.org

For the .org file extension, see Org-mode.
.org (Domain Name)
Introduced 1985
TLD type Generic top-level domain
Status Active
Registry Public Interest Registry (technical service 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. It was one of the original domains established in 1985 and operated by the Public Interest Registry since 1988. The domain extension was originally created for non-profits, but this designation no longer exists and today it is commonly used by schools, open-source projects, and communities as well as by for-profit entities. The number of registered .org domains has increased from fewer than one million in the 1990s, to ten million as of June, 2012.

History

The org domain was one of the original top-level domains,[1] with com, us, 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. 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.[3]

Registrations

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.[4][5] There are some instances of org being used by commercial sites such as craigslist.org. 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 number of .ORG domains registered with the Public Interest Registry.

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.

There were more than 8 million registered .ORGs in 2009,[6] 8.8 million in 2010,[7] and 9.6 million in 2011.[8] The Public Interest Registry registered the ten millionth .ORG domain in June, 2012.[9] When the 9.5 millionth .org was registered in December 2011, .org, became the third largest gTLD.[10]

Internationalized domain names

The org domain registry allows the registration of selected internationalized domain names (IDNs) as second-level domains.[11] 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.

Domain name security

On June 2, 2009, The Public Interest Registry announced[12] that the org domain is the first open 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,[13] starting with 13 registrars.

Cost of registration

The Public Interest Registry (PIR) charges its accredited registrars US $7.70[14] for each domain name. Accredited registrars may charge anything they wish to the end customer.

References

  1. ↑ RFC 920, Domain Requirements, J. Postel, J. Reynolds, The Internet Society (October 1984)
  2. ↑ Mitre.org
  3. ↑ InterNIC - FAQs on org transition
  4. ↑ ICANN Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) ,Retrieved 2011-03-31.
  5. ↑ Buy .ORG (Registrant) General Questions, Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  6. ↑ Ragan, Steve (March 12, 2010). "DNSSEC to become standard on .ORG domains by end of June". The Tech Herald. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  7. ↑ Berkens, Michael (February 14, 2011). ".ORG Grows Over 10% To Over 8.8 Million Registrations". The Domains. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  8. ↑ Prestipino, Peter (February 16, 2012). "The .ORG Registry Grows 10 Percent". Website Magazine. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  9. ↑ Goldstein, David (July 12, 2012). "ORG Seventh TLD To Pass Ten Millionth Registration Milestone". DomainPulse. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  10. ↑ "The PIR Dashboard" (PDF). The Public Interest Registry. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Questions". Public Interest Registry. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
  12. ↑ Ajay D'Souza. "DNSSEC announcement in The .ORG Blog". Archived from the original on 2009-07-20. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
  13. ↑ "List of .ORG registrars". Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  14. ↑ "General Questions (FAQ)". Public Interest Registry. Retrieved August 22, 2012.