.coop is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the

Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use ...

of 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 ...

. It is intended for the use of cooperatives, their wholly owned subsidiaries, and other organizations that exist to promote or support cooperatives. The TLD was proposed by the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) as a response to the announcement by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in late 2000 of a phased release of seven new

generic top-level domains Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees globa ...

in an expansion of the Internet domain name space. The proposal was backed by many cooperatives and similar trade groups around the world, including the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). The technical infrastructure for the TLD was developed by the worker cooperative Poptel in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and became operational on January 30, 2002. The domain's sponsoring organization is DotCooperation LLC (also known as dotCoop), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA). DotCooperation is responsible for the TLD operation, including the enforcement of registration requirements. In 2005, the Midcounties Co-operative assumed operation of the domain registry through a subsidiary unit (Midcounties Co-operative Domains). DynDNS was contracted as the sole DNS provider for the registry in 2006. Active domains holders are automatically included in an online co-op directory and registrants receive a periodic newsletter. Registrations are processed via accredited ICANN

domain name registrar A domain name registrar is a company that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. A regi ...

s or their resellers. domains are in use around the world, however, many co-ops, as businesses in the global community, also maintain domain names in other generic or

country code top-level domain A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an 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 ...

s to identify themselves both as a co-op and as a business.

References

External links

IANA .coop WHOIS info

.coop registry

List of .coop accredited registrars
Sponsored top-level domains Cooperatives Computer-related introductions in 2001 sv:Toppdomän#Generiska toppdomäner {{Compu-domain-stub

See also

References

External links