Is it legal for anyone to run site ending in .gov or .edu

I want to buy and maybe host all mydomain endings: gov, edu, net, org

[jtmoney77]

I was interested in buying and hosting sites that begin with the same name as ours (Ourdomain.com) , but ending in .org, .net, etc.

I wondered if anyone could host a site that ends in bs, .gov, .edu, .info? Is there any laws about this. If it ends in .gov, well say, does it have to be government affiliated? Or .edu, does it have to be educational like a school or university?

Thanks in advance...

Jeremy

[Shak]

.info I am sure is for anyone.

not sure everyone has access to .edu or .gov

Shak

[Workerbee]

.gov does have to be a government site in the US, anyway. Not sure if there are .govs in other countries or what their requirements would be.

[canuck]

To get an .edu domain, your institution must be a post-secondary institution that is institutionally accredited... ie. no "anyone" can't run a site in the .edu namespace.

.gov is limited to qualified government organizations and programs. For more information visit www.nic.gov [nic.gov]

- canuck

[bird]

It's not a matter of law.

The relevant registries simply won't (by policy) accept your domain registration if you don't fulfil the requirements.

[Harley_m]

yup - you will have to 'prove' your status as being deserving of those restricted domain extensions...

and its .gov.uk over here...

.info is fine, and should be used - but I cant see any possible benefit from using .gov. .org is good for that sort of site (a really big non profit site) - but is otherwise not allowed or valid...

and again, if your not education based - you wont get .edu - and so it should be - you have no need for it and will gain nothing from having it...

Harley

[ogletree]

anybody can get a .org. I have several.

[robert adams]

The .org registry is being handled by a new company, so I don't know if you can still get .org names without being a non profit.

robert

[bill]

...anyone can get an .org...being a non-profit has nothing to do with it.

[Stefan]

Yes, anyone can get a .org, but as the admin of an organization that has a .org site, I'd appreciate people not abusing it.

I was interested in buying and hosting sites that begin with the same name as ours (Ourdomain.com) , but ending in .org, .net, etc.

Why exactly do you want a .org domain if you're not an organization?

[jtmoney77]

What does the bs extension mean? What are the rules to this extension?

My purpose to this is:
I have noticed Google is penalyzing .com sites when it comes to their rankings ever since mid-November according to Scroogle.com and a bunch of other resources. Some of our main keywords went from 15th to not in the top 100 for Google! I need to figure out a way around this.

I plan on hosting new sites with these extensions (.org, .info.). These new sites will provide the public with tons of interesting facts and info that are related to our industry. I believe these sites, since they are not selling anything, may rank a lot higher than my main site. Eventually I will link these sites back to my .com site (the site my check depends on)

Let me know what you all think.....

J

[Stefan]

I have noticed Google is penalyzing .com sites when it comes to their rankings ever since mid-November according to Scroogle.com and a bunch of other resources.

With all due respect, it sounds like you plan to create a .org domain, and use "info", well stuffed with kw's no doubt, to serve as a doorway to a commercial operation.

In effect, you will eventually expand your .com spamming penalties into .org as well. Thanks a bunch.

I think your basic premise that it's a specific .com filter is dubious in the first place, so it doesn't make much difference anyway.

[ogletree]

There is no penalty on tld's. It all has to do with backlinks. It just so happens that sites with certain tld's tend to get better backlinks. Work on backlinks. Now there is something to be said about getting a .org and making a very informative site so that people will be more willing to link to you.

Google is still not that smart. Good backlinks will get you in the game and good seo will get you to the top in a florida hit search.

[jtmoney77]

Well, what if I host a .info site and stay away from the .org? A site full of useful information is never bad for the public....it just so happen will have a link or two to sites that are related (some of them will not even be our companies, probably others that will help user). It's up to the user to decide whether or not he/she wants to click on link to purchase products (on the .com site) or simply leave cuz their brains are satisfied with the information they requested.

And anyway, there is some possbility of us creating or joining an organization related to our industry. Our company has the ability to provide public with tons of info about our industry since many of our employees have years (and years) of experience. But that may not be for a while if we ever decide to do this.

What is the use for the extension .us? What type of company/person would want this?

[jtmoney77]

Correction to earlier source. I meant to say Scroogle.org, not .com.