.so

.so
Introduced 1997
TLD type Country code top-level domain
Status Active
Registry SONIC
Sponsor Somali Network Information Center
Intended use Entities connected with  Somalia
Actual use Recently re-established
Registration restrictions Limited to institutions and organizations in Somalia, residents of Somalia, others who have a legitimate, clear and provable connection to Somalia
Structure Registrations can be made via authorized registrars
Documents Somalia .so
Dispute policies dotSO Domain Name Registration Policies
WIPO
Registry Website SONIC

.so is the internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Somalia. After a long absence, the .so domain was officially relaunched on November 1, 2010, by .SO Registry, which is regulated by the nation's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.[1] It was launched through various accredited registrars around the world.

On March 9, 2018, Somalia's newly established telecom regulator The National Communications Authority (NCA) took full control of the country's top-level internet domain (dotSO) from the Somali National Information Center (SONIC) and Cloudy Registry, who ran the operations and the management of the domain Registry.[2] On July 8, 2015, the .so ccTLD registry was transferred to the Somali Network Information Center (SONIC),[3] which introduced new limitations on purchasing .so domain names by persons and organizations not affiliated with Somalia.[4][5]

On 11 July, 2013 the ISO 3166-1 code for Somalia changed to reflect the SO used for the ccTLD.

History

Overview

Due to the civil war in Somalia, operations of this domain were previously officially delegated to Monolith Innovation Group, a company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,[6] which is now defunct. The domain remained delegated to this company, even though it was defunct, until April 17, 2009, at which time the .so domain record was changed in the root zone to point to the servers of the new registry operator, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in Somalia.[7]

The demise of Monolith (ml.org)

Monolith Innovations, as a domain name server, was popular in the mid-1990s.

Second-level domain registrations at the time were (by modern standards) relatively expensive. Monolith operated various projects which allowed small sites to obtain an Internet address of the form example.ml.org at effectively no cost instead of paying full price ($50US in the first year) for a domain like example.com, example.org or example.net [8]

The domain name record for .so was initially created on 28 August 1997, at or near the peak of the ml.org service's popularity. At the time, the potential benefits seemed more than apparent. By taking responsibility for a country code domain, Monolith could have become able to issue *.so domains at second-level for little or no cost, providing a viable alternative to the higher Network Solutions pricing of that era.

According to ml.org's founder, Aveek Datta, in 1998, "I've personally been trying to create a global FREE top level domain. Whether or not this becomes a reality is another question; money talks and big bucks are being waved about in the registry battles." [9] However, the ml.org service ceased operations at the end of 1998 due to "technical and organisational problems" which included major server failures.[10] Its second-level domains remain registered to Aveek Datta, president of the former Monolith Innovations Group, but appear not to be in active use.[11] Throughout the domain's history, a one-page placeholder site at the nic.so address claimed that "no .SO domains are available and we are not looking for any registrar partners." [12] [13] However, the DNS servers for the domain name were badly configured, so the nic.so address was only available intermittently.

Relaunch

On February 3, 2009, ICANN approved redelegation of the .so domain to the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.[14] In ICANN's meeting minutes, it was revealed that Aveek Datta, the former registry operator, had disputed the redelegation request but he did not respond to ICANN's request to verify his connection with the former company.

The new registry operator relaunched the .so domain on November 1, 2010. Requests to become a registrar can already be submitted using the recently launched website of .SO Registry.[1]

Transfer

On March 9, 2018, Somalia's newly established telecom regulator The National Communications Authority (NCA) took control of the domain from the Somali National Information Center (SONIC) and Cloudy Registry, who ran the operations and the management of the domain Registry.[15] On July 8, 2015, the .so ccTLD registry was transferred to the Somali Network Information Center (SONIC),[16]

Name spaces

The .so domain currently offers four namespaces: The second-level-space .so is intended for general purpose usage, and the third-level-space .com.so, .net.so and .org.so are set aside for commercial entities, networks, and not-for-profit organisations, respectively.[17] There also exists .gov.so for government entities.

Registrars

SONIC maintains a list of officially accredited registrars.[18]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "SO Registry". Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
  2. ↑ http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/10/c_137028160.htm
  3. ↑ "Migration - SONIC". Archived from the original on 2015-07-22. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  4. ↑ OpenProvider: Upcoming Changes to SO Domains
  5. ↑ Gandi .so Domain Names
  6. ↑ IANA whois information for .so as at 2007
  7. ↑ IANA Whois information- zone updated April 17th 2009 Archived October 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ ml.org projects
  9. ↑ ml.org's future plans, as of Jan '98
  10. ↑ ml.org status page (archived)
  11. ↑ 12 December 1998 - Monolith Internet Services
  12. ↑ Archived copy of nic.so, 2000
  13. ↑ Archived copy of nic.so, 2005
  14. ↑ Preliminary Report, Resolution of Special Board Meeting, February 10 2009
  15. ↑ http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/10/c_137028160.htm
  16. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-07-22. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  17. ↑ ".SO Registry". Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 9 Sep 2014.
  18. ↑ List of .SO Accredited Registrars
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