.name

Industry:	Internet
Founded:	2001
Headquarters:	21345 Ridgetop Circle Dulles Virginia 20166
Website:	www.verisigninc.com
Key People
D. James Bidzos, Executive Chairman Mark D. McLaughlin, Pres. & CEO

.name is a generic top level domain name in the root zone of the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS). It is designed to provide a name space for individuals who uses their names, nicknames, or screen names to promote their blogs, websites, profession or business using their personal and unique identity as a brand. Verisign is the registry operator of .name.

Background

In 1985, Dr. Jon Postel and Joyce Reynolds issued RFC 920, which described the deployment of the original top level domains (TLDs), which included .com (commercial), .gov (government), .edu (education), .mil. (military), .org (organization) and the .arpa intended for the transition of the ARPA-internet. The two-letter (alpha-2) country codes were also delegated under the ISO-3166-1 list. In 1988, .net and .int were added to the root zone of the DNS.

The over-all structure and delegation of the DNS was described by Dr. Postel in 1994 in RFC 1591 wherein the seven original TLDs ( .com, .edu. .mil, .gov, .org, .net and .int) are called generic top level domain names (gTLDs) and the alpha-2 country codes. The .mil was restricted for the use of United States military and the .org was also originally restricted to be used by U.S. government agencies. The management and coordination of the entire DNS of the internet was handled by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. In addition, under RFC 1591 the creation of new gTLDs seemed unlikely to happen.

The use of the Internet increased rapidly and the Internet community expressed their concern of the limited choice in the registration of gTLDs. In 1998, President Bill Clinton instructed the Department of Commerce (DoC) to look into their concerns. In response to the President's directive, the DoC issued the Green Paper, which tackled the different issues related to the DNS, aspects that needs improvement and enumerated the reasons behind the widespread dissatisfaction of the internet community particularly the lack of competition in domain name registration. The Green Paper suggested improvement in the technical management of the DNS as well as introduction of new TLDs.

After receiving comments from the Internet community regarding the Green Paper, the Department of Commerce issued the White Paper, which contained solutions to the issues raised by the community, particularly the creation of a new, non-profit organization responsible for the technical management of the Internet. As a result, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was formed. The White Paper also enumerated the primary functions of ICANN, which determined the circumstances necessary to develop policies for the implementation of new TLDs under a deliberate and controlled pace to allow evaluation of its impact and a reasonable transition of the domain space.

During the early years of ICANN's establishment, one of the main activities of the organization was the development of new TLDs. The Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO) was delegated to conduct a development process for the introduction of new TLDs and protection of popular trademarks. On July 16, 2000, the ICANN Board adopted a policy for the introduction of new TLDs. By August, ICANN issued the new TLD application process wherein proposals to sponsor or operate new TLDs were received from September 5 to October 2, 2000. Eventually, on November 16, 2000, .name was selected as one of the seven new TLDs selected by the ICANN Board along with .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, and .pro.

Registry Operator

The first operator of the .name gTLD was delegated to the Global Name Registry (GNR), a British company, in November, 2000.The company launched .name in 2002, and offered second level (jane.name) and third level (jane.smith.name) registration for domain names including the personalized e-mail address. The company was acquired by Verisign in 2008, which is the current registry of the .name gTLD.

.name Registry Criticism

In 2007, the Global Name Registry was criticized by Internet security researchers because access to the Whois relied on payment. According to Internet security researchers, the practice limited their ability to police the Internet, and GNR created a haven for hackers who conduct Internet scams.

On the other hand, ICANN domain registrar liaison Karen Lentz explained that ICANN's contract with GNR allowed the Whois database be kept behind a paid firewall in compliance with the British government's privacy law. Lentz further explained, "There is certain data that is minimal data that is free, and there is tiered access to more detailed information. One level involves paying a fee to get you access to more data for a limited period of time".