View source for .org

{{Short description|Internet top-level domain}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2021}}
{{about|the Internet domain|the .org file extension and other uses|org (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox top level domain
|name=org
|image=DotORG logo.svg
|introduced={{start date and age|1985|1|1}}
|type=[[Generic top-level domain]]
|status=Active
|registry=[[Public Interest Registry]] (technical service by [[Afilias]])
|sponsor=Not technically sponsored, but PIR is connected with the [[Internet Society]]
|intendeduse=Miscellaneous organizations not fitting in other categories (generally noncommercial)
|actualuse=Nonprofits; personal sites; open-source projects; some government websites; mostly used by non-commercial entities
|restrictions=None
|structure=Registrations at second level permitted
|document=RFC 920; RFC 1591; [http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/org/ ICANN registry agreement]
|disputepolicy=[[UDRP]]
|website={{URL|https://pir.org}}
|dnssec=Yes
|image_size=150px
}}

The domain name '''org''' is a [[generic top-level domain]] (gTLD) of the [[Domain Name System]] (DNS) used for [[Internet]] services. The name is truncated from ''organization''. It was one of the original domains established in 1985, and has been operated by the [[Public Interest Registry]] since 2003. The domain was originally "intended as the miscellaneous TLD for organizations that didn't fit anywhere else".<ref>{{citation |url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1591 |title= RFC 1591: Domain Name System Structure and Delegation |date= March 1994|doi= 10.17487/RFC1591 |access-date=2021-01-28|last1= Postel |first1= J. |url-access= subscription }}</ref> It is commonly used by non-profit organizations, open-source projects, and communities, but is an open domain that can be used by anyone. The number of registered domains in .org increased from fewer than one million in the 1990s to ten million in 2012, and has held steady between ten and eleven million since then.

== History ==
[[File:EFF's Elliot Harmon Tells ICANN During .ORG Protest Do The Right Thing.webm|thumb|A 2020 protest led by the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] opposed to the proposed sale of ''org'' to a private firm.]]
The domain ''org'' was established in January 1985, as one of the original top-level domains.<ref>RFC 920, ''Domain Requirements'', J. Postel, J. Reynolds, The Internet Society (October 1984)</ref> The other domains in the original group were [[.com|com]], [[.edu|edu]], [[.gov|gov]], [[.mil|mil]], and [[.net|net]]. Org was originally intended for [[non-profit organizations]] or organizations of a non-commercial character that did not meet the requirements for other gTLDs. [[MITRE|The MITRE Corporation]] was the first group to register an .org domain with ''mitre.org'' in July 1985.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sawers |first=Paul |date=2015-07-10 |title=The first .org domain was registered 30 years ago today |url=https://venturebeat.com/offbeat/the-first-org-domain-was-registered-30-years-ago-today/ |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-10-13 |title=30 Years of .ORG |url=http://happy30th.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013043533/http://happy30th.org/ |archive-date=2015-10-13 |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=happy30th.org}}</ref> The TLD has been operated since January 1, 2003, by [[Public Interest Registry]], who assumed the task from VeriSign Global Registry Services, a division of [[Verisign]].<ref>[http://www.internic.net/faqs/org-transition.html InterNIC – FAQs on {{mono|org}} transition]</ref>

In November 2019, the Public Interest Registry (PIR) was to be sold by the [[Internet Society]] to [[Shell corporation|shell company]] [[Ethos Capital]] for US$1.135 billion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://domainnamewire.com/2019/11/29/ethos-paid-1-135-billion-for-org/ |title= Ethos paid $1.135 billion for .Org: Internet Society reveals the price it is selling out for. |date=2019-11-29|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-17}}</ref> The PIR also announced it would abandon its non-profit status to become a [[B_Corporation_(certification)|B Corporation]].<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://thenew.org/the-internet-society-public-interest-registry-a-new-era-of-opportunity/|title=The Internet Society & Public Interest Registry: A New Era of Opportunity|date=2019-11-13|website=.ORG|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> However, this move was criticized by non-profits and various digital rights groups on concerns that Ethos Capital, a private equity firm, would raise fees or censor the domain. The sale was blocked by [[ICANN|Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)]] in April 2020 on the basis that the transfer of control of the domain to the private equity firm would create "unacceptable uncertainty" for non-profits that relied on the .org domain.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/30/21241946/icann-dot-org-isoc-ethos-capital-sale-rejected | title = ICANN votes down controversial .org sale proposal | first = Adi | last = Robertson |date = April 30, 2020 | access-date = April 30, 2020 | work = [[The Verge]] }}</ref>

== Registrations ==
Registrations of subdomains are processed via accredited registrars worldwide. Anyone can register a [[second-level domain]] within org, without restrictions.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/  ICANN Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)], Retrieved 2011-03-31.</ref><ref name=":0">[https://archive.today/20120716084313/http://pir.org/get/faq/general%23q7 Buy .ORG (Registrant) General Questions], Retrieved 2001-10-25.</ref> In some instances subdomains are being used also by commercial sites, such as craigslist.org. According to the [[ICANN]] Dashboard (Domain Name) report, the composition of the TLD is diverse, including cultural institutions, associations, sports teams, religious, and civic organizations, [[open-source software]] projects, schools, environmental initiatives, social, and fraternal organizations, health organizations, legal services, as well as clubs, and community-volunteer groups. In some cases subdomains have been created for crisis management.{{which|date=June 2018}}

[[File:ORG_Growth_Chart85-2010.png|thumb|240px|The number of .org domains registered with the Public Interest Registry.]]Although organizations anywhere in the world may register subdomains, many countries, such as Australia ([[.au|au]]), Canada ([[.ca|ca]]), Japan ([[.jp|jp]]), Argentina ([[.ar|ar]]), Bolivia ([[.bo|bo]]), Uruguay ([[.uy|uy]]), Turkey ([[.tr|tr]]), Somalia ([[.so|so]]), Sierra Leone ([[.sl|sl]]), Russia ([[.ru|ru]]), Bangladesh ([[.bd|bd]]), India ([[.in|in]]) and the United Kingdom ([[.uk|uk]]), have established a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their [[country code top-level domain|ccTLD]]. Such second-level domains are usually named ''org'' or ''or''.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

In 2009, the .org domain consisted of more than 8 million registered domain names,<ref name="fiftythree">
{{cite news
 | last =Ragan
 | first =Steve
 | title =DNSSEC to become standard on .ORG domains by end of June
 | publisher =The Tech Herald
 | date =March 12, 2012
 | url =http://www.thetechherald.com/articles/DNSSEC-to-become-standard-on-ORG-domains-by-end-of-June/9596/
 | access-date =August 3, 2012
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190103210303/http://www.thetechherald.com/articles/DNSSEC-to-become-standard-on-ORG-domains-by-end-of-June/9596/
 | archive-date =January 3, 2019
 | url-status =usurped
 }}</ref> 8.8 million in 2010,<ref name="fortyone">{{cite news
 | last =Berkens
 | first =Michael
 | title =.ORG Grows Over 10% To Over 8.8 Million Registrations
 | publisher =The Domains
 | date =February 14, 2011
 | url =http://www.thedomains.com/2011/02/14/org-grows-over-10-to-over-8-8-million-registrations/
 | access-date =August 3, 2012 }}</ref> and 9.6 million in 2011.<ref name="thirty">{{cite news
 | last =Prestipino
 | first =Peter
 | title =The .ORG Registry Grows 10 Percent
 | publisher =Website Magazine
 | date =February 16, 2012
 | url =http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2012/02/16/the-org-registry-grows-10-percent.aspx
 | access-date =August 3, 2012 }}</ref> The Public Interest Registry registered the ten millionth .ORG domain in June, 2012.<ref>{{cite news
 | last =Goldstein
 | first =David
 | title =ORG Seventh TLD To Pass Ten Millionth Registration Milestone
 | publisher =DomainPulse
 | date =July 12, 2012
 | url =http://www.domainpulse.com/2012/07/12/org-seventh-tld-ten-million-registration/
 | access-date =August 3, 2012
 | archive-date =March 11, 2020
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20200311050725/http://www.domainpulse.com/2012/07/12/org-seventh-tld-ten-million-registration/
 | url-status =dead
}}</ref> When the 9.5-millionth second-level domain was registered in December 2011, ''org'' became the third largest gTLD.<ref>{{cite web|title=The PIR Dashboard|url=http://pir.org/pdf/dashboard_2H_2011.pdf|publisher=The Public Interest Registry|access-date=4 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804015928/http://pir.org/pdf/dashboard_2H_2011.pdf|archive-date=4 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

As of November 2019, according to the Tranco ranking of the top 1M global domains,<ref>{{cite conference |first1=Victor |last1=Le Pochat |first2=Tom |last2=Van Goethem |first3=Samaneh |last3=Tajalizadehkhoob |first4=Maciej |last4=Korczynski |title=Tranco: A Research-Oriented Top Sites Ranking Hardened Against Manipulation |url=https://www.ndss-symposium.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ndss2019_01B-3_LePochat_paper.pdf |doi=10.14722/ndss.2019.23386 |first5=Wouter |last5=Joosen |book-title=Network and Distributed Systems Security (NDSS) Symposium 2019 |isbn=1-891562-55-X|doi-access=free }}</ref> domains under .org were about 6 % of the top 1000 and 7 % of the top 100 thousand and 1 million domains.

=== Internationalized domain names ===
The .org domain registry allows the registration of selected [[internationalized domain name]]s (IDNs) as second-level domains.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.pir.org/why/global/idn
 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20120605030230/http://www.pir.org/why/global/idn
 |url-status  = dead
 |archive-date = 2012-06-05
 |title       = Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Questions
 |publisher   = Public Interest Registry
 |access-date = 2010-03-28
}}</ref> For German, Danish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Swedish IDNs this has been possible since 2005. Spanish IDN registrations have been possible since 2007.<ref name=":0" />

== Domain name security ==
On June 2, 2009, The Public Interest Registry announced<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = DNSSEC announcement in ''The .ORG Blog''
 |author      = Ajay D'Souza
 |url         = http://blog.pir.org/?p=349
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090611060107/http://blog.pir.org/?p=349
 |archive-date = 2009-06-11
 |url-status  = dead
 |access-date = 2009-07-02
}}</ref> that the {{mono|org}} domain is the first open generic top-level domain and the largest registry overall that has signed its [[DNS zone]] with [[Domain Name System Security Extensions]] (DNSSEC). This allows the verification of the origin authenticity and integrity of DNS data by conforming DNS clients.

As of June 23, 2010, DNSSEC was enabled for individual second-level domains,<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.pir.org/get/registrars
 |title=List of .ORG registrars
 |access-date=2010-06-23
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612182039/http://pir.org/get/registrars
 |archive-date=2010-06-12
 |url-status=dead
}}</ref> starting with 13 registrars.

== Cost of registration ==
Since 2003, the [[Public Interest Registry]] (PIR) charged its accredited registrars a capped price of US$9.05 per year<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pir.org/pdf/org_RRA_2015.pdf|title=Exhibit A – REGISTRATION FEES|publisher=Public Interest Registry|access-date=Jan 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127223357/http://pir.org/pdf/org_RRA_2015.pdf|archive-date=January 27, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> for each domain name. The registrars may set their charges to end users without restrictions.

In April 2019, [[ICANN]] proposed an end to the price cap of .org domains<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/04/26/dot_org_price_increases/|title=Internet industry freaks out over proposed unlimited price hikes on .org domain names|last=McCarthy|first=Kieren|date=26 Apr 2019|website=The Register|language=en|access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> and effectively removed it in July in spite of having received 3,252 opposing comments and only six in favor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/icann-eliminates-org-domain-price-caps-despite-lopsided-opposition/|title=ICANN eliminates .org domain price caps despite lopsided opposition|last=Lee|first=Timothy B.|date=2019-07-01|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us|access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> A few months later, the owner of the domain, the Public Interest Registry, proposed to sell the domain to investment firm [[Ethos Capital]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/20/org_registry_sale_shambles/|title=Internet world despairs as non-profit .org sold for $$$$ to private equity firm, price caps axed|last=McCarthy|first=Kieren|date=20 Nov 2019|website=The Register|language=en|access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> After intense criticism from nonprofit groups and significant figures in Internet history, the proposal was scrapped.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lohr |first=Steve |date=2020-05-01 |title=A Private Equity Firm Is Blocked From Buying .Org |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/technology/dot-org-sale.html |access-date=2022-12-29 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

{{-}}

== Regulatory positions ==
In March 2001, the Ethics Committee of the [[State Bar of Arizona]] issued Ethics Opinion 01-05, which discussed the limitations to which a [[law firm]] is subject when creating or using a website address for its law firm website.  Among other conclusions, the Committee opined that a for-profit law firm may not use a domain name that contains the suffix ".org", on the ground that such use "creates a false impression that the firm either is a non-profit or is in some way specifically affiliated with a non-profit".

In light of the widespread use of the domain "org" by for-profit organizations in the years since Ariz. Ethics Op. 01-05 was issued, the Committee, reconsidering the matter in December 2011, concluded that the possibility that the public will be misled by a for-profit law firm's use of "org" in its website address is remote, as a reasonable person, desiring to verify whether an entity is non-profit, would not rely solely on the entity's website address.

Therefore, the mere use of "org" by a for-profit law firm was declared not to be a violation of the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct, and Opinion 01-05 was modified accordingly.  Arizona lawyers were cautioned, however, that a lawyer or law firm may not use a domain name that falsely implies that the lawyer or law firm is affiliated with a particular non-profit organization or with a governmental entity or that otherwise is false or misleading.<ref>Ariz. Ethics Op. 11-04.</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://thenew.org/ .ORG site]
* [https://savedotorg.org/ Save DotOrg]

{{Generic top-level domains}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Org}}
[[Category:Generic top-level domains]]
[[Category:Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries members]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1985]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations]]