.gov
 | |
| Introduced | January 1, 1985 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Sponsored top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency |
| Sponsor | Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency |
| Intended use | Governmental entities |
| Actual use | Only the United States government; formerly only federal government but later expanded to include state and local government |
| Registration restrictions | Must meet eligibility requirements and submit authorization letter |
| Structure | Registrations at second level permitted |
| Documents | RFC 920; RFC 1591; RFC 2146 |
| Dispute policies | None |
| DNSSEC | yes |
| Registry website | home |
The domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from the word government, indicating its restricted use by government entities. The TLD is administered by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),[1] a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
.gov is one of the original six top-level domains, defined in RFC 920.[2] Though “originally intended for any kind of government office or agency”,[3] only U.S.-based government organizations may register .gov domain names, a result of the Internet originating as a U.S. government-sponsored research network.
Other countries typically delegate a second-level domain for government operations on their country-code top-level domain (ccTLD); for example, .gov.uk is the domain for the Government of the United Kingdom, and .gc.ca is the domain for the Government of Canada. The United States is the only country that has a government-specific top-level domain in addition to its ccTLD (.us).
Beginning in 1997, the General Services Administration (GSA) began administering .gov. Responsibility for the TLD was transferred to CISA under the DOTGOV Online Trust in Government Act of 2020,[4] part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
.gov domains are registered at dotgov.gov.
Use
Many governments in the United States use a .gov domain, though most use .us (e.g., leg.state.nv.us), .com (e.g., myflorida.com), .org (e.g., lacity.org), or other TLDs (e.g., senate.mn).[5] The full list of registered .gov domains is published at dotgov.gov/data.[6]
During GSA's administration of .gov, registration and annual renewal fees peaked at $400 per year.[7] When CISA began managing the TLD in April 2021, all fees were removed.[8]
Federal Executive branch policy requires the use of .gov for civilian agencies,[9] but some U.S. government-related websites use non-.gov domain names, including the United States Postal Service (e.g., usps.com) and various recruiting websites for armed services (e.g., goarmy.com). The United States Department of Defense and its subsidiary organizations typically use the .mil sTLD instead of .gov.
Eligibility
U.S.-based government organizations and publicly controlled entities are eligible to obtain a .gov domain. This includes federal, state, local, or territorial government, as well as any tribal government recognized by the federal government or a state government.[10]
To register a .gov domain, an authorization letter must be submitted to CISA. The signer of the letter differs by entity type, but it is typically an agency's head, chief information officer (CIO), or highest-ranking or elected official.
Historically, only U.S. federal government agencies were allowed to register a .gov domain. In May 2002, GSA proposed a change that would open registration to state, local, and tribal governments in the U.S.,[11] a change that went into effect in March 2003.[12]
In November 2019, before the transfer of .gov to CISA, GSA's authorization process was shown to be weak after someone impersonated the mayor of Exeter, Rhode Island in an authorization letter and successfully gained control of exeterri.gov. In response, GSA said it had implemented additional fraud prevention controls, and CISA advocated for transferring the TLD from GSA.[13]
Policy
The DOTGOV Act requires that CISA maintain requirements that “minimize the risk of .gov internet domains whose names could mislead or confuse users”.[14] These include:
- Requested names must correspond with the requesting entity's organization's name or services.
- Generic terms are reserved for federal agencies, though generic words can be combined with state or local municipality names.
- Most non-federal domain types require a two-letter United States postal abbreviations or state name equivalent, though exceptions are made. Rules have been established for municipalities whose names are unique, who are well-known, or that are among the most populous cities and counties in the nation.[15]
The Act also requires that .gov domains not be used for political campaign or commercial purposes, and that domains are registered only by authorized individuals.
.gov has been used to serve certain policy goals. As an action following Executive Order 13571,[16] President Barack Obama restricted executive branch agencies from registering new .gov domains in an attempt to eliminate unnecessary, redundant, or outdated sites.[17] US government agencies used the .gov registrar to make it easy for new registrants to opt-in to HTTPS preloading [18] and to make it easier for the public to report potential security issues.[19]
Use by states and territories
As of February 2014[update], all states, the District of Columbia, and all territories except for the Northern Mariana Islands have operational domains in gov:
| State or territory | Domain |
|---|---|
| Alabama | al.gov and alabama.gov |
| Alaska | alaska.gov |
| American Samoa | as.gov and americansamoa.gov |
| Arizona | az.gov and arizona.gov |
| Arkansas | ar.gov and arkansas.gov |
| California | ca.gov |
| Colorado | co.gov and colorado.gov |
| Connecticut | ct.gov |
| Delaware | de.gov and delaware.gov |
| District of Columbia | dc.gov |
| Florida | florida.gov and fl.gov (redirects to myflorida.com) |
| Georgia | ga.gov and georgia.gov |
| Guam | guam.gov |
| Hawaii | hawaii.gov and ehawaii.gov |
| Idaho | idaho.gov |
| Illinois | il.gov and illinois.gov |
| Indiana | in.gov and indiana.gov |
| Iowa | ia.gov and iowa.gov |
| Kansas | ks.gov and kansas.gov |
| Kentucky | ky.gov and kentucky.gov |
| Louisiana | la.gov and louisiana.gov |
| Maine | maine.gov |
| Maryland | md.gov and maryland.gov |
| Massachusetts | ma.gov mass.gov and massachusetts.gov |
| Michigan | mi.gov and michigan.gov |
| Minnesota | mn.gov and minnesota.gov |
| Mississippi | ms.gov and mississippi.gov |
| Missouri | mo.gov and missouri.gov |
| Montana | mt.gov and montana.gov |
| Nebraska | ne.gov and nebraska.gov |
| Nevada | nv.gov and nevada.gov |
| New Hampshire | nh.gov |
| New Jersey | nj.gov and newjersey.gov |
| New Mexico | newmexico.gov |
| New York | ny.gov |
| North Carolina | nc.gov and northcarolina.gov |
| North Dakota | nd.gov and northdakota.gov |
| Ohio | ohio.gov |
| Oklahoma | ok.gov and oklahoma.gov |
| Oregon | oregon.gov |
| Pennsylvania | pa.gov and pennsylvania.gov |
| Puerto Rico | pr.gov |
| Rhode Island | ri.gov and rhodeisland.gov |
| South Carolina | sc.gov |
| South Dakota | sd.gov |
| Tennessee | tn.gov and tennessee.gov |
| Texas | texas.gov |
| Utah | utah.gov |
| Vermont | vt.gov and vermont.gov |
| Virgin Islands | vi.gov |
| Virginia | virginia.gov |
| Washington | wa.gov and washington.gov |
| West Virginia | wv.gov |
| Wisconsin | wi.gov and wisconsin.gov |
| Wyoming | wy.gov and wyoming.gov |
International equivalents
While the use of gov as a top-level domain is restricted to the United States, several other countries have second-level domains of the same name or similar semantics for governmental purposes, including:
| Country or Territory | Domain | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afghanistan | gov.af | ||
| Albania | gov.al | ||
| Algeria | gov.dz | ||
| Andorra | gov.ad | ||
| Angola | gov.ao | ||
| Anguilla | gov.ai | British overseas territory | |
| Armenia | gov.am | ||
| Aruba | gov.aw | Part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands | |
| Argentina | gob.ar | ||
| Austria | gv.at | ||
| Australia | gov.au | ||
| Åland | gov.ax | Part of Finland | |
| Azerbaijan | gov.az | ||
| Bangladesh | gov.bd | ||
| Belarus | gov.by | ||
| Belgium | gov.be | gov.be is for national matters, the Belgian Federal Government is using fgov.be and belgium.be | |
| Bulgaria | gov.bg | Only the Council of Ministers uses this site. | |
| Brazil | gov.br | ||
| Chile | gob.cl or gov.cl | ||
| Canada | gc.ca | All other provinces and territories of Canada: gov.{xx}.ca where '{xx}' is the applicable province or territory's postal abbreviation, except Quebec, which uses gouv.qc.ca, and New Brunswick, which uses gnb.ca | |
| Quebec | gouv.qc.ca | Part of Canada | |
| China | gov.cn | ||
| Hong Kong | gov.hk | Part of China | |
| Macau | gov.mo | Part of China | |
| Colombia | gov.co | ||
| Croatia | gov.hr | ||
| Cyprus | gov.cy | ||
| Czechia | gov.cz | ||
| Egypt | gov.eg | ||
| Greece | gov.gr | ||
| Finland | gov.fi | ||
| France | gouv.fr | Stands for the French word gouvernement | |
| Hungary | gov.hu | ||
| India | gov.in | ||
| Indonesia | go.id | ||
| Iran | gov.ir | ||
| Iraq | gov.iq | ||
| Kurdistan Regional Government | gov.krd | Part of Iraq | |
| Ireland | gov.ie | ||
| Israel | gov.il | ||
| Italy | gov.it | ||
| Japan | go.jp | ||
| Kazakhstan | gov.kz | ||
| Kenya | go.ke | ||
| Latvia | gov.lv | ||
| Lithuania | gov.lt | ||
| Malaysia | gov.my | ||
| Malta | gov.mt | ||
| Mexico | gob.mx | ||
| Myanmar (Burma) | gov.mm | ||
| Nepal | gov.np | ||
| New Caledonia | gouv.nc | Part of French overseas | |
| New Zealand | govt.nz | ||
| Nigeria | gov.ng | ||
| North Korea | gov.kp | ||
| Paraguay | gov.py | ||
| Peru | gob.pe | ||
| Pakistan | gov.pk | ||
| Philippines | gov.ph | ||
| Poland | gov.pl | ||
| Portugal | gov.pt | ||
| Romania | gov.ro | ||
| Russia | gov.ru | ||
| Singapore | gov.sg | ||
| Slovakia | gov.sk | ||
| Slovenia | gov.si | ||
| South Africa | gov.za | ||
| South Korea | go.kr | ||
| Spain | gob.es | ||
| Sri Lanka | gov.lk | ||
| Sweden | gov.se | ||
| Switzerland | admin.ch | ||
| Taiwan (Republic of China) | gov.tw | ||
| Thailand | go.th | ||
| Trinidad and Tobago | gov.tt | ||
| Turkey | gov.tr | ||
| Ukraine | gov.ua | ||
| United Kingdom | gov.uk | ||
| Scotland | gov.scot | Part of the United Kingdom | |
| Wales | gov.wales | Part of the United Kingdom | |
| Guernsey | gov.gg | British Crown dependency | |
| Jersey | gov.je | British Crown dependency | |
| Isle of Man | gov.im | British Crown dependency | |
| Bermuda | gov.bm | British Overseas Territory | |
| Cayman Islands | gov.ky | British Overseas Territory | |
| Falkland Islands | gov.fk | British Overseas Territory | |
| Pitcairn Islands | government.pn | British Overseas Territory | |
| Uruguay | gub.uy | ||
| Venezuela | gob.ve | ||
| Vietnam | gov.vn |
See also
References
- ^ "Delegation Record for .gov". Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
- ^ Postel, John; Reynolds, Joyce (October 1984). "RFC 920 - Domain Requirements". Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ Postel, John (March 1994). "RFC 1591 - Domain Name System Structure and Delegation". Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ "DOTGOV Act of 2020". December 27, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ Schreiber, Paul (April 4, 2021). "State legislature websites, compared". Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ ".gov data". Dotgov.gov. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- ^ "Gov Domain Fee Increase FAQs" (PDF). General Services Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ "A new day for .gov". Dotgov.gov. April 27, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ "Memorandum 17-06: Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites and Digital Services" (PDF). Office of Management and Budget. §9, "Use Only Approved Domains". Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ "Eligibility, .gov domain requirements". Dotgov.gov. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
- ^ "GSA Proposes Rule to Make Dot-Gov Domain Available to Non-Federal Government Entities". General Services Administration. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
- ^ "Federal Management Regulation; Internet GOV Domain". Federal Register. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ Krebs, Brian. "It's way too easy to get a .gov domain name". KrebsOnSecurity.com. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ "6 USC 665". Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ ".gov domain requirements". Dotgov.gov. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ "Executive Order 13571". April 27, 2011. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ Phillips, Macon (June 13, 2011). "TooManyWebsites.gov". Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ Dixon, Cameron; Fox, Marina (October 29, 2018). "GSA steps up security for .gov". Digital.gov. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
- ^ "Binding Operational Directive 20-01". Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. September 2, 2020. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
External links
- Official .gov registration site
- IANA gov whois information
- RFC 920 Domain Requirements (defined .com and the other original top-level domains)
- RFC 2146 U.S. Government Internet Domain Names
- Complete list of .gov domains