13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited1 Domain Names A Brief History of Confusion Stephen Dyer

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited2 In the Beginning The Network Jon Postel Electronic Addresses such as:

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited3 A Bit Later Host File mapped memorable names to addresses: 1 UCLA 2 SRI 3 UCSB 4 UTAH 5 BBN 6 MIT 7 RAND 8SDC 9 HARVARD The number of computers increased

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited4 Even Later So some now familiar 3-letter suffixes were introduced:.com – companies.net – network providers.edu – academic institutions.mil – military.gov – governmental.int – international treaty.org – everything else and all of these had the unspoken “US” with them

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited5 The Network spread abroad In 1985 and 1986, some European names were introduced, including these:.de.fr.uk Plus another 180-ish two-letter Country- Code domains followed

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited6 The ISO 3166 List The domains were based around the two-letter codes for each country maintained by the ISO - the ISO 3166 list. Anomalies: GB vs. UK Ukraine.UA.GB and.OZ

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited7 RFC 1591 It is extremely unlikely that any other TLDs will be created. Concerns about "rights" and "ownership" of domains are inappropriate. It is appropriate to be concerned about "responsibilities" and "service" to the community.

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited8 Top Level Domains GTLD’s Global Top-Level Domains ccTLD’s, Country Code Top-Level Domains USTLD’s including originals.gov,.mil etc

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited9 Sub-Domains Began with the logical progression to.org.uk and.net.uk. Therefore what could be more sensible than.com.uk,.net.uk,.edu.uk,.gov.uk,.mil.uk and.org.uk ??…

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited10 Well obviously:.co.uk.ac.uk.nhs.uk.gov.uk.bl.uk.jet.uk.x.uk.me.uk.parliament.uk.police.uk.plc.uk.org.uk.ltd.uk.sch.uk.mod.uk

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited11 New mixtures Further sub-domains introduced: uk.com us.com au.com eu.com New uses for ccTLDs:.MD.TV etc

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited12 ICANN New GTLDS proposed:.web.go.tel.dir.sex.xxx.fun.art.music.culture.help.shop.cash.home.kids etc. (Actually 33 in total).NAME,.PRO,.AERO,.MUSEUM,.INFO,.BIZ,.COOP (7 approved)

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited13 Rules of ccTLD

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited14 Success of ccTLD

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited15 Today.EU Sunrise Periods Trademarks Regulators – Oftel/Ofcom

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited16.EU The Regulation The Launch Languages and Nonsense

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited17 Internationalised Domain Names Up until recently you could register Faberge.com But not: Fabergé.com

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited18 Internationalised Domain Names Special characters including: é, etc are now possible You can now have .com but strangely you can’t have . 

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited19 Internationalised Domain Names Unicode xn—nescaf-gva.com = nescafé.com xn—caf-crme-60ag.com = café-crème.com Cybersquatting vs. trademarks Problems: Religions, minorities etc

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited20 Summary An epitaph for Domain Name Regulators: He tackled a job that couldn't be done, With a smile, he went right to it. He tackled the job that couldn't be done, And he couldn't do it.

13 th November 2003Stephen Dyer CentralNic Limited21 Domain Names A Brief History of Confusion