.com
Introduced | January 1, 1985 |
---|---|
Registry | Verisign |
Sponsor | None |
Intended use | Commerce entities |
Actual use | Used for general purposes and is widely regarded as the standard for TLDs |
Registration restrictions | None |
Structure | Registrations are conducted at second level. |
Documents | RFC 920; RFC 1591; ICANN registry agreement |
Dispute policies | UDRP |
DNSSEC | Yes |
IDN | Yes |
Registry website | Verisign.com Registry |
The domain name com is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Added in 1985, its name is derived from the word commercial,[1] indicating its original intended purpose for domains registered by commercial organizations. Later, the domain opened for general purposes.
The domain was originally administered by the United States Department of Defense, but is today operated by Verisign, and remains under ultimate jurisdiction of U.S. law.[2][3][4] Verisign Registrations in the .com domain are processed via registrars accredited by ICANN. The registry accepts internationalized domain names.
The domain was one of the original top-level domains (TLDs) in the Internet when the Domain Name System was implemented in January 1985, the others being edu, gov, mil, net, org, and int.[5] It has grown into the largest top-level domain,[6] and has lent its name to an era in the late 1990s, the dot-com bubble, during which excessive speculation in Internet-related companies in a period of rapid growth in the use and adoption of the Internet led to a stock market bubble and crash.
History
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2017) |
The domain .com was one of the first set of top-level domains when the Domain Name System was first implemented for use on the Internet on January 1, 1985.[7] The domain was administered by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), however, the department contracted the domain maintenance to SRI International. SRI created DDN-NIC, also known as SRI-NIC, or simply the NIC (Network Information Center),[8] then accessible online with the domain name nic.ddn.mil. Beginning October 1, 1991, an operations contract was awarded to Government Systems Inc. (GSI), which sub-contracted it to Network Solutions Inc. (NSI).[9]
On January 1, 1993, the National Science Foundation assumed responsibility of maintenance, as com was primarily being used for non-defense interests. The NSF contracted operation to Network Solutions (NSI). In 1995, the NSF authorized NSI to begin charging registrants an annual fee for the first time since the domain's inception. Initially, the fee was US$50 per year, with US$35 going to NSI, and US$15 going to a government fund. New registrations had to pay for the first two years, making the new-domain registration fee US$100. In 1997 the United States Department of Commerce assumed authority over all generic TLDs. It is currently operated by VeriSign, which had acquired Network Solutions. VeriSign later spun off Network Solutions' non-registry functions into a separate company that continues as a registrar. In the English language, the domain is often spelled with a leading period and commonly pronounced as dot-com, and has entered common parlance this way.
Although com domains were initially intended to designate commercial entities,[10] the domain has had no restrictions for eligible registrants since the mid-1990s. With the commercialization and popularization of the Internet, the domain was opened to the public and quickly became the most common top-level domain for websites, email, and networking. Many companies that flourished in the period from 1997 to 2001—the time known as the "dot-com bubble"—incorporated the label com into company names; these became known as dot-coms or dot-com companies. The introduction of biz in 2001, which is restricted to businesses, has had no impact on the popularity of com.[citation needed]
Although companies anywhere in the world can register com domains, many countries have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own country code top-level domain (ccTLD), such as Australia (com.au), China (com.cn), Greece (com.gr), Israel (co.il), India (co.in), Indonesia (co.id), Japan (co.jp), Mexico (com.mx), Nepal (.com.np), Pakistan (com.pk), South Korea (co.kr), Sri Lanka (com.lk), United Kingdom (co.uk), and Vietnam (.com.vn).
Many non-commercial sites and networks use com names to benefit from the perceived recognizability of a com domain. However, the registration statistics show varying popularity over the years.[6]
In December 2011, VeriSign reported that approximately 100 million com domains were registered.[11] According to the Domain Name Industry Brief published in March 2020, which publishes every quarter, com domain registration totaled 145.4[12] million. As of March 2009, VeriSign reported that 926 accredited registrars serve the domain.[11]
On November 29, 2012, the U.S. Department of Commerce approved the renewal of the com Registry Agreement between Verisign, Inc., and ICANN. Through this agreement, Verisign managed the com registry until November 30, 2018.[13]
List of oldest second-level domains
The following are the 100 oldest still-existing registered com domains.[14]
Rank | Creation date | Domain name |
---|---|---|
1 | March 15, 1985 | symbolics.com |
2 | April 24, 1985 | BBN.com |
3 | May 24, 1985 | think.com |
4 | July 11, 1985 | MCC.com |
5 | September 30, 1985 | DEC.com |
6 | November 7, 1985 | northrop.com |
7 | January 9, 1986 | xerox.com |
8 | January 17, 1986 | SRI.com |
9 | March 3, 1986 | HP.com |
10 | March 5, 1986 | bellcore.com |
11 | March 19, 1986 | IBM.com |
11 | March 19, 1986 | sun.com |
13 | March 25, 1986 | intel.com |
13 | March 25, 1986 | TI.com |
15 | April 25, 1986 | ATT.com |
16 | May 8, 1986 | GMR.com |
16 | May 8, 1986 | tek.com |
18 | July 10, 1986 | FMC.com |
18 | July 10, 1986 | UB.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | bell-atl.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | GE.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | grebyn.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | ISC.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | NSC.com |
20 | August 5, 1986 | stargate.com |
26 | September 2, 1986 | boeing.com |
27 | September 18, 1986 | ITCorp.com |
28 | September 29, 1986 | siemens.com |
29 | October 18, 1986 | pyramid.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | alphaDC.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | BDM.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | fluke.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | inmet.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | kesmai.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | mentor.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | NEC.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | ray.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | rosemount.com |
30 | October 27, 1986 | vortex.com |
40 | November 5, 1986 | alcoa.com |
40 | November 5, 1986 | GTE.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | adobe.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | AMD.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | DAS.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | data-IO.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | octopus.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | portal.com |
42 | November 17, 1986 | teltone.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | 3Com.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | amdahl.com |
Rank | Creation date | Domain name |
---|---|---|
49 | December 11, 1986 | CCUR.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | CI.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | convergent.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | DG.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | peregrine.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | quad.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | SQ.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | tandy.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | TTI.com |
49 | December 11, 1986 | unisys.com |
61 | January 19, 1987 | CGI.com |
61 | January 19, 1987 | CTS.com |
61 | January 19, 1987 | SPDCC.com |
64 | February 19, 1987 | apple.com |
65 | March 4, 1987 | NMA.com |
65 | March 4, 1987 | prime.com |
67 | April 4, 1987 | philips.com |
68 | April 23, 1987 | datacube.com |
68 | April 23, 1987 | KAI.com |
68 | April 23, 1987 | TIC.com |
68 | April 23, 1987 | vine.com |
72 | April 30, 1987 | NCR.com |
73 | May 14, 1987 | cisco.com |
73 | May 14, 1987 | RDL.com |
75 | May 20, 1987 | SLB.com |
76 | May 27, 1987 | parcplace.com |
76 | May 27, 1987 | UTC.com |
78 | June 26, 1987 | IDE.com |
79 | July 9, 1987 | TRW.com |
80 | July 13, 1987 | unipress.com |
81 | July 27, 1987 | dupont.com |
81 | July 27, 1987 | lockheed.com |
83 | July 28, 1987 | rosetta.com |
84 | August 18, 1987 | toad.com |
85 | August 31, 1987 | quick.com |
86 | September 3, 1987 | allied.com |
86 | September 3, 1987 | DSC.com |
86 | September 3, 1987 | SCO.com |
89 | September 22, 1987 | gene.com |
89 | September 22, 1987 | KCCS.com |
89 | September 22, 1987 | spectra.com |
89 | September 22, 1987 | WLK.com |
93 | September 30, 1987 | mentat.com |
94 | October 14, 1987 | WYSE.com |
95 | November 2, 1987 | CFG.com |
96 | November 9, 1987 | marble.com |
97 | November 16, 1987 | cayman.com |
97 | November 16, 1987 | entity.com |
99 | November 24, 1987 | KSR.com |
100 | November 30, 1987 | NYNEXST.com |
See also
References
- ^ "RFC 920: Domain Requirements". October 1984. p. 2.
COM = Commercial, any commercial related domains meeting the second level requirements.
- ^ "US shuts down Canadian gambling site". The Register. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
- ^ "Les ".com" peuvent être saisis par les autorités américaines". PC World magazine. Archived from the original on February 27, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
- ^ "No need for SOPA, VeriSign seizes bodog.com for US authorities". TECHSPOT.
- ^ "ICANN | Archives | Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)".
- ^ a b "The Domain Industry Brief".
- ^ "IANA — .com Domain Delegation Data". www.iana.org. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
- ^ Sitzler, Dana D.; Smith, Patricia G.; Marine, April N. (February 1992). "Building a Network Information Services Infrastructure". p. 3. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
- ^ Richard Schmalgemeier (September 25, 1991). "SRI-NIC services moving". Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
- ^ Jon Postel (March 1994). "RFC 1591 Domain Name System Structure and Delegation". p. 2. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
- ^ a b .com Monthly Transaction Report of December 2011
- ^ "the Domain Name Industry Brief", Verisign ,March 2020
- ^ Department of Commerce Approves Verisign-ICANN .com Registry Renewal Agreement | NTIA
- ^ "100 oldest .com domains". iWhois.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
External links
- IANA .com whois information
- List of .com accredited registrars
- .com WhoIS
- .com Registry Agreement at ICANN