August 02, 2006

Dot gov registrations policies???

This is a post for readers from North America. I would like to access the dotgov.gov website, but they do not allow IP addresses from outside the US to connect to their servers.
One can expect more transparency from a "gov" institution! Could someone send me their Registration policies and Eligibility Requirements(for pure academic purposes), or copy them below? Thanks in advance!

1 comment:

CM said...

Thanks to the person who answered.

Below is a copy of the rules. One can also have a look at the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Part 102-173.

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Eligibility Requirements : .GOV Registration
Eligibility Requirements

Domain names (such as gsa.gov) are used in websites and e-mail addresses to uniquely identify computers and networks. The domain name is the core of an organization's or program's Internet identity, their online brand. Managed domain names require the holder of that name to meet certain eligibility requirements. These strict authorization standards help ensure users that they are accessing an official site.
Managed domain names include .gov, -NSN.gov, and .fed.US.

Eligibility for .gov
To preserve the integrity of the .gov name space, .gov domains are limited to United States government organizations at the federal, Native Sovereign Nation, state, and local level, and U.S. territories.

Registrations that qualify for a .gov domain
* U.S. Governmental departments, programs, and agencies on the federal level
* Federally recognized Indian Tribes (-NSN.gov domain)
* State governmental entities/programs
* Cities and townships represented by an elected body of officials
* Counties and parishes represented by an elected body of officials
* U.S. territories

Registrations that do not qualify for a .gov domain
* International organizations
* Commercial firms
* Privately owned organizations
* Military entities (except in special cases)
* Local (e.g., city, county, township, or parish) government programs or initiatives
* Cities, townships, counties, parishes, and other local entities that are not represented by an elected body of officials

Ineligible Government Programs
Government programs at the local level (city/township or county/parish) are not eligible for a second-level .gov domain name.
Examples of such programs include local police and fire departments, port authorities, parks, libraries, and councils of governments. Such programs should request a third-level domain name from their official state or local government. In most cases, this request can be initiated through the webmaster, or other listed point of contact, for the domain in question.

Eligibility for .fed.US
The .fed.US domain is limited to United States Federal Government
cabinet-level agencies.
Registrations that qualify for a .fed.US domain
* Cabinet-level U.S. governmental entities.
Registrations that do not qualify for a .fed.US domain:
* Non-cabinet-level U.S. governmental entities
* State and local government organizations
* International organizations
* Commercial firms
* Privately owned organizations
* Military entities

To review the full policy, refer to RFC 1480.

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Authorization Letter : .GOV Registration

In addition to your registration form, authorization from your highest-ranking elected official is required. Letters received from someone other than the authorities described below will be rejected.

Federal Authorization
At the federal level, the authorizing official is your parent agency or cabinet-level CIO. To verify the identity of your CIO, refer to www.cio.gov

State Authorization
For states and state programs, we will accept authorization from the Office of the Governor or State CIO. To verify the identity of your Governor, refer to www.firstgov.gov.

City Authorization
For cities and townships, we will accept authorization from the mayor (or equivalent official). Letters from the IT official will not be approved.

County Authorization
For counties and parishes, we will accept authorization from county
commissioners (or equivalent officials) or the highest-ranking elected county official. Letters from the IT official will not be approved.

U.S. Territory Authorization
For U.S. territories and their cities, we will accept authorization from the territory Chief Information Officer (CIO). To verify the identity of your territory CIO, refer to www.nascio.org

Native Sovereign Nations
The Native Sovereign Nations (NSN) authorizing official is the CIO representative for Indian Affairs.

Letter Templates
Instruct your authorized official to submit a letter authorizing the use of the requested domain name. This letter must be written on agency letterhead and must include the following:
* Statement that the requestor is the highest ranking official
* Domain name requested
* Purpose of the domain
* Statement that the use of the domain is consistent with the requesting organization's Internet policies
* Name of the Administrative POC who must be a government employee and must be the same as the Administrative POC listed during the domain registration process
* Contact information
* Signature of the authorizing official

To expedite the processing of your request, use the appropriate letter template below:

*Note: The Administrative POC must be a government employee and must be the same Administrative POC listed for this domain during the registration process. To update this POC in our database, please use the Modify form at https://www.dotgov.gov/account/register_domain.aspx.
* Federal
* State
* City
* County
* U.S. Territories
* Native Sovereign Nations

Letter Submission

Federal, state, city, county, and territory authorization letters should be submitted to the following:

.gov Domain Manager
10304 Eaton Place
FTS/TOI
(.gov Domain Registration)
Fairfax, VA 22030

or
(703) 935-7457(efax)

Native Sovereign Nations authorization letters should be submitted to the following:

Paul D. Marsden
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Mail Stop 7354 MIB
Washington, DC 20240

The .gov Domain Manager must receive the authorization letter within 90 days of your registration request. Otherwise, your request may become deactivated and the domain name released for others to use.

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.gov Program Guidelines

This overview of .gov domain registration requirements is meant to further explain and clarify some sections of the Federal Policy about registering second-level .gov domains. The Federal Policy on .gov domains focuses on purpose and jurisdiction.

The .gov domain facilitates collaboration among government-to-government, government-to-business, and government-to-citizen entities. The domain hosts only official, government sites at the federal-, state- and local-government levels, including federally recognized Indian tribes, known as Native Sovereign Nations (NSNs). The .gov domain provides the official and trusted Internet presence for these government entities.

Every .gov domain name application is carefully examined to ensure domain names requested will not create misunderstandings about the purpose of domains and their Web site content. GSA arbitrates domain
name issues and reserves the right to deny domain name requests that
do not adequately meet requirements.

For further assistance with domain names and eligibility requirements, please refer to http://www.dotgov.gov/help_qualify.aspx or call the Help Desk toll free at (877) 734-4688 or locally at (703) 375-2252.

Guidelines for All Domains

The following applies to all .gov domains:
1. No non-Government Advertisements: A .gov domain may not be used to advertise for private individuals, firms, or corporations, or imply in any manner that the government endorses or favors any specific commercial product, commodity, or service.
2. No Political or Campaign Information: The Gov domain is for the operation of government, not the political, political party, or campaign environment. No campaigning can be done with .gov domains. The .gov Web sites may not be directly linked to or refer to Web sites created or operated by a campaign or any campaign entity or committee. No political sites or party names or party acronyms can be used. Separate Web sites and e-mail on other top-level domains (TLDs), such as .org, will have to be used to disseminate campaign information.
3. Naming Conventions: Naming-convention rules are described in detail in the Federal Policy. Thousands of names, programs, and general terms are used in .gov domains. The following is a summary of naming-convention rules:

a. No General Domain Names: General terms alone such as "licenses," "recreation," and "benefits" are not allowed because they do not represent a specific enough origin and service. However, a domain name such as "MarylandRecreation.gov" is allowed (assuming that domain is authorized by either Maryland's Chief Information Officer or the Governor of Maryland).
b. State Postal Codes: All state and local second-level, .gov domains must include the two-letter state acronym or spell out the state name. Additional naming conventions apply for local entities, such as cities, towns, counties, territories, and parishes.


Two-Year Eligibility Period: All .gov domains are registered for a 2-year eligibility period. During this 2-year period, a review of eligibility and administrative information is required. If necessary, the .gov Registrar will contact the points of contact (POCs) for domains. Please keep POC information up to date. The .gov Registrar may request an updated authorization letter, updated Domain Name Server (DNS) information, or other information. This information enables the government to ensure .gov domains provide secure, official Web sites and promotes the best possible service to the general public.

Link Change Notification: When a link on a .gov domain makes the user leave a .gov Web site, a notification or screen (i.e., a splash message) should alert users that they are leaving the official .gov page.

Domain Termination: Organizations that operate Web sites that are not in compliance with the .gov conditions of use may have their domain name terminated.

Account Information: It is the registrant's responsibility to keep all account information up-to-date, to include POC information, and it is the registrant's responsibility to ensure the account is paid in full each year.

Federally Sponsored Domain Guidelines
The following applies only to federal .gov domains:
1. CIO Authorization: All federal domain requests must come from the Chief Information Officer of the federal agency. See www.cio.gov for a complete list of federal-agency CIOs.
2. Section 508 Compliance: All federal Web sites must be in compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
3. Congressional Domain Requests: All legislative requests for second-level .gov domains go through the Senate Office of Information Resources or the House Information Resource Office.
4. Federal Court Domain Requests: All federal court .gov domains are linked to uscourts.gov and authorized by the Office of Government wide Policy. See http://app.comm.uscourts.gov/. 5. NSN Domain Requests: All Native Sovereign Nations domains are coordinated with the following Chief Information Officer representative:
Paul D. Marsden
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Mail Stop 7354 MIB
Washington, DC 20240
(202) 208-4739 (phone)
(202) 501-6139 (fax)

State-Sponsored Domain Guidelines

1. CIO or Governor Authorization: Governors or the governor-appointed state chief information officers must sign authorization letters for all state domain requests. To verify the identity of your state CIO, refer to www.nascio.org.
2. State Name or Postal Code: To register any second-level .gov domain, state governments must register either the full state name or clearly indicate the state postal code at the beginning or end of the domain name. Use of a hyphen is recommended but optional.
Examples of state domain names are the following:
a. Tenneseeanytime.gov
b. Ne-taxes.gov
c. Mysc.gov
d. Nmparks.gov

No Obscure State Names or Postal Codes: Use of the state postal code should not be embedded within a single word in a way that obscures the postal code. For example, "Information.gov" for Indiana (IN) or "Forests.gov" for Oregon (OR) are unacceptable. See the following paragraph in the Federal Policy for more about this rule: §102-173.50.

Unlimited State-Level Domains: The state CIO and governor can register an unlimited number of second-level .gov domains (e.g., Georgia.gov, GA.gov, MyGeorgia.gov, NewGeorgia.gov, etc.).

State Courts/State Legislatures: State courts and legislatures request authorization from their state CIO or governor and follow the state's Internet policy, in addition to .gov Domain Registration Federal Policy.

Locally Sponsored Domain Guidelines
1. Recent Authorization: As of March 2003, local governments are now authorized to get second-level .gov domains.
2. Mayor or Elected Official Authorization: The authorization letter must be signed by the mayor or the highest-ranking, elected official because the domain is the Internet presence for the entire city, town, county, township, borough, or parish it names.
3. Naming Conventions: Naming conventions are described in depth in the following parts of the published policy: §102-173.55 - § 102-173.60. The main rules for local-government domains are the following:
a. The preferred format is "CityName-StatePostalCode.gov":
Example: Tyler-tx.gov
b. County government names will contain the spelled-out word "County" or "Parish" in the name. See the following for more information:
§102-173.60.
c. The words "City of" or "Town of" are optional (e.g., CityofAlbany-OR.gov)

No Abbreviations: Abbreviations are not authorized unless an exception is granted through the .gov Program and the Office of Governmentwide Policy.

Exception Requests: The Office of Governmentwide Policy and the Office of Electronic Government and Technology at GSA arbitrate all exceptions.

Program Guidelines

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Register

This page provides a list and description of information that is required before you can successfully register your .gov domain name.

Please print this page and confirm all of the required information before starting the registration process. The process assumes that you already have a User ID and password on the Domain Registration System.

To be approved for a .gov domain, your government, department or agency must be eligible and must meet the naming conventions.

Before compiling the information necessary to register a domain, please do the following:
1. Review the eligibility requirements specified by GSA
(https://www.dotgov.gov/help_qualify.aspx).
2. Review the naming convention standards specified by GSA
(https://www.dotgov.gov/dnc.aspx).
3. Confirm that you will be able to get an Authorization Letter from your chief information officer (CIO), senior technology official or elected officer, as specified in the Authorization Letter section (https://www.dotgov.gov/auth_letter.aspx).

Information Required During Registration Process
1. Your User ID and Password. To check the availability or register a domain, you must first have a user account on the Domain Registration System. If you do not have an account on the System, click the following link to register
(https://www.dotgov.gov/account/createpoc.aspx).
2. Your Desired Domain Name. Please have several domain name options available, and make sure that they meet the naming conventions specified by GSA.
3. Your Authorizing or Sponsoring Agency. The registration page allows you to select the sponsor for your domain from a drop-down menu of choices. Examples of menu choices include General Services Administration, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, etc.
State and local governments should choose "OTHER" from the drop-down list.

4. Your Organization Information. Please provide the following information for your organization. The Authorizing Agency and your organization may or may not be the same. All fields are required.
Organization Name:
Street Address
City
State
Zip Code
Country

5. Description.Please describe the purpose of this domain. There is a 200-character limit. This is a required field.
Purpose of YOURDESIREDDOMAIN.GOV

6. Points of contact (POCs). Three points of contact, billing, administrative and technical are required for each domain registered. You (registrant) are required to be at least one point of contact and at least one of the POCs--preferably the administrative POC--must be a government employee.
If you know that a POC is already in the .gov Domain Registration System (e.g., they are a POC for another domain), enter their User ID (not their password) or the first name, last name and e-mail address they used when they registered in the System.

For Existing Point(s) of Contact
User ID
Or
First Name
Middle Initial (optional)
Last Name
E-mail Address

For each new POC, please provide the information below and create a temporary password. Unless specified, all fields are required.

For New Point of Contact 1

First Name
Middle Initial (optional)
Last Name

E-mail Address
Organization Name
Title

Street Address
City
State

Zip Code
Country

Phone Number

Fax Number (optional)

You will be required to create an initial password for any new POC. You will be responsible for contacting that POC to inform them of this password so they can confirm their contact information in the system and then change the password.

Note: the domain will not be activated until all three POCs have logged in and changed their initial passwords.
Passwords must be eight to ten characters long, with at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one special characters. Passwords cannot begin or end with numbers.

Password for first new Point of Contact
Reenter Password

For New Point of Contact 2 (if necessary)

First Name
Middle Initial (optional)
Last Name

E-mail Address
Organization Name
Title

Street Address
City
State

Zip Code
Country

Phone Number

Fax Number (optional)

Passwords must be eight to ten characters long, with at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one special characters. Passwords cannot begin or end with numbers.

Password for first new Point of Contact
Reenter Password

7. Domain Name Servers. To expedite the processing of your application, please have your domain name server (DNS) information available. You can get this information from your technical staff or Internet service provider (ISP). You must provide data for at least a primary and secondary DNS.

Host Name IP Address
Primary Name Server Primary Name Server IP
Secondary Name Server Secondary Name Server IP