View source for .ml

{{Short description|Internet country-code top level domain for Mali}}
{{About|the top-level domain|the filename extension|ML (programming language)}}
{{distinguish|.mil}}
{{Infobox Top level domain
| name          = .ml
| background    = #CCF
| image         = .ml_domain.png
| introduced    = 29 September 1993
| type          = [[Country code top-level domain]]
| status        = Active
| registry      = Agence des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication
| sponsor       = Agence des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication
| intendeduse   = Entities connected with {{MLI}}
| actualuse     = Sees some use in Mali and for some websites about machine learning. Use is relatively rare elsewhere.
| restrictions  =
| structure     = Registrations are at third level beneath various second-level names
| document      =
| disputepolicy = [[UDRP]]
| website       = {{url|https://nic.ml/}}
}}

'''.ml''' is the [[Internet]] [[country code]] [[top-level domain]] ([[ccTLD]]) for [[Mali]].

== History ==
The domain was initially managed by [[Sotelma]], a Malian telecommunications company. After Sotelma was privatised in 2009, the .ml zone was redelegated by [[IANA]] to the [https://agetic.gouv.ml/ Agence des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication] (AGETIC), a Malian government agency, and the process completed in 2013.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iana.org/reports/2013/ml-report-20130211.html | title=Redelegation of the .ML domain representing Mali to the Agence des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication | date=2013-02-13 | access-date=2018-01-04 }}</ref> The agency then announced that it would give away ''.ml'' domains for free in partnership with [[Freenom]] with a view to improve the usage and the knowledge of the IT industry in Mali. It was the first African nation to start giving away domains for free.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mali Gives Away Its .ML Domain Names for Free |publisher=[[Business Wire]] |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130407005038/en/Mali-.ML-Domain-Names-Free |date=7 April 2013 |access-date=15 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freedomregistry.com/dotml_pressrelease_04082013.pdf |title=Mali gives away its .ML domain names for free |publisher=Freedom Registry |date=8 April 2013 |access-date=10 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417233107/http://www.freedomregistry.com/dotml_pressrelease_04082013.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/10/mali_gives_away_dotml_domains/ |title=Mali to give away .ML domains for free |work=[[The Register]] |date=10 April 2013 |access-date=10 April 2013}}</ref> The ten-year contract with Freenom expired on 17 July 2023. Since then the registry is operated by AGETIC itself and the free domain offer was discontinued. All paid Freenom .ml domains were migrated to the new system.

== Second-level domains ==
Registrations are possible at the second level and at the third level beneath these names:

* '''.com.ml''': Companies
* '''.net.ml''': Internet providers
* '''.org.ml''': Associations (must show registration); international organizations permitted, but must be registered with the local administration
* '''.edu.ml''': Local schools
* .'''presse.ml:''' Local press<ref>{{Cite web |title=Présentation du ccTLD du Mali (.ML) |url=http://www.aftld.org/bk/cairo2007/docs/ML_ccTLD.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222113218/http://www.aftld.org/bk/cairo2007/docs/ML_ccTLD.pdf |archive-date=2015-12-22 |url-status=dead |access-date=2024-04-13}}</ref>
* '''.gov.ml''': Governmental organisations
Domain names of between one and three characters are considered premium domain names with a higher price.

== Military emails ==
Employees for the [[United States Armed Forces]] regularly misspell emails—suffixed with the [[.mil]] TLD—with .ml. In 2013, Dutch internet entrepreneur Johannes Zuurbier took on the .ml TLD. He attempted to contact the United States government about classified information being sent to army.ml and navy.ml in 2014 through Dutch diplomats.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://nltimes.nl/2023/07/17/dutch-man-receives-american-military-email-years-due-typo-risk-real | title=Dutch man receives American military email for years due to typo; "Risk is real" | date=2023-07-17 | access-date=2025-01-27 }}</ref> The contents of these emails include crew and staff lists, maps and photos of installations, naval inspection reports, and passwords. Emails that were sent to the .ml TLD include the travel itinerary of chief of staff [[James McConville]] on a trip to [[Indonesia]] in 2023, information about [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] efforts in the United States, and [[Australian Department of Defence]] documents detailing issues with Australian [[F-35]]s {{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}. On 17 July 2023, Zuurbier's contract expired and control was reverted back to the Malian government.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/ml.html IANA .ml whois information]

{{CcTLD}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:ML}}
[[Category:Country code top-level domains]]
[[Category:Communications in Mali]]
[[Category:Internet in Mali]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1993]]

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