.tp

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.tp
.tp Domain Registration
Introduced 1997
TLD type Country code top-level domain
Status Active but being phased out in favor of new ccTLD, .tl
Registry Timor-Leste NIC
Sponsor Laleia
Intended use Entities connected with East Timor
Actual use Still in use for legacy sites in East Timor, but no further registrations are accepted; all .tp registrants automatically get same name in .tl although both do not always work identically
Registration restrictions No new registrations are being accepted
Structure Registrations were accepted directly at second level, with some sites (especially governmental) at third level
Documents
Dispute policies
Website

.tp was the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for East Timor. The choice of letters, which stand for Timor Português or Portuguese Timor are a legacy of the nation's former status as a Portuguese colony. It was first introduced in December 1997 by Connect Ireland, an internet service provider in Dublin, Ireland, when East Timor was still under Indonesian rule.

It remains in use, although it does not comply with the ISO 3166-1 standard for the two-letter codes of the name of countries, as the code for East Timor changed from TP to TL upon independence. It still contains a considerable number of domains, although unchanged since February 2007.[1]

Contents

[edit] Controversy

In 1999, prior to the holding of a referendum in East Timor on self-determination, websites with the '.tp' domain were attacked by hackers with pro-Indonesian sympathies, and Connect Ireland received malicious telephone calls. However, when independence leader José Ramos-Horta, now East Timor's President, spoke out in favour of using hackers to attack Indonesian sites, Connect Ireland issued a press release condemning any use of hacking, least of all for political aims.

[edit] Transition to .tl

.tl is the ccTLD that does comply with the ISO 3166-1 standard, and the Department of Information Technology in East Timor is now working cooperatively with Connect Ireland to ensure a stable and secure transition to the .tl ccTLD, with existing registrants in the .tp ccTLD granted the same domain in the .tl ccTLD at no cost. Both the .tp and .tl "versions" will continue to resolve and registrant information, whois data, and name server delegations will be the same for both .tp and .tl for legacy domains.

As of October, 2005, no further registrations are being accepted in the .tp domain.

Registration in .tl is available directly at second-level with no local presence requirement, through CoCCA and various resellers worldwide.

As of 2008, search engines find approximately twice as many pages in the .tp domain as in its successor, .tl [2][3]

[edit] Dated IANA information

For a long time, according to the IANA site, .tl was listed as unassigned, with .tp still being listed for East Timor. (Xanana Gusmão, now a major political figure and once president, is still listed as the administrative contact.) The Department of Information Technology in East Timor sent a letter to IANA requesting that this information be updated. As of September 30, 2005, the update has been made and .tl is listed as an active top-level domain.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ TP Zone File. Robert Baskerville's ccTLD analysis data (28 December 2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
  2. ^ search - site:.tp
  3. ^ search - site:.tl