.cm

.cm is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cameroon.

.cm
Introduced1995
TLD typeCountry code top-level domain
StatusActive
RegistryAgence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication
SponsorMinistry of Posts and Telecommunications of Cameroon[1]
Intended useEntities connected with  Cameroon
Actual useSome use in Cameroon; Mainly used in Typosquatting due to misspellings of .com domains
Registration restrictionsNone; Some labels reserved for government or educational agencies
StructureRegistrations are made directly at the second level or at the third level beneath various second level domains
Documents'.cm' policy
Dispute policiesNetcom Complaint Resolution
Registry websiteANTIC NETCOM.cm Sarl (Official Registrar)

The official registrar for .cm domains is Netcom.cm, based in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. Netcom.cm Sarl was founded in early 2008 as a partner of ANTIC (French: Agence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication, lit. 'National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies'), the information technology regulator for Cameroon. On October 15, 2008, NETCOM.cm Sarl launched the registry service for .com.cm, .co.cm and .net.cm. The current version of .cm domains went live August 27, 2009.

History

In August 2006, it was reported that the .cm registry had set up a wildcard DNS record, so that all unregistered domains in this top-level domain go to a parking page with paid search links. This was likely intended to take advantage of typographical errors by users attempting to reach .com web sites.[2]

Auctions of .cm domains have been as high as $81,000 in 2009 for what pitchmen have termed "prime real estate".[3] However, some bloggers have noted that nothing of any real value was actually put up for auction, despite the price war.[4] Namejet.com, the official auction site for the .CM domain registrar Netcom.cm, sold over $500,000 in .cm domain names the first day and over $2 million in the first week. [5]

Reputation

In a report published in December 2009 by McAfee, "Mapping the Mal Web - The world's riskiest domain", .cm was reportedly the riskiest domain in the world, with 36.7% of the sites posing a security risk to PCs.[6] It is widely assumed that malicious domain programmers rely on inadvertent misspellings of well-trafficked websites ending in ".com" to lure unsuspecting users to their domains.

The .cm top-level domain is also used for domain name hacks by legitimate organizations, such as the CyanogenMod project, which used get.cm as an easily remembered URL shortener for distributing versions of its software, and The Hill, which uses hill.cm as a URL shortener when linking to its articles on social media.[7]

References
  1. "Department of Information and Communication Technologies Infrastructure and Access Networks". minpostel.gov.cm. Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Cameroon. Retrieved 12 April 2018. Following up the management of the “.cm” national Internet domain
  2. Berryhill, John (August 5, 2006). "Nation of Cameroon Typo-Squats the Entire .com Space". Circleid.com. Retrieved August 16, 2006.
  3. "Hotels.cm sells for $81,100". 2009-09-02. Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  4. Ed Muller. "CM Traffic Domains not for sale". Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  5. "NameJet Hauls In $500K In 1st Day .CM Auctions & That's Only For The Domains On My List". Thedomains.com. 2009-09-02. Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  6. "McAfee uncovers riskiest domains". CNET. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  7. The Hill [@thehill] (2020-04-13). "JUST IN: Macron extends France's coronavirus lockdown to May 11 hill.cm/6ThxCda" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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