A Worldwide Internet … One Country At A Time

Country code TLDs are as unique as the respective cultures they represent. The result of which paints a confusing picture for the landscape of the Web ... As well as for those ISPs that make hosting alternative domain names part of their business services.

by Julie Wheeler [November 28, 2001]

When Americans think of domain names, they think of addresses ending in .com, .net, .org and maybe .edu or .gov. We consider that the new top-level domains that were recently added to the root name server like.biz, .info, .name, and .museum as second class domains—the first ones added to the short list of TLDs in 30 years.

But what about the 240 other top-level domains that identify countries? They work in the same way generic TLDs do, they are just run by individual registries designated by the countries they represent instead of being dominated by VeriSign.

Country codes were established by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and can be identified by the ISO-3166 specification and designated by RFC 1591. The list of country codes and respective listings of whois information are restricted in many ways. Some require that registrants reside in the country in which they are trying to register a domain, while others have business presence requirements. However, whole business models have been designed around securing registrations for companies with trademarks, even if they do not technically meet either of these requirements.

In addition, recently the market has been exposed to some so-called "boutique" top-level domains that have been sold to commercial entities, which in turn sell them to the public as if they were gTLDs. These boutique extensions include .cc, .tv, .md, .la and others.

Trouble in paradise
These country codes—both the boutique codes and traditional country-run codes—have troubled the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as of late. Until June, the ccTLDs were represented in the ICANN hierarchy as one of its constituencies—similar to the registrars' constituency—and represented on the ICANN board by the Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO). Unfortunately, the ccTLD managers didn't feel they were adequately represented by the DNSO, so they withdrew from it during ICANN's meeting in Stockholm in June.

Since that time, the ccTLD managers have been lobbying for their own supporting organization, along with their own representation on the ICANN board. The discussion continued in Montevideo, Uruguay, in September of this year with ICANN's Update on ccTLD Agreements. The discussion continued in Marina del Rey this month. So far, that issue has not been resolved.

New arrivals
In the meantime, ICANN has been working to facilitate individual contracts with ccTLD managers. It has begun with two interesting candidates, one of the most widely used TLDs—.au, and one of the most widely ignored—.us.

Robert Elz, a gentleman who ran .au in his spare time as a volunteer, previously administered the country code for Australia. Last month, it was awarded by the Australian government to the .au Domain Administration (auDA), a non-profit company established in 1999 by the Australian Internet community with oversight from the Australian government. Right now, auDA is accepting tenders for registries to manage the .au country code, which is now managed by MelbourneIT, one of the largest registrars, and also a partner in the new .biz registry that just went live in earlier this month.

Although .au has been re-delegated to auDA, it will continue to operate with the same structure—customers cannot simply buy a .au address with their chosen name on the second level. Instead, they must buy their domain name on the third level, with the second level reserved by the registry. As a result, customers can buy .com.au for trademarked businesses, .net.au for network administrators, .org.au for non-profit organizations and .id.au for individuals.

Domestic designations
As for .us, since its inception VeriSign has housed the ccTLD at no cost to the federal government. However, it only garnered a very small number of registrations due to its complicated structure. From inception, .us has been structured geographically—meaning that a registrant couldn't simply register www.juliewheeler.us—but would instead have to deal with a complicated string indicating city and state, designations, among other restrictions.

But VeriSign's reign over the .us country code would not last. According to an amendment to its cooperative agreement with the Department of Commerce, VeriSign would run the registry for .us until the a suitable replacement could be found or November 10, 2001, whichever came first. So on October 29, 2001, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) awarded the .us registry contract to NeuStar, the second partner in the .biz registry.

According to the NeuStar, .us designations will now be available to companies with a presence in the United States by individuals who are U.S. residents. NeuStar also intends to make stipulations for U.S. citizens living outside the country. As the opportunity to register a new, uniquely American domain name becomes available, the .us TLD could provide a new registration opportunity for registrars, webhosting companies and ISP partners.

Though NeuStar is restructuring the .us country code, the company claims it will "preserve and support the existing names and structure within .us."

Foregone conclusion
So, what about the other 238 country code managers who have not signed agreements with ICANN?

The country codes that have not yet been sold out to the highest bidders are to be sold on the open market. As a result, the fight for ccTLD control continues—one country at a time.

—End