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.com is the most popular gTLD with more than 100 million registrants worldwide. The global demand for the .com gTLD remains strong as the number of global Internet users continues to grow.<ref>[http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/products-and-services/domain-name-services/registry-services/com-domain-names/index.xhtml verisigninc.com]</ref> [[Verisign]] is the registry operator of the .com gTLD, and was approved by [[ICANN]] in 2006.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/verisign/registry-agmt-com-22sep10.htm www.icann.org]</ref>

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~~It is generally accepted that the vast majority of great .com names have been acquired, and the recent push for the new [[gTLD]] process can be seen as one response to this development.~~

In October, 2011, [[Verisign]]'s registry passed the 100 million mark for number of .com domains under management.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/com-passed-100-million-mark-in-october/ Com Passed 100 Million Mark in October, DomainIncite.com]</ref> By the end of quarter 2 of 2012, Verisign had 240 million domain names over all of the TLDs it operates, with .com and .net holding 49% of the TLD market share, a drop of 2% from quarter 1.<ref>[http://www.trefis.com/stock/vrsn/articles/146666/verisigns-dropping-com-and-net-is-a-troubling-trend/2012-10-03 Verisign’s Dropping .com And .net Is A Troubling Trend, trefis.com]</ref>

Verisign has been running .com and [[.net]] with 100% operational accuracy and stability for more than 15 years.<ref>[http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/why-verisign/education-center/domain-names/index.xhtml Domain Names, VerisignInc.com]</ref>

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==History==

The .com gTLD, along with the other original TLDs, was first administered by the United States Department of Defense under the [[DARPA|Defense Advance Advance Research Project Agency]], which was first implemented in 1985. The [[NIC|Network Information Center]], which was run by [[SRI International]], was the first assigned registrar and administrator of the first domain names.<ref>[http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc920.txt RFC 920]</ref> NIC was responsible for registering and hosting the domain names,<ref>[http://www.sri.com/about/timeline/tld-nic.html SRI International]</ref> as well as administering the [[IP Address|IP addresses]].<ref>[http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1020.txt RFC 1020]</ref>

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===Overcrowding of .Com Domain Space===

.com is the most popular and widely registered top level domain name by internet users worldwide. In 2000, there were more than 20 million registered names under the .com domain name space.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/17/technology/17DOMA.html%20(last%20visited%20Dec.%202,%202000)www.nytimes.com NYTimes.com]</ref> The overcrowding of the .com domain space has resulted in difficulties for users to find appealing domain names. This led to a proposal from the Internet community to create new gTLDs to solve the problem. On April 18-19, 2000, during the [[ICANN Yokohama]] meeting, the [[DNSO]] Names Council proposed the implementation of new TLDs to promote competition in the domain name registration business, enhance the utility of the DNS, and increase the available number of domain names.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/meetings/yokohama/new-tld-topic.htm#IIC www.icann.org]</ref> On November 16, 2000, ICANN approved seven new gTLDs which include [[.biz]], [[.info]], [[.name]], [[.pro]], [[.museum]], [[.aero]] and [[.coop]] to ease up the exhaustion of the .com and the [[.net]] domain space. Further expansion of available [[gTLD]]s is expected to be authorized at ICANN's 2011 meeting in Singapore.

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===US Seizures of Domain Names===

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The U.S. government has stated that because .com's registry operator, Verisign, is based in the United States, it has the right to seize any .com domain names at any time. The government goes straight to the registry in cases where the domain name is foreign, as foreign registrars are not required to comply with U.S. law. By early 2012, the government had seized 750 domain names like this, most registered through foreign registrars. Usually, the domain names are redirected at the [[DNS]] level to a U.S. government IP address that informs visitors that the site has been seized. Recently Bodog.com was targeted because federal law in the United States makes it illegal to offer online sports wagering and to payoff online bets, although online gambling isn’t illegal globally. The domain name was registered through a Canadian registrar, but the United States closed the site without any intervention from Canadian authorities or companies.<ref>[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/feds-seize-foreign-sites/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=twitterclickthru Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable, wired.com]</ref>

==References==

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