.gov Texas texas.gov Utah utah.gov Vermont vermont.gov Virginia virginia.gov Washington wa.gov and washington.gov West Virginia wv.gov Wisconsin wisconsin.gov Wyoming wyoming.gov The District of Columbia follows this trend with dc.gov
See also
References
- ^ "Eligibility Requirements". General Services Administration. https://www.dotgov.gov/help_qualify.aspx. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
- ^ "Delegation Record for .GOV". IANA. http://www.iana.org/root-whois/gov.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
- ^ "Authorization Letter". General Services Administration. https://www.dotgov.gov/auth_letter.aspx. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
- ^ "Who authorizes domain names?". General Services Administration. https://www.dotgov.gov/final_rule_102.aspx#10217335. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
- ^ "Sec. 102-173.50 What is the naming convention for States?". General Services Administration. https://www.dotgov.gov/portal/web/dotgov/policy#10217350. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
- ^ Dotgov.gov
- ^ Executive Order--Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service (whitehouse.gov)
- ^ .gov Reform Effort: Improving Federal Websites (usa.gov)
External links
- IANA .gov whois information
- RFC 920 defined .com and the other original top-level domains.
- RFC 2146 (U.S. Government Internet Domain Names)
Generic top-level domains Current General Sponsored Infrastructure Deleted/retired Reserved Pseudo Proposed Locations Language and
nationalityTechnical Other Categories:- DNSSEC
- Sponsored top-level domains
- Domain names in the United States
- General Services Administration
- 1985 introductions
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
