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Questions:
What is a second level domain name using .name?
What is a third level domain using .name?
What is the impact of second level registrations on third level registrations (or "how does it work?")?
What is email forwarding service for .name?
What are the restrictions using the .name email forwarding service?
Will there be any email service on the second level domain registrations?
How do the third level and second levels interact? Is this a complicated rule for registrars to implement?
Are there different eligibility requirements for .name second and third level registrations?
What are the registration terms for a domain and/or email forwarding?
What queries are searchable on the .name Whois?
What are the rules governing availability of second levels?
What is the NameWatch service?
What are Defensive Registrations?
Answers:
What is a second level domain name using .name?
The portion of the domain name that appears immediately to the left of the top-level domain is the second-level domain name (the "verisign" in "verisign.com", for example). Many organizations and individuals register multiple domain names using the same second-level domain name with different top-level domain names (verisign.com, verisign.tv, verisign.de, etc.). Different domain names may provide different types of content to different audiences (media-rich content on the .tv Web site, and German language content on the .de Web site, for example).
The purpose of a second level domain name using the .name top-level domain is to provide registrants with an opportunity to register their last name as a second level domain name using the .name extension (e.g., last.name).
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What is a third level domain using .name?
A third level domain name is the portion of the domain name that appears before the second-level domain name, separated by a dot. The most common third-level domain name is www. Third-level domain names, also called sub domains, are often used to categorize special sections of a Web site, such as press releases at “press.verisign.com” or investor information at “investor.verisign.com”. A third-level domain name does not have to be registered and is created on the Web site host server. However, the .name registry does allow registration of third-level domain names so that individuals may register domain names that match their actual names such as firstname.lastname.name.
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What is the impact of second level registrations on third level registrations?
If someone has registered a second level domain, such as smith.name, then no one can register a third level domain, such as john.smith.name. The same is true if someone has registered a third level domain, such as john.smith.name, then no one can register a second level domain, such as smith.name.
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What is email forwarding service for .name?
.name uses technology that allows a registrant to order an email address like firstname@lastname.name.
Using .name’s email forwarding, the service will accept incoming email to a firstname@lastname.name personal and unique address and will forward that email to any address specified by the registrant. The registrant must have a pre-existing email account (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo mail, an “ISP” mail ID, etc.) to use this service. The service will only offer incoming message forwarding to registered users, and will not provide outgoing SMTP relaying for any users.
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What are the restrictions using the .name email forwarding service?
The .name registry has reserved the right to restrict the email forwarding service to operate inside the following restrictions:
- Maximum number of messages in the email forwarding queue from one user at a time will be limited to 500, after which the .name registry may bounce messages.
- The .name registry may bounce messages if the total email forwarding queue for one user reaches a size of 50 MB.
- The .name registry may stop forwarding of messages that are larger than 20 MB in size.
- The .name registry may block users that receive more than 3,000 emails in any 24-hour period.
- The .name registry may control the number of mails received and the quantity of email forwarded by the Email Forwarding service in order to maintain a stable, secure and reliable service.
Will there be any email service on the second level domain registrations?
No, the second level domain name can never coexist with the email forwarding. For example, smith.name and john@smith.name are always mutually exclusive. One can exist, but not the other. This is because the second level domain name registration delegates the entire second level domain name to the registrant, which would disable any registry MX record on smith.name for sharing.
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How do the third level and second levels interact? Is this a complicated rule for registrars to implement?
It is actually very simple and no rules governing availability should need to be implemented on the registrars’ side. Availability checks through the registry will work well for a registrar. For a registrar registering a domain name on behalf of a registrant, the .name space has four "kinds" of statuses/objects:
- Available third level domain names and email addresses (e.g., john.smith.name and john@smith.name)
- Unavailable third level domain names and email addresses
- Available second level domain names (e.g., abc.name)
- Unavailable second level domain names
This is very simple and straightforward on the registrars’ side and domain name registrations on the third or second levels can be done independently of each other.
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Are there different eligibility requirements for .name second and third level registrations?
No, .name is a space for individuals' personal names. A personal name may be, without limitation, a name, nickname, pseudonym, alias, or something an individual or fictional character is commonly known as in its own social context. An individual can register a personal name, or a company or individual can register a fictional character to which it has rights. This is valid for both third level and second level registrations. A full description of the eligibility requirements is available on the ICANN Web site.
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What are the registration terms for a domain and/or email forwarding?
The exact period of years you can register a .name domain name, at either the second or third level, and or for an email forwarding ID, varies from 1 to 10 years at a time.
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What queries are searchable on the .name Whois?
The .name Whois allows for queries on third level domains and second level domains, independently of each other. The Whois thus has six possible responses, three for each domain name product:
- Third level domain name registered (and returns record)
- Third level domain name not registered
- Third level domain name unavailable due to second level domain name already registered (shared second level)
- Second level domain name registered (and returns record)
- Second level domain name not registered.
- Second level domain name unavailable due to third level already registered (shared second level)
What are the rules governing availability of second levels?
On the registry's side, the rules governing the availability are (a little simplified) the following:
- A third level domain name/email is available if:
- It is not already registered;
- It does not conflict with a Defensive Registration;
- The second level domain name on which the third level is requested (i.e., the "shared second level") is not registered as a second level domain name.
- A second level domain name is available if:
- It is not already registered;
- It does not conflict with a Premium Defensive Registration or a Standard Defensive Registration registered prior to the second level opening;
- It is not already in use for a third level domain name registration/email.
What is the NameWatch service?
The NameWatch service provides subscribers with a report summarizing all new registrations made under .name that match a key term. Both domain names and email forwarding addresses registered at the .name registry will be covered in one report. Depending on the subscription term, a NameWatch subscriber would receive an electronic report on a daily, weekly or monthly basis (as they choose) for the duration of the subscription, featuring every name newly registered under .name that includes the key term(s).
NameWatch subscriptions appeal to intellectual property owners who want to protect their trademarks, brand enforcement specialists or anyone else concerned with preserving the integrity of a trademark, brand or company name. Celebrities will also be concerned with who is registering variations of their names.
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What are Defensive Registrations?
Defensive Registrations sold by Registrars prior to October 1, 2004 also cover the second level namespace:
- Standard Defensive Registrations (of the type "string1.string2") will be extended, and "string2" will be blocked from registrations on the second level.
- Premium Defensive Registrations (of the type "string3") will be extended, and "string3" will be blocked from registrations on the second level.
Standard Defensive Registrations registered after October 1, 2004 does not extend to the second level as above. However, Premium Defensive Registrations always cover both the third level and second level namespace.
For clarification, a Premium Defensive Registration of "string3” will block registration of the following third level registrations: "*.string3.name", "string3.*.name", "*@string3.name", "string3@*.name", and the following second level registration: "string3.name"
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