.tel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
 The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page. (December 2008)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
This article is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view. For blatant advertising that would require a fundamental rewrite to become encyclopedic, use {{db-spam}} to mark for speedy deletion. (December 2008)
This article may contain wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording or find sources which back the claims.
This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications.
Primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (January 2009)
.tel
.tel
Introduced 2005
TLD type Sponsored top-level domain
Status Approved
Registry Telnic Limited
Sponsor Telnic Limited
Intended use Contact Details
Actual use Negligible
Registration restrictions Trademark holders only for $399.00 (non-refundable application fee) until Feb 3, then open to anyone for "a premium price."[1][2]
Structure Direct second-level registrations are permitted; digits are restricted to avoid conflict with phone numbers
Documents ICANN New sTLD RFP Application
Dispute policies UDRP, Sunrise dispute resolution procedure[3]
Website Telnic

.tel is a top-level domain (TLD) approved by ICANN as a sponsored TLD and operated by Telnic.[4]

Its advertised purpose is as a single management and publishing point for "internet communication" services, providing a global contacts directory service by housing all types of contact information directly in the Domain Name System(DNS).

Contents

[edit] History

In May 2006, it was approved to be added to the DNS root zone by ICANN. The TLD was added to the DNS root zone on March 2, 2007.

The "Sunrise" period[5] during which only trademark owners of national effect can register their names commenced on December 3, 2008 for a $399.00 non-refundable application fee.

The "Landrush" period[6] when the .tel names will become available to the public at large, but at a premium price, will commence on February 3, 2009.

The "General Availability" ongoing stage[7] when the .tel names will be available in much the same way as other TLDs will commence on March 23, 2009

[edit] Administration Of .tel Names

The Telnic .tel domains will not be open to customers to use until February 3rd 2009. At present, information in the .tel cannot be controlled by the owner except through Telnic's a proprietary website control panel that Telnic has created for Registrars to provide to their customers. This control panel is open source, and can be changed or completely replaced by Registrars if they so wish, as all the APIs required to manage .tel information in the DNS were released by Telnic in October 2008.

When viewed over the Web, all .tel domains point directly to a Telnic proxy webpage that is populated 'on the fly' presenting the respective domain name owner's contact data stored within the DNS system (currently hosted by Telnic but which will be opened to Registrars and end customers in 2009). .tel domains can also be accessed without opening a browser on many devices through open source applications[8].

[edit] Technical Overview

In contrast to other top-level domains the .tel information is held directly within the Domain Name System (DNS) within the actual domain name record. As opposed to the DNS simply returning details (such as IP addresses) of the machines on which information can be found.

At present the .tel TLD is only in the first stage of its launch, therefore information regarding possible exploitation or abuse by spammers and malware is not yet available due to the lack of verifiable data. But as Telnic has enabled the DNS records to be encrypted using 1024-bit encryption and stored in sub-folders which are hidden until paired with a public private key handshake with individuals, there is some protection from spammers.

For the same reason, the full extent of the effect the extra data will have on the DNS system is unknown.

[edit] Reliability Of Data

The fact that this TLD is being released only to trademark holders until February 3rd, 2008, may suggest that the resulting database of contact information can somehow be trusted as the "official" contact information of the "rightful owner" of those trademarks.

However, after the short period of legitimate registrations restricted to trademark holders only (the "Sunrise" period[5]), anyone willing to pay a premium price will be allowed to buy any domain name (the "Landrush" period[6]) regardless of who owns the trademark.

Furthermore, during "General Availability"[7] anyone will be able to register any name (assuming that it is available for registration) without paying the premium price.

In actual practice, .tel domain names will be no different than most domains except for price (most domain names cost around $10.00 per year) and proprietary control, except for the fact that .tel owners will not be charged for ongoing hosting fees and will not need to build or maintain a website in order to be discoverable on the Web under their own domain name.

The information held under the .tel domain will be no more accurate or trustworthy than any other data held in the DNS system. It will be down to the individual .tel owner to choose what they wish to store there.

[edit] Differences to the .mobi Top Level Domain

Since some of the sorts of services that are expected to use .tel domains can be achieved on mobile telephones, there may be a perceived overlap with the intended use of the .mobi domain, which was also approved by ICANN in the same round.

However .tel is about publishing contact data: phone numbers, SIP addresses and so on directly in the DNS, not on html-based websites.[9]

Whereas the focus of the .mobi domain is providing web sites and other content formatted specifically for the user interface available on mobile phones and other mobile devices.

The .mobi domain is closer in intent to other more familiar domains for example .com in that it holds data on which internet hosts can be contacted for further information (i.e. web content). Albeit that the .mobi domain is used to identify hosts that are expected to format their content for mobile devices and the .com domain was intended to identify the _type_ of content (commercial) to be found.

.tel is viewable from both desktop and laptop PCs as well as mobile browsers due to the restriction of the A record, the reason for the proxy pages which are locked by Telnic and which provide the template for all .tel domains to be viewed on the web.

[edit] Alternative Usage Proposal

A second application[10] for the .tel TLD, but with a different structure, was made by a company named Pulver. This proposal involved telephone number style numeric identifiers. Alternative viewpoints claimed that this either complemented or conflicted with ENUM. All-numeric identifiers are not available in the form of .tel that has been approved.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "FAQ". Telnic. Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  2. ^ ".tel Sunrise Application Process". NetworkSolutions. Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  3. ^ "Telnic | FAQ". Telnic.org. Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  4. ^ Telnic web site
  5. ^ a b "Sunrise". .tel Launch Information. Telnic. Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  6. ^ a b "Landrush". .tel Launch Information. Telnic. Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  7. ^ a b "General Availability". .tel Launch Information. Telnic.org (2009-03-24). Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  8. ^ >http://dev.telnic.org/pages/downloads.html
  9. ^ K. Mahdavi (May 6, 2006). "Telnic’s response to Neil Edwards’ comments" (PDF). Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  10. ^ - New sTLD RFP Application .tel-Pulver Part B. Application Form

[edit] External links

 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (December 2008)
Sister project Wikinews has related news: .tel top-level domain launched
v • d • e
Generic top-level domains
 
Current
Generic
.biz · .com · .info · .name · .net · .org · .pro
Sponsored
.aero · .asia · .cat · .coop · .edu · .gov · .int · .jobs · .mil · .mobi · .museum · .tel · .travel
Infrastructure
Deleted/retired
Reserved
Pseudo
.bitnet · .csnet · .local · .root · .uucp · .onion · .exit
Country code top-level domains
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tel"
Personal tools