.biz is a

generic top-level domain Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet. A top-level domain is the last level of ev ...

(gTLD) in the

Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services, and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information ...

of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. It is intended for registration of domains to be used by

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

es. The name is a phonetic spelling of the first syllable of ''business''.

History

The TLD was created to relieve some of the demand for domain names in the top-level domain, and to provide an alternative for businesses whose preferred domain name in had already been registered by another party. There are no specific legal or geographic qualifications to register a domain name, except that it must be for "bona fide business or commercial use." It was created in 2001 along with several other domains as the first batch of new gTLDs approved by

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several dat ...

in the expansion of the Domain Name System following the increased interest in internet commerce in the late 1990s. The TLD, originally administered by

Neustar Neustar, Inc. is an American technology company that provides real-time information and analytics for risk, digital performance, defense, telecommunications, entertainment, and marketing industries, and also provides clearinghouse and directory se ...

until 2020, is currently administered by

GoDaddy GoDaddy Inc. is an American publicly traded Internet Domain name registry, domain registry, Domain name registrar, domain registrar and web hosting company headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and incorporated in Delaware. GoDaddy is the world's fif ...

and registrations are processed via accredited registrars. In contrast to other newly installed top-level domains, the registry did not implement a sunrise period to grant trademark owners first chance at registration, but instead used a procedure it called the "IP Claims Service" whereby trademark owners could file intellectual property claims in advance and then challenge any eventual registrant through a policy named ''Startup Trademark Opposition Policy'' (STOP). This process was created by Jeffrey J. Neuman as proof-of-concept protection service and an alternative to the Sunrise policy. A number of domains were successfully obtained by trademark owners from other registrants through this policy; some of the more controversial cases included those of and , the latter being reversed by a court decision.

Use

On June 23, 2008 at the ICANN 32nd International Public Meeting in Paris, the registry announced that it had officially surpassed two million registrations worldwide. In

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

, ''biz'' means 'we' and is used in some sites such as ''turkleriz.biz'' (We are the Turks) and ''fenerliyiz.biz'' (We are fans of Fenerbahçe). The unrecognised

Republic of Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It covers and has a population of around 245,000 ...

, which doesn't have its own domain zone, uses .biz as ''абызшәа (abezshwa)'' means 'language' in Abkhaz.

Alternative DNS roots

Before ICANN approved of the top-level domain in the official

DNS root The DNS root zone is the top-level DNS zone in the hierarchical namespace of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Before October 1, 2016, the root zone had been overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ...

, similar domains of the same name were already in use by

alternative DNS root The Internet uses the Domain Name System (DNS) to associate numeric computer IP addresses with human-readable names. The top level of the domain name hierarchy, the DNS root, contains the top-level domains that appear as the suffixes of all Intern ...

s. This created the possibility of a domain pointing to different

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...

es depending on the specific DNS configuration of a client computer. For this reason, the domain's registry,

, requires that a DNS server be officially registered with them on their list of approved DNS servers before a domain registrar may register it in the

WHOIS WHOIS (pronounced as the phrase "who is") is a query and response protocol that is used for querying databases that store an Internet resource's registered users or assignees. These resources include domain names, IP address blocks and autonomo ...

database.

References

External links

GoDaddy registry operator website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biz Generic top-level domains Internet properties established in 2001 de:Top-Level-Domain#Nichtgesponserte Domains (uTLD) sv:Toppdomän#Generiska toppdomäner