The History of .Org

Many people think that only non profit organizations are allowed to use .org (often pronounced "dot org") as part of their domain names. Although it would make sense to limit the .org domain extension to not-for-profit organizations, in reality, the .org domain extension is an unrestricted, generic, top-level domain. This means that the domain extension can be used not only by non profit organizations, but also by any person, company or for-profit organization.
 
 
In fact, a lot of people will register both the .org and the .com versions of their Web sites.
 
Top-Level Domains Explained 
A top-level domain is the highest level of the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy. The top-level domain comes directly after the final "." in a Web address. For example, the top-level domain in www.dot.org is ".org."

.Org: Past and Present

The .org domain extension was first introduced in 1984. It is one of the original generic, top-level domains. Originally, .org was meant to be used only by non profit or not-for-profit organizations.
 
In 1995, .org became a global extension. Today, .org is the third most common domain extension used on the Internet. In fact, there are currently more than 2 million registered .org Web sites.
 
People can use the .org extension in several different ways. In general, it is used as follows: www.xxx.org, where .org is the top-level domain. However, you will also see .org Web addresses that use .org as a second-level domain and a country code as the top-level domain. In these instances, the Web site would appear as follows: www.xxx.org.xx, where the .xx that follows .org is the country code as well as the top-level domain.

Generic Domain Extensions Explained

A domain extension is considered to be generic when it isn't affiliated with any one country. In addition to .org, the following are also generic, top-level domain extensions:
  • .com: The .com domain extension was originally intended to be used by for-profit companies. Currently, anyone can currently use the .com extension.

  • .edu: The .edu extension can be used only by fully accredited post-secondary institutions of higher learning, including four-year colleges.
  • .gov: The .gov extension is restricted to U.S. government entities, though other countries can use it as a second-level domain name (e.g., .gov.au). Today, the following can register .gov domain names:
    • federally recognized Indian tribes
    • state governmental entities and programs
    • U.S. cities, counties, etc.
    • U.S. territories
    • valid U.S. government organizations and departments.

  • .net: The .net domain extension was originally intended to be used only by network-related entities, including Internet service providers. Today, however, anyone can use the .net extension.
The.com domain extension is currently the most widely used extension in the world. More than 70 percent of all Web sites end with .com.

.Org Controversy

Currently, there is some controversy surrounding the use of the .org domain extension. A number of people think that only non profit organizations and not-for-profit organizations should be able to use the .org extension. These people argue that allowing both non profit agencies and for-profit companies to use the .org extension can be confusing and misleading.
 
People who support placing restrictions on the .org domain extension think that limitations will provide increased clarity and confidence to Internet users.
 
Resources
 
NameMedia. Inc. (2007). History of .org. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from the BuyDomains.com Web site: http://www.buydomains.com/domain-resources/domain-
extensions/history-of-org.jsp.