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

Further information: GeoTLD

• .geo - Generic geographical locations.
• .berlin - Berlin.
• .wien - Vienna.
• .london - London.
• .nyc - New York City.
• .paris - Paris.
• .lat - General category for Latin American websites.
• .africa - General category for African websites.
• .moscow and .москва - Moscow.

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
.bzh	Breton language and Brittany	dot bzh	2006	A campaign has been organized in Brittany to support the request of creation of the .bzh domain. The campaign's website gives little information about the status of the proposal and the organization behind and mostly holds a petition for the creation of the domain. As of August 2008 there are over 17,000 signatories.
.cymru	Welsh language and Wales	dotCYM Cyf	2006	Following a decision by ICANN in 2010 .cym [3] the dotCYM Cyf bid organisers made an appeal for supporters of the former dotCYM bid to suggest a new domain name for the Welsh linguistic and cultural community[. The overwhelming choice of the community was for dotCYMRU. Since November 2010 dotCYMRU is the new domain name for the Welsh linguistic and cultural domain.
.eng	England	dot eng.org	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
.eus	Basque language	PuntuEus association	2009	University professors, scientifics, several companies and institutions are involved in this campaign, including the autonomous government, Eusko Jaurlaritza and the Basque Language Academy, Euskaltzaindia.
.gal	Galician language and Galicia	PuntoGal	2006	Several companies and institutions are involved in this campaign, including the autonomous government, Xunta de Galicia.
.ker	Cornish language and Cornwall (Kernow) in general	Cornish World Magazine[4]	2008
.lli	Leonese language and Leonese culture	puntuLLI	2007	Several companies, associations, organisations and institutions are involved in this campaign.
.quebec	Quebec	Pointquebec	2008	.quebec came to life following .cat success. As an incorporated NPO, PointQuebec's mission is to promote, broadcast and manage a new identity on the Internet, affirming the specificity and Quebec Culture.
.scot[5]	Scotland, The Scots Community of Interest online, Scottish culture and Scotland's languages	dotSCO.org	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 was publicly launched at a meeting of the Scottish Parliament's cross-party group on the Scots language by Davie Hutchison and Euan McCreath
ECLID	ECLID	ECLID	2008	The dotCYMRU, dotEUS, dotSCOT and dotBZH have formed the ECLID[1], the European Cultural and Linguistic Internet Domains umbrella group to lobby for the successful and speedy application for the bids.
.sic[6]	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.
.nai	nai	nai	1999	The original proposal for a native 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. The application of a "sponsored" type of application and registry resulted in the .cat success. .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.

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. Under the United States country code TLD (us) exists a second-level domain kids.us.

Applications for a kids domain have included:

• Blueberry Hill Communications, Inc., a domain name registration and hosting company in California, submitted a proposal^[7] 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.^[8]
• ICM Registry, Inc. request the kids TLD^[9] 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.^[10] 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.

The European Parliament has also proposed kid for websites designed for children.^{[citation needed]} It would be monitored by an independent authority.

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

• .med – medical facilities and organizations
• .eco – environmental causes^[11][12]
• .fc - football clubs^[13]
• .post – postal organizations
• .shop – electronic commerce sites^[14]
• .sport – sport sites^[15]
• .wine – wine sites^[16]
• .gay - LGBT organizations

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. http://www.icann.org/dnso/new-gtlds-01apr00.htm. 
2. ^ "TLD Applications Lodged". ICANN. 2000-10-10. http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/tld-applications-lodged-02oct00.htm. 
3. ^ "Wales loses to Cayman Islands in battle for .cym domain". BBC. 2010-11-04. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-11683239. Retrieved 2010-12-07. 
4. ^ The campaign for a KER Internet domain name
5. ^ "First Minister announces support for Scots internet domain". dotSCO.org. http://www.dotsco.org/2008/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=2. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 
6. ^ "SIC domain". http://www.supportnewtlds.com/. http://www.supportnewtlds.com/sic/. Retrieved 2009-09-01. 
7. ^ Summary of Application of Blueberry Hill
8. ^ Summary of Application of dotKids Inc
9. ^ Summary of Application of ICM Registry
10. ^ Summary of Application of .Kids Domains
11. ^ Al Gore says domain .eco logical
12. ^ Launch of .eco Application to Empower Global Community
13. ^ http://fcdomainnames.com/
14. ^ http://www.commercialconnect.net
15. ^ http://www.dotsport.info
16. ^ http://english.dotvinum.org

External links

• Web Campaigns Boost, Eurolang - ICANN discussed the proposed top-level domains at a conference on 3 July 2008