.cat (pronounced in Catalan: ''punt cat'' ) is a

sponsored top-level domain A sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) is one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet, alongside country-code top-level domains (ccTLD ...

intended to be used to highlight the

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

, developed by

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several dat ...

and Fundació puntCAT.

History

Before .cat was available, and given the reluctance of certain Catalan institutions, companies, and people, to use .es, .ad, .fr, .it domains (depending on the state respectively) for their domains, alternatives emerged. An example of this was the website for the city of

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, which preferred to use a .gi domain ("ajuntament.gi", the word "ajuntament" meaning both "city council" and "town hall"), even though .gi is the

country code A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas. Its primary use is in data processing and communications. Several identification systems have been developed. The term ''country code'' frequently re ...

for

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, instead of the corresponding .es as a Spanish local authority.

Creation

To solve this matter, in September 2005 the .cat TLD was approved, designed to meet the wishes and needs of the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the Internet. This community is made up of those who use Catalan for their online communications, and/or promote the different aspects of Catalan culture online and prefer it to any other domain. The creation of the .cat domain was approved in September 2005. The initial registration period went from February 13, 2006, to April 21, 2006. The registry was open to everybody starting April 23, 2006.

Registration

The .cat domain is not territorial, but applies to the whole Catalan-speaking community, whether or not a site is based in

. In order to be granted a .cat domain, one needs to belong to the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the Internet. A person, organization or company is considered to belong if they either: *already have content in Catalan published online. *have access to a special code (sometimes called ENS), issued during special promotions or by agreements with certain institutions. *develop activities (in any language) to promote the Catalan culture and language. *are endorsed by 3 people or 1 institution already using a .cat domain name. Prominent users of the domain include but are not limited to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

Teatre Nacional de Catalunya Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (TNC; ; ''National Theatre of Catalonia'') is a public theatre located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was created by the Culture Department of the Catalan Government to normalize and enhance the theatre and dance ...

, Ara,

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalonia, Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona, Pl Espanya, th ...

and Museum of the History of Catalonia.

Incidents

Government interference

In September 2017 a Spanish court ordered that all .cat domain names that were being used to promote the Catalan independence referendum shall be taken down. On September 20 the Spanish police raided the offices of puntCAT and arrested CTO Pep Masoliver for sedition. Following this, puntCAT released several tweets and a press statement on their website that condemned this action, calling it "shameful and degrading, unworthy of a civilized country ndimmensely disproportionate". On October 31, 2017 several Catalan Government websites including ''president.cat'', ''govern.cat'' and ''catalangovernment.eu'' were taken down due to the political crisis in Catalonia and due to the take over of authority by the

Government of Spain The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the ...

Domain hacks

Despite the restrictions, the domain has been exploited for feline-related

domain hack A domain hack is a domain name that suggests a word, phrase, or name when concatenating two or more adjacent levels of that domain. For example, and , using the domains ''.bot'' and ''.le'', suggest the words ''robot'' and ''example'' respective ...

s, such as nyan.cat. In September 2017, with the domain's filters weakened after the raid by Spanish police, American neo-Nazi website ''

The Daily Stormer ''The Daily Stormer'' is an American neo-Nazi commentary and message board website that advocates for a Second Holocaust, second genocide of Jews. It is part of the alt-right movement. Its editor, Andrew Anglin, founded the outlet on July 4, ...

'' was briefly hosted on a .cat address.

Impact

Following the success of the .cat domain, other language and culture-based domain names have emerged, such as .eus and .gal for the

Basque language Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque ...

and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

(

Euskal Herria The Basque Country (; ; ) is the name given to the home of the Basque people. Trask, R.L. ''The History of Basque'' Routledge: 1997 The Basque Country is located in the western Pyrenees, straddling the border between France and Spain on the co ...

) and the

Galician language Galician ( , ), also known as Galego (), is a Iberian Romance languages, Western Ibero-Romance language. Around 2.4 million people have at least some degree of competence in the language, mainly in Galicia (Spain), Galicia, an Autonomo ...

and

( Galicia), respectively, as well as the .bzh domain-name dedicated to the

Breton language Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic languages, Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albei ...

and

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

.PointBZH.com
, Association bzh, Quimper. (Site in

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

, French and English)

References

External links

Information and register process

Peter Gerrand, 2006: 'Cultural diversity in cyberspace: The Catalan campaign to win the new .cat top level domain'
(Issue 11:1)
The European Cultural and Linguistic Domains Network
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cat Catalan language Mass media in Catalonia Sponsored top-level domains Internet properties established in 2005 sv:Toppdomän#Generiska toppdomäner