.la is the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
country code top-level domain
A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It ...
(ccTLD) for
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
.
Although the .la domain is officially assigned to the country of Laos, subdomains have been delegated to some organizations outside Laos.
History
The LA Names Corporation, based in
Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor ...
, has gained the rights to market .la registrations, and they had used the registry services of
Afilias
Afilias, Inc. is a US corporation that is the registry operator of the .info, .mobi and .pro top-level domain
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System
The Domain Nam ...
and, formerly, the registrar services of
DreamHost. However, DreamHost has discontinued registrar services . LA Names and CentralNic, Ltd. completed the transfer of the .la domain name to the
CentralNic system in 2007. Cabel Sasser of Panic created "Poopla" (xn--ls8h.la), "The World's First
Emoji Domain
An emoji domain is a domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer netw ...
" on April 13, 2011. A company based in of Hong Kong by the name of Sterling Holdings originally purchased the
TLD from Laos, and marketed it towards users in Louisiana and LA.
Popular use
The domain is used by organizations in the state of
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) ...
(whose
postal abbreviation is LA) and the city of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. o ...
.
No official or unofficial association exists between the .la domain and any government in the United States (see
.gov and
.org
The domain name .org is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) of the Domain Name System (DNS) used on the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol ...
). It also sees limited use for businesses in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
, such as
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation
A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporatio ...
's site for the region.
The .la domain is also used for
domain hack
A domain hack is a domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer netwo ...
s in the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn ...
and the
Chinese language
Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages ar ...
. ' means "there" in French and in Italian, and in other
Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal re ...
; "" () is a common
modal word at the end of a sentence or a phrase in
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's ...
and
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...
.
Mozilla Foundation
The Mozilla Foundation (stylized as moz://a) is an American non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, i ...
's
URL shortener uses it with the "mzl.la" domain hack.
Tesla Motors
Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'' ...
uses "ts.la" domain hack as a shortener and a
redirect
Redirect and its variants (e.g., redirection) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Redirect'', 2012 Christian metal album and its title track by Your Memorial
* ''Redirected'' (film), a 2014 action comedy film
Computing
* ICMP R ...
.
Digikala, an e-commerce startup in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆما ...
and the Middle East uses the "dgka.la" domain hack as a shortener.
The
Network information center of .la is oriented to pages based in Los Angeles.
The
Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is a US project aimed at providing public access to digital holdings in order to create a large-scale public digital library
A digital library, also called an online library, an internet library, a d ...
uses dp.la.
Lao language domain
In 2008 a preliminary application was made to open the
internationalized top level domain (the name of Laos in the
Lao language
Lao, sometimes referred to as Laotian (, 'Lao' or , 'Lao language'), is a Kra–Dai language of the Lao people. It is spoken in Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະ ...
).
IDN ccTLD Form of Interest , Laos
/ref> In 2019 this top level domain was approved. Web sites will come at a later stage. It is intended for usage with domain names in Lao script
Lao script or Akson Lao ( lo, ອັກສອນລາວ, links=no ) is the primary script used to write the Lao language
Lao, sometimes referred to as Laotian (, 'Lao' or , 'Lao language'), is a Kra–Dai language of the Lao peopl ...
.
References
External links
IANA .la whois information
{{DEFAULTSORT:La
Communications in Laos
Country code top-level domains
sv:Toppdomän#L