A glossary of tems that we use across our web site.

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Automaton

Nominet's automated system that registrars use to register and modify domain names. Registrars send requests to the Automaton using PGP signed emails.

Bandwidth

The amount of data you can send through a network or modem connection. It is usually measured in bits-per-second.

Blog

Short for 'web log', this is a user-generated web site where entries are made in a journal style, and usually displayed in reverse chronological order. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. In November 2006, blog search engine Technorati was tracking nearly 60 million blogs worldwide.

Broadband

Broadband Internet access, often shortened to "broadband Internet" or just "broadband", is a high data-transmission rate Internet connection.

Browser

A software application that enables you to display and interact with text, images, and other information typically located on a web page at a web site. Text and images on a web page can contain hyperlinks to other web pages at the same or different web sites. Web browsers allow you to quickly and easily access information provided on many web pages at many web sites by traversing these links. The most popular web browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Netscape and Opera.

Cache

A cache is a block of memory for temporary storage of data likely to be used again. A web browser uses a cache to store the pages and URLs of web sites you visit on your computer's hard drive. When you visit a web page you have recently viewed, everything doesn't need to be downloaded to your computer again, just from your hard disk. As accessing your hard disk is much faster than accessing the Internet this speeds up web browsing significantly.

CCTLD

Country Code Top Level Domain. This is a top level domain used and reserved for a country or dependent territory. A ccTLD is two characters long and correspond to the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes. Examples of ccTLDs include .uk for the United Kingdom, .de for Germany, .us for the United States of America, .ca for Canada, and .fr for France. Each country appoints a manager for its ccTLD and sets the rules for allocating domains. Nominet manages the .uk ccTLD.

Complainant

A person or organisation that files a complaint under Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service (DRS).

Cyberspace

This term is often used to refer to objects and identities that exist largely within the communication network itself, so that a web site, for example, might be metaphorically said to "exist in cyberspace."

Cybersquatting

The practice of registering a third party's intellectual property as a domain name with the sole intention of approaching them with an offer to sell it to them. The price of the domain name is often much higher than the cost of its purchase. In addition, some cybersquatters attempt to coerce the individual or company into buying the name at the asking price by posting material on the web site linked to the domain name, which may either cause them embarrassment (e.g. pornographic images) or, if it is linked to a competitor's web site, financial loss. Cybersquatters sometimes register variants of popular trademarked names, a practice known as typosquatting.

DAC

The Domain Availability Checker (DAC) is available to Nominet registrars who are also members. This subscription service (costing £25 + VAT per year) enables you to make high volumes of queries about the availability of domain names. Once you have connected to the DAC you can send one or many domain name queries to the system. The DAC is able to accept high volumes of queries because it reduces the amount of information it returns to the requester and it authenticates only once, at the point of connection.

Detagged

A domain name that has been detagged is no longer hosted on two valid name servers. This stops any services associated with the domain name, for example email or a web site from working. A registrar will detag a domain name if they no longer have a relationship with the registrant to provide services for that domain name.

DNSSEC

DNSSEC stands for DNS Security Extensions. These extensions provide DNS with authentication of responses from DNS servers and thereby aim to prevent DNS spoofing, which is a common technique used by hackers.

DNS

The domain name system (DNS) translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic they are easier to remember. The Internet is based on IP addresses and every time you use a domain name a DNS service must translate the name into a corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.co.uk might translate to 198.116.238.7. The DNS system is its own network. If one DNS server does not know how to translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.

Domain name

A name that identifies one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name Microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs (web addresses) to identify particular web pages. For example in the URL http://www.nominet.org.uk the domain name is nominet.org.uk.

DRS

The Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) is Nominet's formal complaints process that handles disputes about the registration or use of .uk domain names. Parties in a dispute are encouraged to achieve a mediated solution. The DRS provides an open channel for communication between the parties that may help prevent the dispute going to the Courts. The mediation part of the service is provided free, but if the dispute is not resolved by mediation the case can be referred to an independent expert outside Nominet for a fee of £750 + VAT.

E-commerce

This includes activities more precisely termed "Web commerce" - the purchase of goods and services over the Internet usually with secure connection (HTTPS, a special server protocol that encrypts confidential ordering data for customer protection) using e-shopping carts and with electronic payment services, like credit card payment authorisations.

Email

Short for electronic mail, this is a method of composing, sending, storing and receiving messages over electronic communication systems. An email system requires a messaging system that provides the store and forward capability and a mail program that gives you send and receive functions. Sent messages are stored in electronic mailboxes until the recipient fetches them.

ENUM

ENUM (from TElephone NUmber Mapping) is an internationally approved method for connecting the telephone communications network to the Internet. ENUM is designed to enable you to call someone on different electronic communications devices and software applications by using a single identifier - a telephone number converted into a domain name.

FCFS

First-come, first-served. We operate the .uk registry on this basis for the allocation of domain names. Nominet does not make any decisions on who has the greater right to a domain name.

GTLD

Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD), a top level domain that is open to registrants worldwide in contrast to country code top level domains that are often restricted to registrants located in a particular country or region. The most popular gTLDs are .com, .org and .net.

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language is the programming language of the World Wide Web and HTML software turns a document into a hyperlinked web page. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document - by denoting certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on - and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects.

Hypertext

Generally any text that contains links to other documents. These are words or phrases in the document that can be clicked on by a reader and then cause another document or web page to be retrieved and displayed.

IANA

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, DNS root zone management, and other Internet protocol assignments. It is operated by ICANN.

ICANN

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. An international, not-for-profit, private sector organisation created to coordinate four key functions of the Internet: managing the domain name system, allocating IP address space, assigning protocol parameters and managing the root server system.

IDN

Internationalised Domain Names. An internationalised domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that (potentially) contains non-ASCII characters. Such domain names could contain letters with diacritics, as required by many European languages, or characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. However, the standard for domain names does not allow such characters, and much work has gone into finding a way around this, either by changing the standard, or by agreeing on a way to convert internationalised domain names into standard ASCII domain names while preserving the stability of the domain name system.

After much debate and many competing proposals, a system called Internationalising Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) was adopted as the chosen standard, and is currently in the process of being rolled out.

IGF

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a process established by the United Nations, to facilitate multi-stakeholder policy dialogue about Internet governance. It aims to bring together all stakeholders in the Internet governance debate, whether they represent states, the private sector or civil society, on an equal basis and through an open and inclusive process.

The IGF consists of an Advisory Group and a secretariat. The Advisory Group is a multi - stakeholder entity, which comprises of 47 members from governments, the private sector and civil society, including the academic and technical communities. Its chairman Nitin Desai is the Secretary-General's Special Adviser for WSIS, who has also chaired the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). Emily Taylor, Nominet's Director of Legal and Policy is a member of the Advisory Group.

Internet

Although many people think that the Internet and the World Wide Web are the same thing, they are not. The Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks, linked by wires, fibre-optic cables and wireless connections. The Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. The World Wide Web is accessible via the Internet, as are many other services including email, web pages and file sharing.

Internet Service Provider

An ISP (Internet Service Provider) is a company that provides individuals and other companies with access to the Internet and other related services such as web site building web site hosting and domain name registration.

Intranet

A private network inside a company or organisation that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but is only for internal use.

IP address

An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a unique numeric identifier used to specify hosts and networks. IP numbers are part of a global, standardised scheme for identifying machines that are connected to the Internet. The allocation of IP addresses for Europe is currently handled by RIPE (Reseaux IP Europeens).

IPv6

The main improvement brought by IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is the increase in the number of IP addresses available for networked devices, allowing, for example, each mobile phone and mobile electronic device to have its own address. IPv4 supports 232 (about 4.3 billion) addresses, which is inadequate for giving even one address to every living person, much less for supporting the growing market. However, IPv6 supports 2128 addresses which is approximately 5×1028 addresses for each of the roughly 6.5 billion people alive today.

MaRS

Our Member and Registrar Services department, that provides dedicated customer support to all Nominet members and registrars.

Mediation

Mediation is the use of a neutral third party to facilitate the settlement of a dispute. It is confidential and without prejudice and can occur face to face or indirectly (at Nominet as part of our Dispute Resolution Service it is generally carried out on the telephone). The process is voluntary and either party can withdraw at any point. Any agreement is decided by the parties rather than imposed by the mediator. A successful mediation ends with a signed settlement that binds both parties.

Member

Anyone can become a member of Nominet by paying an initial joining fee (currently £400) and an annual subscription charge (currently £100). The most active members are Internet Service Providers (ISPs) although members include local councils, marketing companies and intellectual property lawyers. All members are eligible to vote on policy issues and annual elections to Nominet's Board and Policy Advisory Body.

Name server

A network server that provides a naming or directory service. For example, a Domain Name System (DNS) server might translate the domain name nominet.org.uk to the IP address 187.116.234.9. DNS is the protocol used by Internet name servers.

Naming Committee

Before Nominet was formed in 1996, a voluntary Naming Committee was established in the mid-1980s to manage the registration of .uk domain names. By the early 1990s commercial Internet suppliers became involved in the Naming Committee and started to register domain names for their customers. It then became clear that the voluntary Naming Committee could no longer cope with the growth in demand for registrations. After a series of meetings about establishing a separate organisation to manage the .uk Top Level Domain, the working model for Nominet was agreed.

Network

Any time you connect two or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect two or more networks together and you have an Internet.

Nom-announce

This is a mailing list for Nominet members. It provides them with up-to-date information on new developments and changes at Nominet. Members are subscribed to this list automatically when they join Nominet. We send approximately 2 -4 nom-announce messages each month.

Nominet

We are the Internet registry for .uk domain names. We manage over seven million domain names making us one of the world's largest Internet registries. We run the technology which locates a computer on the Internet hosting the web site or email system you're looking for when you type in a web address or send an email to an address that ends in .uk.

Nom-steer

This is a mailing list used to debate issues relating to Nominet, the Domain Name System and, in particular, the work of the PAB. Our Board, PAB representatives and our management both read and contribute to nom-steer.

Nom-tech

This is a mailing list used to discuss of topics of technical interest to members and registrars.

PAB

Nominet's Policy Advisory Body acts as a bridge between Nominet's Board and Nominet's members. The PAB develops proposals for policies and rules for consideration by the Board. The PAB meets every two months to discuss a range of policy issues affecting Nominet and makes policy recommendations to the Board. The PAB comprises two of the non-executive directors from Nominet's Board, eight members who are elected by Nominet's members and up to eight representatives of appointed organisations, such as the Department of Trade and Industry, the Confederation of British Industry and the Office of the Information Commissioner.

PDF

Portable Document Format - a file format developed by Adobe Systems for capturing formatted page layouts for distribution. It requires the proprietary software Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free. Many of the documents on our web site are available to download as PDF files.

PGP

Pretty Good Privacy is a technique for encrypting email messages. PGP is one of the most common ways to protect messages on the Internet because it is effective, easy to use, and free. PGP is based on the public key method that uses two keys - one is a public key that you pass on to anyone from whom you wish to receive a message. The other is a private key that you use to decrypt messages that you receive.

PGP signed email

We use PGP signed emails as our way of checking that the person who is requesting changes to the database is who they say they are. For example, if a registrar wants us to make a change to contact details for their registrant, we need to have a PGP signed email from the registrar before we will do so. All interaction with our Automaton (our automated system registrars use to register and manipulate domain names) is done by PGP signed email - it is our method of validation.

Pre-Nominet domain names

Approximately 26,000 domain names were registered with the UK Naming Committee, Nominet's predecessor as manager of the .uk Top Level Domain. We carried out a project to contact the registrants of these names and get them to sign up to our terms and conditions of registration. All of those domain names are now covered by Nominet's terms and conditions and the project has been successfully completed.

PRSS

Nominet's Public Register Search Service (PRSS) allows you to search our register database for domain names that are registered to a particular legal entity and/or of a similar name.

This is a subscription service that costs £400 + VAT per year. The PRSS is accessible via a web interface and allows you to search using wildcards and view a maximum of 21,000 results per week. It is of particular interest to Intellectual Property lawyers.

Register database

The definitive database of all domain name registrations within the .uk Top Level Domain.

Registrant

The individual or organisation (e.g. limited company, partnership, sole trader etc) that registers a specific domain name with a registration agent. They hold the right to use that domain name for a specified period of time (two years for a domain name ending in .uk). The registrant is the 'legal entity' who is bound by Nominet's terms and conditions of domain name registration.

Registrar

A registrar is the company or organisation that people register their domain name through. This may be an ISP or a domain name reseller or just a company that specialises in registering domain names. We used to refer to registrars as 'Registration Agents' or 'Tag Holders'. The registrar signs a 'registrar agreement' that is their contract with Nominet, which was updated in March 2007 to include a set of Good Practice Terms.

The registrar is the agent through which people register domain names - it does not mean that they are an agent of Nominet. The registrar may be a member of Nominet, but they act on their customer's behalf rather than our behalf.

Registrar change

This is the name for the process when a registrant wishes to change their domain names from one registrar to another. This used to be known as a 'tag change'. In the first instance they should contact their existing registrar and ask them to move the domain names onto the tag of the new registrar.

However, if the existing registrar refuses to move the domain names or charges the registrant to move them, the registrant can choose to get Nominet to process the registrar change on their behalf. In such cases the registrant needs to complete an online application form in order to change their registrar and pay a small charge of £10 (plus VAT) to move the domain name to a new provider together with any outstanding fees that are associated with the domain name.

Registration agent

A term we previously used for 'registrar' - it means exactly the same.

Registry

An Internet domain name registry receives domain name service (DNS) information into a centralised database and transmits the information in Internet zone files on the Internet so that domain names can be found by users around the world via the world wide web and email. Nominet is the registry for the .uk country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD). Verisign is the exclusive registry for the .com, .net and .org generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs).

Renewal

All domain name registrations made through Nominet are valid for two years. They need to be renewed every two years on the anniversary of the registration date. Renewals are charged at the normal registration rate (currently £5 via registrars or £80 for direct registrations). Renewing registrations on a regular basis helps to maintain the quality of data in our database. Having renewal dates also prompts registrants to release domain names that are no longer wanted. These domain names then become available for registration by others.

Resolve

This is the term used to describe the process for matching domain names with corresponding Internet Protocol (IP) numbers. 'Resolution' is accomplished by name servers, that use the data in the Domain Name System to determine which IP numbers correspond to a particular domain name.

Respondent

The person or organisation that the domain name is registered for, and against whom the complainant in a DRS case makes their complaint.

Reverse domain name hijacking

Within our Dispute Resolution Service policy this is defined as an attempt by a complainant to misuse the DRS policy with the intent of depriving a registrant of a domain name. Outside of the context of our DRS, reverse domain hijacking could be defined as an attempt to unfairly wrest control of a domain name from the current registrant. For example, someone could register the name of a currently used domain name as a company and then claiming that the registrant is infringing your rights.

RFC

This is the name of the result and process for creating a standard on the Internet. Any proposed standards are discussed by the Internet Engineering Task Force, who develop and promote Internet standards. When a new standard is established it is given the reference RFC and a specific number. For example, Geoff Sisson, who used to work for Nominet, is the author of RFC 4471 entitled 'Derivation of DNS Name Predecessor and Successor'.

RIPE

Short for Reseaux IP Europeens. RIPE is one of three regional Internet registries that supply and administer IP addresses. RIPE is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers that provides IP numbers to Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia.

Root

The root is the top of the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy. Often referred to as the 'dot'.

RSD

Registrant Services Department - Nominet's department that provides customer service to domain name registrants.

Server

This is a computer on a network that holds the information or provides the service that the user requires. As the name implies, a server serves information to computers that connect to it. When users connect to the server, they can access programs, files and other information from the server.

Second Level Domain

In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a second-level domain (SLD) is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in the domain name 'nominet.org.uk', the .uk is the top level, and the .org is the second level. Nominet manages the following SLDs within .uk: .co.uk, .org.uk, .net.uk, .ltd.uk, .plc.uk and .me.uk.

Spam

Spam is junk email. Some email clients or servers have spam filters, which try to delete or move the spam messages. Spamming is economically viable because advertisers have no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing lists, and it is difficult to hold senders accountable for their mass mailings. Because the barrier to entry is so low, spammers are numerous, and the volume of unsolicited mail has become very high. The costs, such as lost productivity and fraud, are borne by the public and by Internet service providers, which have been forced to add extra capacity to cope with the deluge.

Tag

This is the identifying codename that Nominet UK assigns to a registrar e.g. Made 2Be An Example Ltd might have the tag MADE2BE. A list of the tags is available at: http://www.nominet.org.uk/go/taglist. Each Tag is unique so that our computers can recognise the different registrars.

Tag change

This is the process that is now known as 'registrar change'.

Tag holder

This is the term previously used for 'registrar'.

Terms and Conditions

Our terms and conditions represent the contract between the domain name registrant and Nominet. These include the 'terms and conditions for the registration of domain names', the Dispute Resolution Service Policy and the Dispute Resolution Service Procedure. As part of the registrar agreement (their own contract with Nominet) our registrars are obliged to make their customers aware of our terms and conditions.

TLD

Top Level Domain (TLD) is the last part of a domain name, which follows the final dot. For example, in the domain name nominet.org.uk, the top-level domain is .uk. Nominet is the organisation responsible for managing the .uk top-level domain.

Trademark

A trademark is a distinct sign or indicator of some kind that is used by an individual, business organisation or other legal entity to uniquely identify the source of its products and/or services to consumers, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities. Trademark rights generally arise out of the use and/or registration of a mark in connection only with a specific type or range of products or services.

In the context of our Dispute Resolution Service, the 'rights' in a domain name that a complainant has to show evidence of are not restricted to trademark rights. This means that medium sized or small businesses who may not hold a trademark can still use the DRS to challenge a domain name registration.

UDRP

The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) is a process established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the resolution of disputes regarding the registration of internet domain names. The UDRP policy currently applies to all .biz, .com, .info, .name, .net, and .org top-level domains, and some country code top-level domains.

In a UDRP proceeding, the panel will consider factors such as, whether the defendant registrant's domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark in which the complainant has rights; whether the defendant has no rights or legitimate interests in a name; and whether the defendant registered and is using the name in bad faith.

The goal of the UDRP was to create a streamlined process for resolving such disputes, which would be quicker and cheaper than a standard legal challenge. However, a party dissatisfied by a UDRP decision may challenge the decision in court.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. In short, it's a web address, like www.nominet.org.uk. If you type it into a web browser, you will reach the web site hosted at that address.

WHOIS

WHOIS is a look-up service that is used to find information about domain names and whether they are available for registration. Nominet's WHOIS service is located on the home page of our web site and displays the information we hold about .uk domain names that are currently registered. Registrants of domain names are obliged to provide us with accurate details under our terms and conditions so that they can be published on the WHOIS, although 'consumers' have the right to opt out.

WHOIS2

The WHOIS2 service enables registrars to provide a WHOIS gateway service on their own web sites for their customers to query the WHOIS database without being blocked for excessive use. It allows the operator of the WHOIS gateway to provide a higher volume service than they could by querying the ordinary WHOIS. We provide the WHOIS2 as a free service.

Wiki

A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who can access it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative web sites. Wikipedia, the collaborative encyclopedia is one of the best-known wikis.