.us

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country:	USA
Manager:	DOC
Registry Provider:	Neustar
Date Implemented:	1985
Type:	ccTLD
Key People
Allen Gorldberg, Corporate Communications

.us is the country code top-level domain name (ccTLD) for the United States. Its operations are overseen by the Department of Commerce (DOC). DOC is also responsible for choosing an administrator for .us. Neustar is the current administrator.

History

.us was first established in 1985. Second level domains under .us did not become available for registration until April 2002.

Jon Postel was one of the original administrators for .us. who at that time also served as head of the Internet Assigned Numbers and Authority (IANA). Postel delegated the management of localities within the usTLD hierarchy to individuals, organizations, and State governments. The operational guidelines drafted by the original administrators of the us TLd states that the delegated managers are "trustees for the delegated domain and have a duty to serve the community. The designated [delegated] manager is the trustee of the domain for the domain itself and the global Internet community. Concerns about “rights” and “ownership” of domains are inappropriate. It is appropriate to be concerned about “responsibilities” and “service” to the community.” The delegated managers worked voluntarily without pay as they perform registry or registration operations.

In 2001, the Department of Commerce through the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded Neustar to serve as the administrator of the us TLD with the objective to further develop and expand the operation of the United States domain name. The US Department of Commerce through NTIA renewed Neustar's contract to administer and manage the us TLD on October 25, 2007.

As of 2007, there are 1.26 million domain names under the us TLD administered by Neustar which provides registry and clearinghouse services in telecommunications and Internet networks. The company projected that the US domain name will grow at an average rate of 23% per year.

Structure

The basic structure of the .us TLD is as follows: <organization>.<locality>.<state>.us, where the state is represented by its two-digit postal code.

The delegated managers also known as "delegees" or "locality delegees" supervise the operations of the locality space of majority of the usTLD. Although Neustar administers an expanded a second level .us domain name, it still maintains the hierarchical locality space to provide structure, name uniqueness and geographic reference point for registrants.

Registering a locality-based domain is a multi-step process that some have found difficult to understand or follow.

Management Framework for us TLD

The Department of Commerce and Neustar has been successful in managing and developing the usTLD because of their continuous development and implementation of unique policies and procedures to support a more certain, reliable and robust DNS. Neustar worked hand in hand with the agency in creating the us TLD management framework of us TLd based on four primary segments which include (1) legacy hierarchical locality space (2) expanded second-level space(3) kids.us and (4) reserved names.

URS Implementation

Neustar implemented a Uniform Rapid Suspension policy for the .us domain starting in July 2014. The policy will be implemented for all existing and new .us domains, giving trademark owners a faster and cheaper way to stop infringement domains on their trademarks.

Nexus Requirements

To be able to register a .us domain name any individual should be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States of America while entities or organizations should incorporated within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States possessions or territories or should be organized under the laws of the U.S. government.

.us TLD Dispute Resolution Policy

Any complaint regarding the us TLD should be filed to the approved dispute resolution service providers which include the American Arbitration Associationand the National Arbitration Forum.