Hi, this may seem a little newbie-ish but I have a couple of questions
regarding domain names.

1) As I understand it, companies that sell domain names, all can see gTLDs
like .com, .org, etc. But which companies get to see more obscure domains
like .at (Austria), .nz (New Zealand), etc? Did ICANN (?) give national
governments the right to assign registry of these names to a specific
company or a series of companies, i.e. it is government policy as to who
registers country domains? I seem to recall that Tuvalu (tv) sold their
rights to an American company.

2) How would one find the appropriate place to register an obscure domain?
http://www.allwhois.com/ gives some information, but some countries do not
have "registries with whois URLs".

3) "The official rule, set up by Jon Postel in the early days of the
Internet, is that if a country is included in the international list of
countries (International Country Code Standard ISO 3166-1) then it is given
a domain.
It needn't be a certain size or a certain importance. It needn't even be an
independent state. If it was listed in ISO 3166-1, it got a domain. This has
led to the interesting situation that four of the 243 quoted country code
top-level domains don't even have anyone living on them.

Bouvet Island (.bv) is nothing but glaciers. Discovered in 1739 by the
French, taken over by the British in 1825 and then handed to the Norwegians
in 1928, it was only in 1977 that anything stayed permanently on the
island - a meteorological station.

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands (.hm) are completely barren. Handed
over to the Australians by the British in 1947, it does boast a few seals
and birds, but Club 18-30 it is not.

British Indian Ocean Territory (.io) has a joint UK/US "naval support
facility" on its biggest island, Diego Garcia, which sounds like the worst
posting in the military. But apart from that, not a dickie-bird.

And the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (.tf) are as inviting as they
sound. Discovered by the French in 1840, the only people to set foot on it
are researchers who, get this, study the native fauna."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01...ead_long_live/

How would one be able to register a .io name, for example?

4) Of course, I assume that one could buy a domain name from Company X, then
buy the web space and POP/SMTP e-mail addresses from Company Y?

Thanks!

http://www.internic.net/faqs/domain-names.html

"I've seen domain names ending with two-letter combinations,
like .uk. What are the rules for registering in these domains?

Two letter domains, such as .uk, .de and .jp (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 some are reserved for use by citizens of the
corresponding country. You should check with the registrar
offering ccTLD registration services regarding the specific
terms and conditions for registration.

Some ICANN-accredited registrars provide registration services
in the ccTLDs in addition to registering names in .aero, .biz, .com,
.coop, .info, .museum, .name, .net, .org, and .pro, 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>."


On Sun, 4 Jul 2004 22:36:44 +0100, in
<cc9tak$rnd$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk>
Simon scrawled:

--
Basic computer maintenance
http://uk.geocities.com/personel44/maintenance.html

"Simon" <simon@oiwejfoiwe.com> wrote in message
news:cc9tak$rnd$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...
If you're having a problem finding a registrar for an obscure country code,
then you can contact ICANN and they will advise you who handles that
country.

ICANN is merely the assigned body of power for the United States and perhaps
North America. There are other regional powers such as "RIPE.net".

Since the country code is valid, any computer in the world can access that
site just the same as any dot com address.

And yes, even the USA has a 2 letter CC. It is, duh, US.

But you can only register a dot com, org, or net tld within the USA.

Richard wrote:

I'd bring up the fact that I own a .us domain, that I bought through
GoDaddy (USan) and I'm in the US, if I thought it would unconfuse you.

But I'll still mention that for the others in here.

--
Blinky Linux Registered User 297263
New June 23:
Linux In 20 Steps: (at Blinkynet) http://snipurl.com/7amq

"Richard" <Anonymous@127.001> wrote in message
news:ccabub0ked@news4.newsguy.com
Are you sure about that? I have Canadian business that I deal with that have
..com TLDs...

--
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where
THEY went." ~Will Rogers~

Richard wrote:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAH!!!!

"Toolman Tim" <no.spam.for.tcm@my.email.is.invalid> wrote:

"Boomer" <Boomer__Baby_@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:40e8d20d$0$56720$892e7fe2@authen.puce.readfre enews.net
(open mouth, insert foot)

--
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where
THEY went." ~Will Rogers~

"Thund3rstruck_n0i" <Thund3rstruck_n0i@hotmail.comREMOVE> wrote in
message news:QubGc.10757$1F6.4363@fe37.usenetserver.com
Bingo! And just like Blinkey, I have my own .US (which wasn't in RtS's
list).

--
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where
THEY went." ~Will Rogers~

"Richard" <Anonymous@127.001> wrote in message
news:ccabub0ked@news4.newsguy.com...
How, I have registered a .com name through a UK based domain seller?

Surely these TLDs are by their nature, international?