Domain Glossary

The administrative contact is an individual or role account authorized on behalf of the domain name registrant to deal with administrative matters relating to a domain name.

Contextual advertising by Google. Website publishers earn a portion of the advertising revenue for placing Google sponsored links on their site.

An Advisory Committee is a formal advisory body made up of representatives from the Internet community to advise ICANN on a particular issue or policy area. Several are mandated by the ICANN Bylaws and others may be created as needed. Advisory committees have no legal authority to act for ICANN, but report their findings and make recommendations to the ICANN Board.

ICANN’s At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) is responsible for considering and providing advice on the activities of the ICANN, as they relate to the interests of individual Internet users (the “At-Large” community). ICANN, as a private sector, non-profit corporation with technical management responsibilities for the Internet’s domain name and address system, will rely on the ALAC and its supporting infrastructure to involve and represent in ICANN a broad set of individual user interests. On 31 October 2002, the ICANN Board adopted New Bylaws that establish the ALAC and authorize its supporting At-Large organizations. (Article XI, Section 2(4) of the New Bylaws.) The New Bylaws, which are the result of ICANN’s 2002 reform process, went into effect on 15 December 2002. ALAC is to eventually consist of ten members selected by Regional At-Large Organizations, supplemented by five members selected by ICANN’s Nominating Committee. To allow the ALAC to begin functioning immediately, the Transition Article of the Interim Bylaws provides for the Board to appoint ten members (two from each of ICANN’s five regions) to an Interim ALAC. Underpinning the ALAC will be a network of self-organizing, self-supporting At-Large Structures throughout the world involving individual Internet users at the local or issue level. The At-Large Structures (either existing organizations or newly formed for this purpose) will self-organize into five Regional At-Large Organizations (one in each ICANN region - Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, and North America). The Regional At-Large Organizations will manage outreach and public involvement and will be the main forum and coordination point in each region for public input to ICANN.

APNIC is a Regional Internet Registry (RIR), and is a non-profit membership organization responsible for the administration and registration of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Korea, China, and Australia.

ARIN is a Regional Internet Registry (RIR), and is a non-profit membership organization established for the purpose of the administration and registration of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in North America, parts of the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa.

The ASO advises the ICANN Board of Directors on policy issues relating to the allocation and management of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The ASO selects two Directors for the ICANN Board.

An evaluation carried out to establish the potential market value of a domain name.

The process of verifying the identity of an individual or organization. Authentication allows the recipient in an electronic transaction to be confident of both the identity of the sender and the integrity of the message.

A process to verify that an individual or organization that has requested an action actually has the right to make the request. Requiring a password to modify a domain names' registration information is an example of authorization.

The billing contact is the person or role account designated to receive the invoice for domain name registration fees and renewal (re-registration) fees.

A company in the business of buying and selling domain names. Domain name brokers usually act as facilitators between buyers and sellers, but very rarely buy for their own account.

The ccNSO is in the process of being established, with the ccNSO Assistance Group preparing the recommendations that are currently under discussion. Upon completion, the purpose of the ccNSO is to engage and provide leadership in activities relevant to country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs). This is achieved by 1) Developing policy recommendations to the ICANN Board, 2) Nurturing consensus across the ccNSO’s community, including the name-related activities of ccTLDs; and 3) Coordinating with other ICANN SO’s, Committees, or constituencies under ICANN. The ccNSO selects one person to serve on the board.

Two letter domains, such as .uk (United Kingdom), .de (Germany) and .jp (Japan) (for example), are called country code top level domains (ccTLDs) and correspond to a country, territory, or other geographic location. The rules and policies for registering domain names in the ccTLDs vary significantly and ccTLD registries limit use of the ccTLD to citizens of the corresponding country. Some ICANN-accredited registrars provide registration services in the ccTLDs in addition to registering names in .biz, .com, .info, .name, .net and .org, however, ICANN does not specifically accredit registrars to provide ccTLD registration services. For more information regarding registering names in ccTLDs, including a complete database of designated ccTLDs and managers, please refer to http://www.iana.org/cctld/cctld.htm.

The illegal act of buying up domain names and “sitting” on them with the intent of making a large profit off the sell. Cybersquatters will often buy out large quantities of names, trademarks, or highly marketable names to try to make a buck or prevent others from lawful use of the name.

The process of removing a domain name and its corresponding record from the Domain Name System (DNS) and InterNIC' domain name database.

A previously registered domain name whose registration has been cancelled by the registrar, possibly due to a dispute over ownership or a breach of contract. A dropped domain is available for registration by the public.

Domainers is a slang term for individuals, companies, or organizations whose business model includes accumulating a portfolio of generic internet domain names. Although controversially and mistakenly compared to cybersquatters, Domainers differentiate and legitimize themselves by avoiding trademarked names and potentially contentious domain names, and refraining from typosquatting. They consider their conduct in buying, selling, and developing domain names to be in the same spirit as real estate investing. Domainers generate revenue via domain parking, through the resale of domain names and by developing domain names into fully functioning websites. Domainers are also sometimes referred to as domain investors and commercial registrants and bulk registrants.

The business or registrar responsible for a domain name’s server and keeping their web site “live”.

The business of buying, selling, and developing domain names. It is also used to describe the practice of monetizing domain name registrations (e.g. through pay per click (PPC) or parking pages).

A practice in which a registrant returns a name just before the five-day period expires and re-registers it again as soon as it becomes available.

The business of purchasing domains and running advertising on a landing page to earn ad revenue from traffic. The traffic to these domains comes from a variety of sources: old bookmarks, people typing in the domain i.e. “direct navigation”, residual traffic from the previous web site or search engine results.

A domain-name is your own cyber-estate. This estate, just like its physical counterpart, has its value depending on its address (name) and its content. A domain name in short is what brings visitors to your website, your own space on the Internet.

Disputes that arise over conflicting positions as to who has the right to register a specific domain name.

Scattered across the Internet are thousands of computers - called “Domain Name Resolvers” or just plain “resolvers” - that routinely cache the information they receive from queries to the root servers. These resolvers are located strategically with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or institutional networks. They are used to respond to a user’s request to resolve a domain name - that is, to find the corresponding IP address.

An Internet addressing scheme that is hierarchical in nature and uses a "tree" structure to organize information that describes networks and computers.

The Domain Name System (DNS) helps users to find their way around the Internet. Every computer on the Internet has a unique address - just like a telephone number - which is a rather complicated string of numbers. It is called its “IP address” (IP stands for “Internet Protocol”). IP Addresses are hard to remember. The DNS makes using the Internet easier by allowing a familiar string of letters (the “domain name”) to be used instead of the arcane IP address. So instead of typing 207.151.159.3, you can type www.internic.net. It is a “mnemonic” device that makes addresses easier to remember.

An advertising practice used primarily by domain name registrars and internet advertising publishers to monetize type-in traffic visiting an under-developed domain name. The domain name will usually resolve to a page containing relevant advertising listings and links that are targeted to the predicted interests of the visitor. A major domain monetization and parking company is Sedo, for example.

Is a practice of registrants using the free five-day “grace period” at the beginning of a domain registration for ICANN-regulated generic top-level domains to test the marketability of a domain name.

The process of using automated systems to register expired domains within a fraction of a second of their being cancelled by the registry.

A previously registered domain name whose registration was allowed to lapse by the original owner, who refused to pay the renewal fee. The domain name returned to the "available" pool of domain names.

A process to redirect your incoming mail to a specific mailbox.

A third party service that will essentially hold on to the buyer’s payment when selling a domain name, thereby protecting both the buyer and seller.

A domain that has not been reregistered by the owner in the grace period allotted eventually becomes expired, or unusable by the owner, and is placed into the pool of available names again.

The GAC is an advisory committee comprising appointed representatives of national governments, multi-national governmental organizations and treaty organizations, and distinct economies. Its function is to advise the ICANN Board on matters of concern to governments. The GAC will operate as a forum for the discussion of government interests and concerns, including consumer interests. As an advisory committee, the GAC has no legal authority to act for ICANN, but will report its findings and recommendations to the ICANN Board. The Chairman of the GAC is Sharil Tarmizi of Malaysia. The Secretariat of the GAC is based at the European Commission.

Most TLDs with three or more characters are referred to as “generic” TLDs, or “gTLDs”. They can be subdivided into two types, “sponsored” TLDs (sTLDs) and “unsponsored TLDs (uTLDs), as described in more detail below. In the 1980s, seven gTLDs (.com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, and .org) were created. Domain names may be registered in three of these (.com, .net, and .org) without restriction; the other four have limited purposes. Over the next twelve years, various discussions occurred concerning additional gTLDs, leading to the selection in November 2000 of seven new TLDs for introduction. These were introduced in 2001 and 2002. Four of the new TLDs (.biz, .info, .name, and .pro) are unsponsored. The other three new TLDs (.aero, .coop, and .museum) are sponsored. Generally speaking, an unsponsored TLD operates under policies established by the global Internet community directly through the ICANN process, while a sponsored TLD is a specialized TLD that has a sponsor representing the narrower community that is most affected by the TLD. The sponsor thus carries out delegated policy-formulation responsibilities over many matters concerning the TLD. A Sponsor is an organization to which is delegated some defined ongoing policy-formulation authority regarding the manner in which a particular sponsored TLD is operated. The sponsored TLD has a Charter, which defines the purpose for which the sponsored TLD has been created and will be operated. The Sponsor is responsible for developing policies on the delegated topics so that the TLD is operated for the benefit of a defined group of stakeholders, known as the Sponsored TLD Community, that are most directly interested in the operation of the TLD. The Sponsor also is responsible for selecting the registry operator and to varying degrees for establishing the roles played by registrars and their relationship with the registry operator. The Sponsor must exercise its delegated authority according to fairness standards and in a manner that is representative of the Sponsored TLD Community.

The GNSO is the successor to the responsibilities of the Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO; see below) that relate to the generic top-level domains. The GNSO is the body of six constituencies, as follows: the Commercial and Business constituency, the gTLD Registry constituency, the ISP constituency, the non-commercial constituency, the registrar’s constituency, and the IP constituency.

A domain name that has not been reregistered by its owner, but not yet in the pool of available names may be said to be on hold status.

The IANA is the authority originally responsible for the oversight of IP address allocation, the coordination of the assignment of protocol parameters provided for in Internet technical standards, and the management of the DNS, including the delegation of top-level domains and oversight of the root name server system. Under ICANN, the IANA continues to distribute addresses to the Regional Internet Registries, coordinate with the IETF and others to assign protocol parameters, and oversee the operation of the DNS.

Headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California, ICANN is a non-profit corporation that was created on September 18, 1998 in order to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly on behalf of the U.S. Government by other organizations, notably IANA. The tasks of ICANN include managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses.

An Internet domain name that uses recently adopted standards by the ICANN that modify the existing DNS protocols and standards to support multiple languages and scripts (the so called non-ASCII characters).

The name given to a project that originated under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. It is open to any interested individual.

The communications protocol underlying the Internet, IP allows large, geographically diverse networks of computers to communicate with each other quickly and economically over a variety of physical links. An Internet Protocol Address is the numerical address by which a location in the Internet is identified. Computers on the Internet use IP addresses to route traffic and establish connections among themselves; people generally use the human-friendly names made possible by the Domain Name System.

The Internet Society is the international organization for global cooperation and coordination for the Internet and its internetworking technologies and applications. ISOC membership is open to any interested person.

An ISP is a company, which provides access to the Internet to organizations and/or individuals. Access services provided by ISPs may include web hosting, email, VoIP (voice over IP), and support for many other applications.

LACNIC is a Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Placing a link to another website on your own site in exchange for a return link back. Also known as reciprocal linking.

Also called a host (name server). A computer that has both the software and the data (zone file) needed to resolve domain names to Internet Protocol (IP) numbers.

An advertising technique used on websites, especially search engines. PPC advertisements are usually text ads placed near search results; when a site visitor clicks on the advertisement, the advertiser is charged a small amount. Variants include pay for placement and pay for ranking. The highest ranking goes to the highest bidder.

Refers to the market for unregistered domains. The primary market includes ICANN-accredited registrars.

Domain names ending with .aero, .biz, .com, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .net, .org, and .pro can be registered through many different companies (known as “registrars”) that compete with one another. A listing of these companies appears in the Accredited Registrar Directory. The registrar you choose will ask you to provide various contact and technical information that makes up the registration. The registrar will then keep records of the contact information and submit the technical information to a central directory known as the “registry.” This registry provides other computers on the Internet the information necessary to send you e-mail or to find your web site. You will also be required to enter a registration contract with the registrar, which sets forth the terms under which your registration is accepted and will be maintained.

The individual or organization that registers a specific domain name with InterNIC.

The process through which individuals and organizations obtain a domain name.

The charge for registering, a domain name.

The “Registry” is the authoritative, master database of all domain names registered in each Top Level Domain. A registry is responsible for delegating Internet addresses such as Internet Protocol (IP) numbers and domain names, and keeping a record of those addresses and the information associated with their delegation. The registry operator keeps the master database and also generates the “zone file” which allows computers to route Internet traffic to and from top-level domains anywhere in the world. Internet users don’t interact directly with the registry operator; users can register names in TLDs including .biz, .com, .info, .net, .name, .org by using an ICANN-Accredited Registrar.

Problems and complaints relating to deletion of domain-name registrations are very common. Businesses and consumers are losing the rights to their domain names through registration deletions caused by mistake, inadvertence, or fraud. Current procedures for correcting these mistakes have proven inadequate. To move toward a solution to these problems ICANN developed the RGP.

How it works: Now, the “delete” of a domain name (whether inside or outside of any applicable grace period) will result in a 30-day Deleted Name Redemption Grace Period. This grace period will allow the domain name registrant, registrar, and/or registry time to detect and correct any mistaken deletions. During this 30-day period, the deleted name will be placed on REGISTRY-HOLD, which will cause the name to be removed from the zone. (The domain name will not function/resolve.) This feature will help ensure notice to the registrant that the name is subject to deletion at the end of the RGP, even if the contact data the registrar has for the registrant is no longer accurate. During the Redemption Grace Period, registrants can redeem their registrations through registrars. Registrars would redeem the name in the registry for the original registrant by paying renewal fees, plus a service charge, to the registry operator. Any party requesting redemption would be required to prove its identity as the original registrant of the name. After the 30-day period when the domain name can be redeemed, there is a 5-day period when the domain essentially is pending deletion. This timeframe is implemented to facilitate notice to all registrars before a domain is finally deleted.

There are currently four RIRs: APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC and RIPE NCC. These non-profit organizations are responsible for distributing IP addresses on a regional level to Internet service providers and local registries.

RIPE is an open and voluntary organization, which consists of European Internet service providers. The RIPE NCC acts as the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Europe and surrounding areas, performs coordination activities for the organizations participating in RIPE, and allocates blocks of IP address space to its Local Internet Registries (LIRs), which then assign the addresses to end-users.

The root servers contain the IP addresses of all the TLD registries - both the global registries such as .com, .org, etc. and the 244 country-specific registries such as .fr (France), .cn (China), etc. This is critical information. If the information is not 100% correct or if it is ambiguous, it might not be possible to locate a key registry on the Internet. In DNS parlance, the information must be unique and authentic.

The date on which the periodic maintenance fee paid for a given domain name runs out.

A company/person that sells domain names through registry services provided by an ICANN approved registrar.

The President’s standing committee on the security and stability of the Internet’s naming and address allocation systems. Their charter includes a focus on risk analysis and auditing. SESAC consists of approximately 20 technical experts from industry and academia as well as operators of Internet root servers, registrars, and TLD registries.

The process of optimizing a web page for high search engine rankings for a particular search term or set of search terms.

Refers to the market for already registered domains, which are available for sale by the current registrant. The registrant may use a third party site such as SnapNames (division of Oversee.net) or Afternic (acquired by NameMedia) to list and broker the sale by means of an auction or list price.

The portion of the Uniform Resource Locator that identifies the specific and unique administrative owner associated with an Internet Protocol number. For example, in www.tradedomains.org, “tradedomains” is the second level domain.

The SOs are the three specialized advisory bodies that will advise the ICANN Board of Directors on issues relating to domain names (GNSO and CCNSO) and, IP addresses (ASO).

Paid advertising which displays next to the natural search results. This is normally a sponsor paying for a fixed and visible advertisement on certain spaces on a website.

The last part of an Internet domain name (such as .com, .net, .us, etc.) that appears furthest to the right. There are three types of TLDs: country code top-level domains (ccTLD), generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) and infrastructure Top Level Domains (iTLD) giving a range of suffixes.

When you register a domain name you must specify a technical contact for that domain.

A word, phrase, graphic image, or other symbol used to represent a business, commercial, or other organization.

The visitors and page views on a website.

The process of changing the party whom is listed as the domain name registrant. The party taking over the domain name is responsible for paying a new registration fee.

A practice that relies on mistakes such as typographical errors made by Internet users when inputting a website address into a web browser.

The W3C is an international industry consortium founded in October 1994 to develop common protocols that promote the evolution of the World Wide Web and ensure its interoperability. Services provided by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users; reference code implementations to embody and promote standards; and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology.

Information about who is responsible for domain names is publicly available to allow rapid resolution of technical problems and to permit enforcement of consumer protection, trademark, and other laws. The registrar will make this information available to the public on a “Whois” site. It is however possible to register a domain in the name of a third party, as long as they agree to accept responsibility.

WIPO is an intergovernmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual rights throughout the world. It is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations system of organizations. It was created in 1967 with the stated purpose “to encourage creative activity, [and] to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world”. Since 1999, WIPO oversees major part of domain name disputes.

The Uniform Dispute Resolution policy is a document which governs how domain name disputes will be resolved within the gTLD namespace. All ICANN-accredited registrars follow a uniform dispute resolution policy. Under that policy, disputes over entitlement to a domain-name registration are ordinarily resolved by court litigation between the parties claiming rights to the registration. Once the courts rule who is entitled to the registration, the registrar will implement that ruling. In disputes arising from registrations allegedly made abusively (such as “cybersquatting” and cyberpiracy”), the uniform policy provides an expedited administrative procedure to allow the dispute to be resolved without the cost and delays often encountered in court litigation. In these cases, you can invoke the administrative procedure by filing a complaint with one of the dispute-resolution service providers.