RFC 1816

U.S. Government Internet Domain Names

📅 published August 1995, from ietf

RFC 1816: U.S. Government Internet Domain Names 🎀

okay bestie, so this is RFC 1816 💖 and it's called "U.S. Government Internet Domain Names." The Federal Networking Council wrote it, and it sits in the Network Working Group 🧚. It's dated August 1995 🌸 and it's Informational, so it's giving "here's useful info" and not "this is a standard" 💅. It obsoletes RFC 1811 🦋, and the abstract calls it an update and clarification to that same RFC.

Status of this Memo ✨

so the vibe check: this memo gives information to the Internet community 🫶. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind ⭐. And distribution of this memo is unlimited 🌈.

Abstract 🌸

this memo is an update and clarification to RFC 1811 💜. It lays out the registration policies for the top-level domain .GOV 👑. Before this, federal agencies and their subsidiaries were registering with zero guidance 💀, which led to multiple registrations for the same agency and naming schemes that don't help the public get responsive service 😭. So this doc fixes that by restricting registrations to match the approved structure of the US government 🔥. The doc it cites, FIPS 95-1, gives a standard structure that .GOV registrations can fit into ✨. This policy is exactly comparable to the one for the top-level domains 💅. The IANA requires that an organization or country apply for and get a 2 letter code from ISO/ITU (e.g., US for United States) for additional top-level registration 🌍.

And the side effect? Fewer .GOV level registrations and less workload on the Internic 🫶.

U.S. GOVERNMENT INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES POLICY 👑

the .GOV domain is delegated from the root authority to the US Federal Networking Council 🏛️. It's only for registering US governmental entities on the federal level 💅. State and local government agencies SHALL be registered under the .US domain, following that domain's policies 🌈.

1) The document "Codes for the Identification of Federal and Federally Assisted Organizations", FIPS 95-1 (or its successor), lists the official names of US Government agencies 📜. Here's how the rules shake out:

  • A) Top-level entities (e.g., those with codes ending in 00 such as "1200 Department of Agriculture"), and independent agencies and organizations (e.g., "National Science Foundation and other non-indented listings unless prohibited below") as listed in this document, are eligible for registration directly under .GOV ✨.
  • B) Autonomous law enforcement components of top-level entities (e.g., "Federal Bureau of Investigation", "Secret Service", "Coast Guard") are also eligible for registration 🕵️.
  • C) Cross-agency collaborative organizations (e.g., "Federal Networking Council", "Information Infrastructure Task Force") are eligible for registration under .GOV upon presentation of the chartering document. They're also the only non-FIPS-listed organizations eligible for registration under .GOV 📋.
  • D) Subsidiary, non-autonomous components of top-level or other entities are not eligible for separate registration. International organizations listed in this document are NOT eligible for registration under .GOV 🙅‍♀️.
  • E) Organizations listed as "Federally Aided Organizations" are not eligible for registration under .GOV, and they SHOULD register under .ORG or another appropriate top-level domain 🍓.
  • F) Organizations subsidiary to "Department of Defense" MUST register under the .MIL domain via the Defense Data Network Network Information Center. Contact registrar@nic.ddn.mil for that 🫡.

The only standard exceptions to these rules are changes to governmental structure due to statutory, regulatory or executive directives that aren't yet reflected in the above document. The requesting agency SHOULD provide documentation in one of the above forms to request an exception. Other requests for exception SHOULD be referred to the Federal Networking Council 💌.

2) A domain name SHOULD be derived from the official name for the organization (e.g., "USDA.Gov" or "Agriculture.GOV".) The registration SHALL be listed in the registration database under the official name (per FIPS 95-1) for the organization, or under the name in the chartering document 📚.

3) Only ONE registration and delegation SHALL be made per agency. The .GOV registration authority SHALL provide registrations on a first-come, first-served basis. It's an individual agency matter as to which portion of the agency is responsible for managing the domain space under a delegated agency domain 🧁.

4) Agencies and entities that have multiple registrations under .GOV MAY retain them for a maximum of 3 years from the publication date of this document. Within 6 months after the publication of this document, one permanent domain MUST be selected for the agency. The other (auxiliary) domains MUST cease further sub-delegations and registrations at this time. As of 1 year after the publication of this document, the auxiliary domains will become undelegated and will revert to the control of the .GOV owner. As of 2 years after the publication of this document, all registrations in the auxiliary domains MUST be mirrored in the permanent domain, and those names SHOULD be used where possible. At the 3 year point, all auxiliary domain registrations will be deleted ⏳.

this is the one to screenshot 📸: after 3 years, the auxiliary domain registrations are gone for good, so agencies really need to pick their permanent domain early and move everything over before then 😭.

5) Agencies and entities already registered in .GOV but not listed in FIPS 95-1 (e.g., DOE labs, state entities) MAY retain their registration within the constraint of the single registration rule (see para 4). No further non-FIPS-listed registrations will be made. State and local entities are strongly encouraged to re-register under .US, but this is not mandatory 🌷.

FUTURE .GOV REGISTRATIONS 🔮

Q. Okay bestie, top level domains are roughly equivalent to the cabinet-level agencies identified in FIPS-95-1 🏛️. What will happen if non-FIPS-95-1 entities apply for the ".GOV" registration in the future? 🤔

A. The Internic will use RFC 1816 as guidance and will not grant the ".GOV" to any new entity that isn't listed in the FIPS-95-1 or that hasn't been granted an exception status by the FNC Executive Committee. 💅

Q. Suppose NIH were moved to a new Dept. of Science? Would our domain name have to be changed? 😭

A. NIH.GOV is grandfathered under the existing policy and would not change. The "Department of Science" under its own policies may require you to re-register though. 🫶

FNC INTENT 🧠

Q. It is unclear how this will policy will facilitate access by the public to our information, especially since most of the public doesn't know our organizational structure or that CDC is part of DHHS/PHS. 🥺

A. The policy is trying to avoid confusion as more and more entities register under the ".GOV" domain, and to hand authority and responsibility for domain name space over to the appropriate agencies instead of keeping it in one centralized authority. 🦋 For facilitating access, various tools and capabilities are coming into use on the Internet all the time. Most of these tools provide a fairly strong search capability, which should obviate most concerns about finding resources based on domain names. 🔍✨

Q. Section 1D of RFC 1816 unfairly constrains the organizations within the .gov domain, in stark contrast to Section 1F, which grants .mil domain organizations full freedom to operate subdomains in any manner chosen. 😤

A. The Federal Networking Council has jurisdiction over the ".GOV" domain names, while ".MIL" domain names fall within the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense. 🎖️ The .MIL domain has had a written policy delimiting which DOD agencies get registered directly under .MIL since about 1987, when the DNS first started to come into use. Individual agencies under the .MIL domain (e.g., AF.MIL/US Air Force) are responsible for setting policy within their domains and for registrations within those domains. This is exactly equivalent to the .GOV domain: an individual agency (e.g., Treasury.GOV/Dept of Treasury) may and should set policy for subregistrations within their domain. 👑

Q. Section 1B identifies several law enforcement agencies as being "autonomous" for the purposes of domain registration. What is the selection criteria for an "autonomous law enforcement" agency? For instance, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is responsible for law enforcement, as is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). 🚓

A. The selection criteria for "law enforcement agency" is based on primary mission. A case could be made for either or both of these being law enforcement agencies, although the IRS' primary mission is tax revenue collection and it has few armed officers relative to its size. 🧾 An "autonomous" agency is one with a mission and role that are distinct from, and (possibly) separate from, its containing department. Unfortunately, 95-1 does not do a good job of identifying "autonomous" entities. In the event of problems with registration, ask the registrar to get a ruling from the FNC. 🙏

ROUTING QUESTIONS 🛣️

Q. How will Domain Name Service resolution on the Net work? Instead of a root DNS server returning the address of cdc.gov and immediately directing inquiries to our DNS servers, will the root server return a DNS pointer to DHHS, then DHHS will resolve to PHS, then a fourth DNS query to get to CDC? This will add unnecessary traffic to the Net. (example is host.CDC.PHS.DHHS.GOV) 🤯

A. The answer depends on how you (personally and agency-wide) configure your servers. First, most servers cache previous answers. They may have to ask once, but they generally remember the answer if they need it again. Information directly under .GOV will be fairly long-lived, which substantially reduces the need to query the .GOV server. 🧠 Secondly, multiple levels of the DNS tree MAY reside on the same server. In the above example, the information for DHHS.GOV, PHS.DHHS.GOV and CDC.PHS.DHHS.GOV could all reside on the same server. Assuming the location of the DHHS.GOV server was not cached, it would require 2 queries. Further queries would cache the location of this server and the servers associated with the domains it serves. 🌈 Lastly, the individual agencies may structure their domains as they please. CDC could reside directly under DHHS.GOV as CDC.DHHS.GOV, subject to HHS's own policies. 💖

Security Considerations 🔐

Security issues are not discussed in this memo. 🙈 Yes, the whole thing. Nothing. Zero. Dramatic, I know. 💀

Author's Address 📮

Federal Networking Council
4001 N. Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203

Phone: (703) 522-6410
EMail: execdir@fnc.gov
URL:  http://www.fnc.gov
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