.coop 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 ...

(sTLD) in the

Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services, and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information ...

of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. It is intended for the use of

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

s, their wholly owned subsidiaries, and other organizations that exist to promote or support cooperatives. The TLD was proposed by the

National Cooperative Business Association The National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) is a United States cooperative federation, membership organization for cooperatives, which are businesses that are jointly owned and democratically controlled. The association was founded in 1 ...

(NCBA) as a response to the announcement by the

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 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 ...

(ICANN) in late 2000 of a phased release of seven new

generic top-level domain Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are 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. A top-level domain is the last level of ev ...

s in an expansion of the Internet domain name space. The proposal was backed by many

s and similar trade groups around the world, including the

International Cooperative Alliance The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), established in 1895, is a non-governmental organization dedicated to uniting, representing, and supporting Cooperative, cooperatives around the world. It is the guardian of the internationally recogn ...

(ICA). The technical infrastructure for the TLD was developed by the

worker cooperative A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and Workers' self-management, self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a Company, firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one ...

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the 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 The Midcounties Co-operative Limited is a consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom with over 758,000 members. Registered in England under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, it is a member of Co-operatives UK and Fe ...

assumed operation of the domain registry through a subsidiary unit (Midcounties Co-operative Domains).

DynDNS Dyn, Inc. () was an Internet IT performance management, performance management company that also dealt with web application security, offering products to monitor, control, and optimize Critical Internet infrastructure, online infrastructure, an ...

was contracted as the sole DNS provider for the registry in 2006. Active domain holders are automatically included in an online coop directory and registrants receive a periodic newsletter. Registrations are processed via accredited ICANN

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

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 top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all tw ...

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 Internet properties established in 2001 sv:Toppdomän#Generiska toppdomäner {{Compu-domain-stub

See also

References

External links