.US Locality Domains

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.US Locality Domains are available to register for free by individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations and other entities qualified to register a .us domain name.[1][2][3]

Example

The website for the City of Portland is accessible at http://www.ci.portland.or.us/ (although that URL is automatically redirected to http://www.portlandonline.com/). To take a peek at the registration information for portland.or.us, type the domain into the Neustar's .US WHOIS Search field, or click on this link to view the domain registration info provided by DomainTools.

Registering A .US Locality Domain Name

“ So, would YOU like a free domain name like mine? Can you still get one? Well, that is a very good question. ”
 

It's not entirely clear how much support exists for those wanting to register a locality .US domain to successfully complete the process. IcannWiki's article on the .US TLD seems to suggest that option is still available.

According to Neustar's .US Compliance Report, "To register a domain in a delegated zone, the registrant completes a copy of the current .US Domain Template."[4] This document points to a dead link for the US Domain Template v2.0 template, which is actually found here.[5] Available FAQ pages also don't seem to provide much help with understanding how to register a .US Locality domain name.[6][7]

But a response to an email to Neustar refers to an earlier registration template.[8] Neustar's email response goes on to explain the basics for registering a .US locality domain (shown below, with slight editing for clarity, brevity and to fix typos).

>> Begin Neustar Instructions <<

First, check to see if the domain you want is available to register by going to Neustar's .US WHOIS Search and typing in your desired domain name.

Editor's Note: Neustar's .US WHOIS appears to not find registration info for at least some fourth-level .US locality domains (the level that Neustar claims it's able to register). For example, the 4th-level .US locality domain, owen.sj.ca.us, fails to yield any registration information when typed into the Neustar's .US WHOIS search field. However, registration information for SJ.CA.US (to the 3rd-level of the domain) does appear after the domain is typed into the Domain Tools Whois search field.

Next, follow the instructions shown below.

At this time (Neustar has) not been given permission to register Locality Based Domain Names in the third level, only fourth. The fourth level domain names must start with:
ci. for city (example: ci.portland.or.us)
co. for county (example: co.multnomah.or.us)
twp. for townships or town (example: twp.eagle-creek.or.us)
vil. for villages (example: vil.cascadia.or.us)

If you wish to register a domain name in the fourth level please follow the simple directions below.

There are no charges for .US Locality based domain names. However we need three separate documents from you or the locality you represent:

  1. Sign the .US Domain registration agreement. Please review, sign and include this agreement with the two documents below.
    With all of the .US locality based domains now reflected in our WHOIS, we now require the following for contact/name server changes or new domain names. This is to protect your domain name from being taken by another party.
  2. A city/organization letterhead cover letter.
  3. A completed Delegated Manager Update template signed by a notary public.

Once you have completed the above documents, please send them to the postal address below.

.US Locality Registry
Neustar Customer Service
1650 Lyndon Farm Ct.
Suite 300
Louisville, KY 40223-5005[9][10][11][12]

Once we have reviewed and approved the requested documents, you will be issued a password to make future changes without having to send us the above paperwork again, unless it is for a different domain name.

Please note that you must have two (2) authoritative nameservers set up for the domain in order for us to complete the domain set up. You will need to work with a hosting company to do so. Neustar does not provide hosting.

<< End Neustar Instructions >>

(See actual text of Neustar's email response / registration instructions here.)

.US Locality Domain Registration By Small Businesses & Individuals

Small entities like individuals or small businesses can also register locality based .US domain names.[13]

Examples shown below are fourth-level domain names:
  1. Zuckys.Santa-Monica.CA.US (a restaurant)[14]
  2. owen.sj.ca.us (a family name)[15]
  3. cvusd.k12.ca.us (a school)
    View example of the school's completed DELEGATED MANAGER UPDATE TEMPLATE v1.0 form (Word Doc).

FAQs

The .US Locality Domain Name Registration Agreement sets forth the terms and conditions governing a Registrant’s use of registered .US locality domain name(s) for which Neustar is the Delegated Manager and by which Neustar governs all Delegated Managers. Neustar is currently unable to process new third-level domain name requests. For new fourth- or fifth- level domain requests connected to your current approved .US Locality, pleae contact .US Customer Support at support.us@neustar.us.

External Links

Individually and as a group, Delegated Managers play a valuable role in the management of the .us locality space.
Informative resource!
Are you with a city or county office and you’d like a website and/or email to be set up using your city’s .US locality domain? For example, the city of Waco, Nebraska could register CI.WACO.NE.US – Absolutely free of charge. York County, however, where Waco exists, would be CO.YORK.NE.US. This is the “right” way of registering domain names, rather than using something like villageofwaco.com or yorkcountyne.net.
Editor's Note: Article shows helpful example of how to complete the form's HOSTNAME information.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ The Us Domain Overview
  2. ↑ THE US DOMAIN OVERVIEW
  3. ↑ THE US DOMAIN OVERVIEW - Cost (Cached version from Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.)
  4. ↑ .US Compliance Report (Jump to section 4. "Registration and Delegation under the .US Locality Name Space" on page 21.)
  5. ↑ INTERIM .US DOMAIN TEMPLATE V2.0
  6. ↑ Support & FAQs (Neustar)
  7. ↑ Whois FAQs
  8. ↑ DELEGATED MANAGER UPDATE TEMPLATE v1.0
  9. ↑ Neustar Registry Customer Support
  10. ↑ Neustar Contact Us
  11. ↑ Neustar Registrar Registration Form
  12. ↑ Registering .US locality names
  13. ↑ RFC 1480 - The US Domain#Examples of Names
  14. ↑ A Counter Culture Dies : Zucky's Deli Suddenly Closes After 39 Years in Santa Monica
  15. ↑ The Owen World
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