| Introduced | 1985 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Generic top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | Public Interest Registry (operated by Afilias) |
| Sponsor | Not technically sponsored, but PIR is connected with the Internet Society |
| Intended use | Miscellaneous organizations not fitting in other categories (generally noncommercial) |
| Actual use | Nonprofits; personal sites; open-source projects; sometimes used by commercial entities |
| Registration restrictions | None |
| Structure | Registrations at second level permitted |
| Documents | RFC 920; RFC 1591; ICANN registry agreement |
| Dispute policies | UDRP |
| Website | Public Interest Registry |
| DNSSEC | yes |
The domain name org is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) of the Domain Name System (DNS) used in the Internet. The name is truncated from organization.
The org domain was one of the original top-level domains,[1] with com, edu, gov, mil and net, established in January 1985. It was originally intended for non-profit organizations or organizations of a non-commercial character that did not meet the requirements for other gTLDs. The MITRE Corporation was the first group to register an org domain with mitre.org[2] in July 1985.
Registrations in the org are processed via accredited registrars worldwide. Anyone can register an org second-level domain. Although org was recommended for non-commercial entities, there are no restrictions to registration.[3][4] There are many instances of org being used by commercial sites. Second-level domains on org were also commonly used by individuals, although name and info are now alternatives. According to the ICANN Dashboard (Domain Name) report, the composition of org is diverse, including cultural institutions; associations; sports/teams; religious, and civic organizations; open-source software projects; schools; environmental initiatives; social, and fraternal organizations; health organizations; legal services; as well as clubs, and community-volunteer groups. There are also cases where companies or organizations have created sites under org for crisis management.
The org TLD has been operated since January 1, 2003 by Public Interest Registry, who assumed the task from VeriSign Global Registry Services, a division of VeriSign.[5]
Although organizations anywhere in the world may register org domains, many countries, such as Australia (au), Japan (jp), Argentina (ar), Bolivia (bo), Uruguay (uy), Turkey(tr), Somalia (so), Sierra Leone (sl), Russia (ru), Bangladesh (bd), and the United Kingdom (uk), have established a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own ccTLD. Such second-level domains are usually named org or or.
On 17 March 2010, the Public Interest Registry announced that there are over 8 million domain names registered as .org, making it the third largest gTLD.[6]
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The org domain registry allows the registration of selected internationalized domain names (IDNs) as second-level domains.[7] For German, Danish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Swedish IDNs this has been possible since 2005. Spanish IDN registrations have been possible since 2007.
On June 2, 2009, The Public Interest Registry announced[8] that the org domain is the first generic top-level domain and the largest registry overall that has signed its DNS zone with Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). This allows the verification of the origin authenticity and integrity of DNS data by conforming DNS clients.
As of June 23, 2010, DNSSEC was enabled for individual second-level domains,[9] starting with 13 registrars.
In addition to its wide use in charitable fields, the org domain is often preferred by projects in the free software movement. Many political parties and support groups use org.
The Public Interest Registry (PIR) charges its accredited registrars US$6.75[10] for each domain name. Accredited registrars may charge anything they wish to the end customer.
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