The TLDs [Top-Level Domain] appear at the final part of every Internet addresses, just after the last dot.
They can be classified into two main groups:
- State codes [ccTLD]: Top level domain of the countries that the UN considers States. For instance: .it, .co, .uk, etc.
- General codes [ gTLD ]:
- Historic: These domains were born with the Internet, such as .com, .net and .org. In the beginning, they were created for a specific use, but today, they have become domains of general use.
- No sponsored: They are historical but also correspond to a community. For instance, .biz [business], .name [people] or .pro [professionals].
- Sponsored: These domains represent communities and, therefore, are supported by them. The community issues the nomination and the community itself is responsible for the management and administration of the domain once it is accepted. For instance, .museum [community museums], .aero [related to the aviation field], and .cat [domain of the Catalan language and culture].
The .EUS domain will be within this last section, as an lcTLD [Language and Culture TLD]. The PuntuEus Association submits the nomination on behalf of the EEKK and, once accepted, the Foundation PuntuEus will manage the domain.
The ICANN accepted in 2005 the first domain related to a linguistic and cultural community: .CAT, the TLD of the Catalan language and culture. The .CAT domain helped create a new domain that previously did not exist in the classification of TLDs. It created a precedent and, thereby, the TLDs were also a tool for identifying the linguistic and cultural communities on the Internet.
Therefore, following the path opened by the .CAT, the. EUS will become real. Moreover, we are not alone in this journey, since linguistic and cultural communities have also commenced the same process:
Database of existing domains:
http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/
