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2nd Level Domains
Most countries subdivide their national spaces on the
web into second level domains (2LDs or SLDs).
It covers -
introduction
As noted earlier in this profile, the first level in the
hierarchy is the national or generic space (for example
dot-com or dot-au), with the second level reflecting a
functional or other grouping and the third level representing
individual sites.
Apart from some technical requirements there are no rules
on
- the
number of 2LDs under a national TLD
- the
title of those 2LDs
- demarcations
between those 2LDs
Individual
nations are thus broadly free to manage naming of sites
within their national spaces.
Most countries have four or five 2LDs, with one usually
reserved for government entities and one reserved for
educational institutions (an 'edu' or 'ac' 2LD). There
is no innate reason for that number or categorisation,
which instead reflects national adaptation of the generic
TLDs. Many countries for example have an 'org' 2LD, a
'net' 2LD, a 'com' or 'co' 2LD and an 'edu' or 'ac' 2LD.
Some nations have moved towards reducing the number of
2LDs, so that site names appear immediately before the
ccTLD suffix (eg www.cira.ca). Examples are the Netherlands,
Belgium and Canada. That does not appear to have tangibly
impeded navigation by users or increased regulatory difficulties,
despite assertions that simplification results in fraud
or confuses consumers.
Some countries have a significantly higher number of 2LDs.
New Zealand for example has 12 (including a 'geek' 2LD).
Norway has a grand 33, most relating to its largest metropolitan
areas. Hungary has 31, China has 37.
An indication of numbers is provided in the note elsewhere
on this site
Australia
The
dot-au space was formerly managed by Melbourne University
employee Robert Elz, in line with the origins of the net
as a nonprofit research network within academia. Mr Elz
set the rules (one reason why there is a 'dropbear.id'
2LD) and rather heroically processed many of the applications
for domain registration.
The au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA), the nonprofit
industry body discussed
in more detail in a separate profile, is now responsible
under Commonwealth telecommunications legislation for
administration of dot-au.
auDA is meant to develop and administer policy. It has
scope to delegate registry and registrar responsibilities
to commercial or nonprofit service providers. Competition
in service provision was introduced in July 2002, with
a reduction in domain registration costs (at that time
uncompetitive with gTLDs and benchmarks such as Canada).
auDA has enhanced the structure of 2LDs within dot-au
and eligibility for registration of domains. In November
2002 auDA announced
that following public consultation it would create eight
new 'geographic' 2LDs for Australian states and territories
- act.au, nsw.au, nt.au, qld.au, sa.au, tas.au, vic.au,
wa.au - in "order to preserve Australian geographic
names for use by the relevant community". More information
about those geographics was released
in November 2003.
The current structure is as follows.
.com.au - commercial entities (The domain name
must match the business name registered with the state/federal
government or a registered Trade Mark or application
for Trade Mark or otherwise have a 'close and substantial'
connection)
.net.au - commercial entities, such as companies
(with ACN as registered through ASIC), and businesses
(registered with state governments). The 2LD was formerly
restricted to ISPs and other network service providers
.edu.au - educational institutions (Universities
and other bodies of national significance are registered
directly in this domain. State based bodies are registered
in a state 3LD, for example name.nsw.edu.au)
.gov.au - federal government bodies are registered
below .gov.au. State or local government are registered
in their state's 3LD, such as name.sa.gov.au
.asn.au - incorporated bodies, political parties,
trade unions, sporting and special interest clubs
.id.au - for individuals who are Australian citizens
or residents. The space was formerly distinguished with
a set of third level domains named after flora and fauna
(eg dropbear.id.au, echidna.id.au, emu.id.au)
.csiro.au - for units of the Commonwealth Scientific
& Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO),
the federal research & development organisation
.org.au - a catch-all, for registered organisations
that do not fit within other 2LDs such as .com.au or
.asn.au
Several 2LDs are no longer in general use:
.info.au
- used to identify major Australian information resources
.conf.au - for short duration conference and exhibitions
(once the conference or exhibition is finished the domain
must be returned)
.telememo.au - a gateway to the X.400 email
service
.otc.au - the former OTC X.400 gateway
.gw.au - the former AARNet gateway
.oz.au - for Mr Elz's machine
at Melbourne University and a handful of other machines
connected to ACSnet
Some proposals in response to auDA's call for suggestions
are here:
they included a .catholic.au 2LD (raising the spectre
of a discrete 2LD for every cult and creed) and erotica
2LD.
New Zealand
The
current 2LDs within the dot-nz
space - discussed in more detail in a separate profile
- are:
.ac.nz
- tertiary educational institutions and related entities
.co.nz - companies and other comercial entities
.cri.nz - government research institutes
.gen.nz - individuals and other entities not
covered elsewhere
.govt.nz - national, regional and local government
agencies with statutory powers
.iwi.nz - a traditional Maori tribe, mandated
by the local Iwi Authority
.maori.nz - a space for Indigenous-related entities
(described here)
that do not meet the .iwi.nz rule
.mil.nz - the New Zealand armed forces
.net.nz - ISPs and other entities "directly
related to the NZ Internet"
.org.nz - not-for-profit organizations
.school.nz - primary, secondary and pre-schools
and related entities
.geek.nz - for "geeks"
In
1997 the Council of InternetNZ (formerly ISOCNZ) - the
body responsible for the dot-nz space - accepted a paper
on Future Development of the .NZ Domain Name Space,
discussed in a historical background document.
The paper identified
principles that should govern all second level domain
names and establised a process
for the creation of new 2LDs.
Proposals for two new 2LDs arose in response to that process:
the .maori.nz 2LD was approved in mid 2002 but a proposed
.bank.nz
- for financial institutions (described here)
failed to gain sufficient support. A .geek.nz
2LD was established in 2003; moves are underway to establish
a .hobbit.nz 2LD.
UK
The
2LDs in the dot-UK name space are:
.gov.uk
- government agencies
.ac.uk - tertiary education institutions
.nhs.uk - national health service bodies
.police.uk - Police forces
.mod.uk - Defence forces
.co.uk - commercial enterprises
.org.uk - non-commercial organisations
.plc.uk - for registered company names only
.ltd.uk - for registered company names only
.net.uk - ISPs
.sch.uk - schools
.me.uk
- for individuals
The
rules for .ltd.uk and .plc.uk
2LD registrations require that the domain name is the
same as the company name that the business has registered
with the national companies regulator. The rules for .co.uk
and .org.uk registrations allow for a
wider unrestricted variety of names, abbreviations and
acronyms.
figures
The
Net Metrics & Statistics guide
on this site points to traffic and audience figures.
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