Skip to content

Why Dotless Domain Names are Prohibited by ICANN

On August 13, 2013, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) made an important decision regarding the future of domain names. ICANN’s New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) adopted a resolution that officially prohibited the use of dotless domain names. But what exactly are dotless domains, and why are they banned?

What Are Dotless Domains?
Typically, domain names have at least two parts, separated by a dot. For example, in “example.com,” “example” is the second-level domain, and “com” is the top-level domain (TLD). Dotless domain names, on the other hand, have only a single label with no dot. For instance, instead of “example.com,” you’d just have “http://example” or email addresses like “mail@example.”

While this may seem convenient, dotless domains require special configurations in the Domain Name System (DNS). Specifically, they need DNS records such as A, AAAA, or MX placed directly in the TLD zone, which refers to the TLD string itself.

One real-life example of a dotless domain is http://ai, which resolves on Chrome for Android. This might lead some to wonder why dotless domains aren’t allowed more widely.

Security and Stability Concerns
ICANN’s decision to prohibit dotless domains wasn’t made lightly. The NGPC reviewed several reports and public comments that highlighted major security and stability risks. Here’s a breakdown of the key concerns:

SSAC Report: In February 2012, ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) published a report titled SAC 053: SSAC Report on Dotless Domains. The SSAC stated that dotless domains would not be universally reachable. This means some users or systems might not be able to access them reliably. They also recommended that using DNS resource records like A, AAAA, and MX in the apex of a TLD should be contractually prohibited or, at the very least, strongly discouraged.

IAB Statement: On July 10, 2013, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) issued a statement advising against the use of dotless domains for TLDs. This echoed the SSAC’s concerns about the lack of universal reachability and the technical challenges posed by dotless domains.

Carve Systems Report: Shortly after the IAB’s statement, Carve Systems delivered a report on dotless domains, commissioned by ICANN. Like the SSAC report, Carve’s analysis also identified significant security and stability issues related to dotless domains.

Why the Ban?
After reviewing these reports, the NGPC concluded that the security and stability risks associated with dotless domains were too significant to ignore. Additionally, trying to fix these problems was deemed impractical. Based on these findings, the NGPC passed the resolution prohibiting dotless domains, and ICANN decided not to pursue any further studies on the topic.

Final Thoughts
While dotless domain names might seem like a streamlined way to access websites or email, the security and stability risks they pose are too great. ICANN’s decision to prohibit them is based on thorough research and expert recommendations. Although dotless domains like http://ai may work on certain platforms like Chrome on Android, they won’t be adopted on a broader scale due to the potential issues they bring to the global internet infrastructure.

For more information on ICANN’s decision, you can view the official announcements and reports at the following links:

ICANN Announcement: http://icann.org/en/announcements/details/new-gtld-dotless-domain-names-prohibited-30-8-2013-en

ICANN Dotless Domain Study: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/dotless-domain-study-29jul13-en.pdf