Tiny ccTLDs - Who Should You Register With?

mumkin asks: "I have been shopping for a new domain and am considering going with a more obscure ccTLD for my namespace needs. I like the thought of my lan being a virtual extension of a tropical isle or wind-swept steppe, and generally looking weird in people's logs :) Ideally the NIC would lack a full-on whois server, for that extra degree of anonymity. It is important to me that the registry be doing something worthwhile for the country whose TLD it's hawking, and not just ripping them off. Oh, and I want nothing to do with VeriSign, so .TV and .CC are right out (sorry, Tuvalu! sorry, Cocos Islands). So, the question is: what tiny ccTLD registrars allow non-resident registration, are trustworthy, inexpensive, preferably privacy-conscious, and give something truly meaningful back to the countries whose domains they sell? Here's what I have so far -- who else should I be looking at, or what have I got wrong?" Read on for mumkin's ccTLD listing.

.AS : American Samoa. American Territory. Pop ~68,000. The registry is based in New York City and makes no mention its relationship to American Samoa, or what if any benefits accrue to the people of AS in exchange for the sale of their TLD space. Cost: $45/year. Whois: limited.

.CX : Christmas Island. Home of the dreaded goatse. Part of the Indian Ocean Territories of Australia, pop ~ 3,000. Recently shafted by the bankruptcy of Planet Three, nic.cx is now (according to its website) "a community owned Christmas Island non profit company." $9.60 of every reg. fee goes to the "Christmas Island Information Economy Development Trust," underwriting the cost of internet service on the island. Service which is currently really limited (2 hours/day of dial-up for $25/mo). Cost: $37.40/year. Whois: yes

.HM : The Heard and McDonald Islands. Australian External Territory, Pop: 0. An antarctic island group, mostly covered in glaciers, generally off-limits to visitors. A UN world heritage site. The nic is managed by an Australian guy, and the reg fee pays for the costs of running the registry. All [surname].hm addresses are unavailable, as those have been sold to the mysterious www.my.hm email service. Probably the most morally neutral ccTLD to grab a domain in, since there are no residents to disenfranchise. Cost: $35/year. Whois: none

.PN : Pitcairn Island. British Overseas Territory. Home of 44 descendants of the Bounty mutineers (half of whom are currently under investigation for more recent unsavory acts). Supposedly the sale of domains will help to bring internet access to the island, (they currently have limited, $3.50/min satellite connection, courtesy of a seismic monitoring station on the island. Cost for a domain: auction. Whois: broken

.PS : Palestinian Territories. With only 50 domains registered, the .ps namespace is wide open. It's the only NIC I can think of that's likely to be bombed/raided/otherwise reduced by a military force, since it's located in beautiful Ramallah. Given the US Govt's current mindset, owning a .ps domain could also make you a Person of Interest to any number of three-letter agencies. Cost: $45/year. Whois: limited

.SH : St. Helena Island and .AC : Ascension Island. British Overseas Territories with a population of ~6,000 and ~1,000 respectively. Jamestown, St Helena is the capitol from which the islands of St Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha are governed. The NIC is run out of London and provides free name service and registration for anyone with residency. Ascension is an an incredibly well-networked island for its size. Cost: $100 first year, $50/year thereafter. Whois: yes

.TJ : Tajikistan. Central Asian nation, pop ~6,250,000. NIC is run by two guys in Fresno who also run one of the two Public Registrars for Tajikistan. No information about their relationship to Tajikistan, or what if any benefits the country may receive from their registry fees. Site last updated in '98. Cost: $25/year ($8/year within .com.tj, .web.tj, etc) Whois: yes

.TP : East Timor. Big news a while back, the media seems to have forgotten about them once the shooting stopped. Their TLD is managed by Connect-Ireland as a public service to the Timorese diaspora. There is little documentation on the site, and it's unclear where the $35/year registration fee goes. Xanana Gusmao, former resistance leader and current president, is the Administrative Contact! Note: on May 20th, the ISO 3166 list changed East Timor's alpha-2 designation to TL (Timor Leste). Presumably the IANA will soon change their TLD accordingly. Cost: $35/year. Whois: none"

Comments

dot nu

[jayrtfm]

I've had a dot nu domain for a few years,with the redirection service. Since I orginally got it, they split off the redirection from the domain hosting, which has been very annoying having to renew with 2 different companies. Also their tools to update aren't too good. Up untill recently I haven't had a problem, but a few weeks ago it was down for the entire weekend.
Since it costs $60 for 2 year minimum, PLUS additional for the redirection, I'm going to drop them in a year or so.

Standards by which to judge ccTLDs

[mumkin]

I haven't found a copy of an approved version, but the Final Draft of "Best Practice Guidelines for ccTLD Managers" has some interesting things to say about the relationship between ccTLD Managers and the countries they serve (italics mine):

3.1.1 Service to the Community

3.1.1.1 Promotion of the Internet - It is the obligation of the ccTLD Manager to foster the use of the Internet in the geographical location associated with the ccTLD's ISO-3166-1 code for which the domain is named. The Manager should take a leadership role in promoting awareness of the Internet, access to the Internet, and use of the Internet within the Country. The ccTLD Manager should develop, over time, a consultative process with various elements of society including the government, the education interests, the health care interests, the cultural and other non-commercial interests, the business interests, and other sectors of society that may be affected by and which may profit by the use of the Internet, and who together make up the Local Internet Community.

3.1.1.2 Service - As community service is an essential and central element in the mandate of a ccTLD, the ccTLD Manager should from time to time, and depending on its financial situation, identify activities serving the interests of the local community with respect to the Internet. The ccTLD Manager should engage with the local community to stimulate broad usage of the Internet through initiatives such as educational programs, technical assistance, programs to enhance Internet access opportunities for residents, identification of innovative benefits to the local community through the Internet, or other activities as the ccTLD Manager may from time to time identify as serving the best interests of the local community with respect to the Internet. As part of its operating agreement with ICANN, the ccTLD Manager should develop a plan, consistent with its financial capabilities, for fulfilling its obligations to the Local Internet Community, including a consultative process interfacing with important elements of the local society both public and private. In general, the ccTLD Manager should attempt to provide service at the best level possible.

If this document has been ratified, I'd like to see a final copy. Seems that http://www.cctld-drafting.org/ is defunct, and www.cctld.org is for sale -- the irony!

.TK!! .TK!!!

[NiGHTSFTP]

http://www.dot.tk/vc00802.html

Free .tk redirects

$35/year for .TK with full control of hostnames and whatnot.

List

[RinkSpringer]

I once compiled a list with all major and minor TLD's and their cost... it is here, but since no one seemed to care, I kind of dropped the project.

.LI?

[beat.bolli]

Liechtenstein is a tiny principality nestled between Switzerland aus Austria. The NIC is here. Registration is CHF 35 per year, and if they make a profit, they reduce next year's fees accordingly (this has actually happened twice in the last 5 years). The registrar, Switch, is also bidding for the .org gTLD.