.org

org

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

The domain name org is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) of the Domain Name System (DNS) used in the Internet. The name is derived 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 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. There are many instances of org being used by commercial sites. org was also commonly recommended for use by individuals, although name and info are now alternatives.

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.^[2]

Although organizations anywhere in the world can register org domains, many countries have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own country code top-level domain (ccTLD). Such second-level domains are usually of the form org.cc or or.cc, where cc is the country code. jp , uk and au are examples of this convention.

On 25 August 2008 The Public Interest Registry announced that there are over 7 million domain names registered as .org, making it the third largest generic domain name. ^[3]

Internationalized domain names

The org domain registry allows the registration of selected internationalized domain names (IDNs) as second-level domains.^[4] 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.

DNSSEC

On June 2, 2009 the The Public Interest Registry announced^[5] 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 will allow the verification of the origin authenticity and integrity of DNS data by conforming DNS clients.

Example use

In addition to its wide use in charitable fields, it is often preferred by the free software movement, as opposed to the com domains used mostly by for-profit companies. Many political parties and support groups also use org domains.

References

External links

• IANA .org whois information
• InterNIC FAQs on the .org Transition
• List of .org accredited registrars