.to is the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
country code
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science ...
top-level domain
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the ...
(
ccTLD) of the island kingdom of
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection ...
.
The government of Tonga sells domains in its ccTLD to any interested party. The .to ccTLD is administered by the Tonga Network Information Center (Tonic).
Background
The .to top-level domain was widely commercialized in 1997 by the San Francisco company Tonic Corp. (www.tonic.to, founded by Eric Gullichsen and Eric Lyons) which would sell domains at $100 per unit. They operated with the approval of the Prince of Tonga. Network Solutions was already selling .to domains, but in a very chaotic fashion. Domain requests were processed by the Tongan consulate in San Francisco.
The top-level domain ''to'' itself had an A record and an HTTP server since at least 1998.
Description
Because ''to'' is a common English preposition, it became popular to craft memorable URLs called
domain hacks that take advantage of this;
URL shortening/
redirection services (e.g. go.to) are a popular use. Other domain hacks do not use the ''to'' as a preposition but rather as a syllable inside of a word, including
Daniel J. Bernstein's website cr.yp.to, London web development company Potato p.ota.to.
"T.O." (''tee-oh'') is also a common nickname for
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
, Ontario, Canada, and is used as a city domain as exemplified by popular Toronto sites Budtender.to (Cannabis Dispensary Reviews) and Jobs.to (Job Bank Toronto). This domain is also used for the city of
Torino (Turin), Italy, and also as a
domain hack in
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...
(''to'' meaning ''it'' or ''that'') – such as the uploading service uloz.to ("ulož to" means "save it" in
Czech and
Slovak).
As the .to domains are purchased, all normal DNS operations are possible and registered sites are not required to display ads on behalf of the registrar. Some domains are free, like .edu.to, but only to real Tongan educational institutions. At this moment businesses registered in Tonga can also get free domains. People who sell on .to domains can claim a commission.
.to is one of the few ccTLDs that (officially) do not maintain a (public)
WHOIS database providing registrant information. It is possible to contact domain registrants via tonic.to by typing the domain in the domain search field under "New Domain Name". This has resulted in limited popularity for the use of .to for websites involved in
copyright infringement.
The .to registry allows the creation of emoji domain names and the .to registrar, Register.TO, supports the search and registration of .to
emoji domain names.
References
External links
Registration of .TO domainsRegistration of Emoji Domains
Computer-related introductions in 1995
Communications in Tonga
Country code top-level domains
Domain hacks
{{compu-domain-stub
sv:Toppdomän#T