<s>
.us	B-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
Internet	B-Application
country	I-Application
code	I-Application
top-level	O
domain	O
(	O
ccTLD	B-Application
)	O
for	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Registrants	O
of	O
.us	B-General_Concept
domains	O
must	O
be	O
U.S.	O
citizens	O
,	O
residents	O
,	O
or	O
organizations	O
–	O
or	O
foreign	O
entities	O
with	O
a	O
presence	O
in	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
or	O
any	O
territory	O
of	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
registrants	O
in	O
the	O
U.S.	O
have	O
registered	O
for	O
.com	O
,	O
.net	B-Application
,	O
.org	O
and	O
other	O
gTLDs	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
.us	B-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
has	O
primarily	O
been	O
used	O
by	O
state	O
and	O
local	O
governments	O
,	O
even	O
though	O
private	O
entities	O
may	O
also	O
register	O
.us	B-General_Concept
domains	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
Internet	O
was	O
invented	O
in	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
,	O
most	O
American	O
businesses	O
and	O
enterprises	O
have	O
used	O
the	O
.com	O
domain	O
instead	O
of	O
a	O
more	O
U.S.-specific	O
.us	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
February	O
15	O
,	O
1985	O
,	O
.us	B-General_Concept
was	O
created	O
as	O
the	O
Internet	O
's	O
first	O
ccTLD	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
administered	O
.us	B-General_Concept
under	O
a	O
subcontract	O
that	O
the	O
ISI	O
and	O
USC	O
had	O
from	O
SRI	O
International	O
(	O
which	O
held	O
the	O
.us	B-General_Concept
and	O
the	O
gTLD	O
contract	O
with	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
Department	O
of	O
Defense	O
)	O
and	O
later	O
Network	O
Solutions	O
(	O
which	O
held	O
the	O
.us	B-General_Concept
and	O
the	O
gTLD	O
contract	O
with	O
the	O
National	O
Science	O
Foundation	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Postel	O
and	O
his	O
colleague	O
Ann	O
Westine	O
Cooper	O
codified	O
the	O
.us	B-General_Concept
ccTLD	B-Application
's	O
policies	O
in	O
December	O
1992	O
as	O
RFC	O
1386	O
and	O
revised	O
them	O
the	O
following	O
June	O
in	O
RFC	O
1480	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
June	O
1993	O
to	O
June	O
1997	O
,	O
Postel	O
delegated	O
the	O
vast	O
majority	O
of	O
the	O
geographic	O
subdomains	O
under	O
.us	B-General_Concept
to	O
various	O
public	O
and	O
private	O
entities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
.us	B-General_Concept
registrants	O
could	O
register	O
with	O
the	O
delegated	O
manager	O
for	O
the	O
specific	O
zone	O
they	O
wished	O
to	O
register	O
in	O
,	O
but	O
not	O
directly	O
with	O
the	O
.us	B-General_Concept
administrator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
September	O
1998	O
,	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
Postal	O
Service	O
proposed	O
funding	O
the	O
operations	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
assume	O
control	O
of	O
.us	B-General_Concept
,	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
a	O
plan	O
to	O
diversify	O
away	O
from	O
postage	O
revenue	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
October	O
1	O
,	O
1998	O
,	O
the	O
NSF	O
transferred	O
oversight	O
of	O
the	O
.us	B-General_Concept
domain	O
to	O
the	O
National	O
Telecommunications	O
and	O
Information	O
Administration	O
(	O
NTIA	O
)	O
of	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
Department	O
of	O
Commerce	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2000	O
,	O
these	O
responsibilities	O
were	O
transferred	O
to	O
Network	O
Solutions	O
,	O
which	O
had	O
recently	O
been	O
acquired	O
by	O
Verisign	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
October	O
26	O
,	O
2001	O
,	O
Neustar	B-Protocol
was	O
awarded	O
the	O
contract	O
to	O
administer	O
.us	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
April	O
24	O
,	O
2002	O
,	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domains	I-Protocol
under	O
.us	B-General_Concept
became	O
available	O
for	O
registration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
.us	B-General_Concept
domain	B-Application
hacks	I-Application
,	O
icio.us,	O
was	O
registered	O
on	O
May	O
3	O
,	O
2002	O
,	O
for	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
subdomain	O
del.icio.us	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
moratorium	O
was	O
placed	O
on	O
additional	O
delegations	O
of	O
locality-based	O
namespaces	O
,	O
and	O
Neustar	B-Protocol
became	O
the	O
default	O
delegate	O
for	O
undelegated	O
localities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Neustar	B-Protocol
's	O
contract	O
was	O
renewed	O
by	O
the	O
National	O
Telecommunications	O
and	O
Information	O
Administration	O
(	O
NTIA	O
)	O
in	O
2007	O
and	O
most	O
recently	O
in	O
2014	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
March	O
31	O
,	O
2019	O
,	O
The	O
.US	B-General_Concept
registry	O
made	O
it	O
clear	O
that	O
under	O
its	O
Acceptable	O
Use	O
Policy	O
it	O
would	O
not	O
allow	O
the	O
sale	O
of	O
opioids	O
through	O
the	O
.US	B-General_Concept
top	O
level	O
domain	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Q2	O
2020	O
,	O
GoDaddy	O
acquired	O
Neustar	B-Protocol
's	O
registry	O
business	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
.us	B-General_Concept
ccTLD	B-Application
is	O
historically	O
organized	O
under	O
a	O
complex	O
locality	O
namespace	O
hierarchy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Until	O
second-level	O
registrations	O
were	O
introduced	O
in	O
2002	O
,	O
.us	B-General_Concept
permitted	O
only	O
fourth-level	O
domain	O
registrations	O
of	O
the	O
form	O
us	O
...	O
,	O
with	O
some	O
exceptions	O
for	O
government	O
entities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Registrants	O
of	O
locality-based	O
domains	O
must	O
meet	O
the	O
same	O
criteria	O
as	O
in	O
the	O
rest	O
of	O
the	O
.us	B-General_Concept
ccTLD	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
2002	O
,	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domain	I-Protocol
registrations	O
have	O
eclipsed	O
those	O
in	O
the	O
locality	O
namespace	O
,	O
and	O
many	O
local	O
governments	O
have	O
transitioned	O
to	O
.org	O
and	O
other	O
TLDs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
locality-based	O
zones	O
of	O
.us	B-General_Concept
are	O
delegated	O
to	O
various	O
public	O
and	O
private	O
entities	O
known	O
as	O
delegated	O
managers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
delegated	O
managers	O
are	O
expected	O
to	O
receive	O
requests	O
directly	O
from	O
registrants	O
,	O
few	O
if	O
any	O
domain	B-Application
name	I-Application
registrars	I-Application
serve	O
this	O
space	O
,	O
possibly	O
contributing	O
to	O
its	O
lower	O
visibility	O
and	O
utilization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
October	O
31	O
,	O
2013	O
,	O
12,979	O
domains	O
were	O
registered	O
under	O
the	O
locality	O
namespace	O
,	O
of	O
which	O
3,653	O
were	O
managed	O
by	O
about	O
1,300	O
delegated	O
managers	O
while	O
9,326	O
were	O
managed	O
by	O
Neustar	B-Protocol
as	O
the	O
de	O
facto	O
manager	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
.au	O
and	O
.ca	B-General_Concept
ccTLDs	B-Application
have	O
also	O
established	O
third	O
-	O
and	O
fourth-level	O
locality	O
namespaces	O
,	O
though	O
the	O
.ca	B-General_Concept
locality	O
namespace	O
is	O
no	O
longer	O
open	O
to	O
registrations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
.cn	O
ccTLD	B-Application
maintains	O
a	O
third-level	O
locality	O
namespace	O
in	O
general	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
two-letter	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domain	I-Protocol
is	O
formally	O
reserved	O
for	O
each	O
U.S.	O
state	O
,	O
federal	O
territory	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
District	O
of	O
Columbia	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
.ny.us	O
is	O
reserved	O
for	O
websites	O
affiliated	O
with	O
New	O
York	O
,	O
while	O
.va.us	O
is	O
for	O
those	O
affiliated	O
with	O
Virginia	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Second-level	B-Protocol
domains	I-Protocol
are	O
also	O
reserved	O
for	O
five	O
U.S.	O
territories	O
:	O
.as.us	O
for	O
American	O
Samoa	O
,	O
.gu.us	O
for	O
Guam	O
,	O
.mp.us	O
for	O
the	O
Northern	O
Mariana	O
Islands	O
,	O
.pr.us	O
for	O
Puerto	O
Rico	O
,	O
and	O
.vi.us	O
for	O
the	O
U.S.	O
Virgin	O
Islands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
these	O
domains	O
go	O
unused	O
because	O
each	O
territory	O
has	O
its	O
own	O
ccTLD	B-Application
per	O
ISO	B-Language
3166-1	I-Language
alpha-2	I-Language
:	O
respectively	O
,	O
.as	B-Library
,	O
.gu	O
,	O
.mp	B-General_Concept
,	O
.pr	O
,	O
and	O
.vi	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
state	O
's	O
main	O
government	O
portal	O
is	O
usually	O
found	O
at	O
the	O
third-level	O
domain	O
state	O
..	O
us	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
reserved	O
for	O
this	O
purpose	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fully	O
spelled-out	O
names	O
of	O
states	O
are	O
also	O
reserved	O
under	O
.us	B-General_Concept
,	O
so	O
the	O
State	O
of	O
Ohio	O
's	O
website	O
was	O
at	O
one	O
point	O
available	O
at	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
the	O
usual	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
former	O
remaining	O
as	O
a	O
redirect	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
than	O
for	O
state	O
governments	O
,	O
no	O
third-level	O
domain	O
registrations	O
are	O
permitted	O
under	O
state	O
or	O
territory	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domains	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
fourth-level	O
domain	O
registration	O
under	O
this	O
namespace	O
follows	O
the	O
format	O
us	O
...	O
,	O
where	O
is	O
a	O
state	O
's	O
two-letter	O
postal	O
abbreviation	O
and	O
is	O
a	O
hyphenated	O
name	O
that	O
corresponds	O
to	O
a	O
ZIP	O
code	O
or	O
appears	O
in	O
a	O
well-known	O
atlas	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Directly	O
beneath	O
the	O
.us	B-General_Concept
zone	O
,	O
several	O
affinity	O
namespaces	O
are	O
reserved	O
for	O
specific	O
purposes	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Dot	O
Kids	O
Implementation	O
and	O
Efficiency	O
Act	O
of	O
2002	O
(	O
)	O
established	O
a	O
.kids.us	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domain	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
July	O
27	O
,	O
2012	O
,	O
in	O
response	O
to	O
declining	O
usage	O
and	O
a	O
petition	O
by	O
Neustar	B-Protocol
the	O
previous	O
year	O
,	O
the	O
NTIA	O
suspended	O
.kids.us	O
registrations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Under	O
.us	B-General_Concept
nexus	O
requirements	O
,	O
.us	B-General_Concept
domains	O
may	O
be	O
registered	O
only	O
by	O
the	O
following	O
qualified	O
entities	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
prevent	O
anonymous	O
registrations	O
that	O
do	O
not	O
meet	O
these	O
requirements	O
,	O
in	O
2005	O
the	O
National	O
Telecommunications	O
and	O
Information	O
Administration	O
ruled	O
that	O
registrants	O
of	O
.us	B-General_Concept
domains	O
may	O
not	O
secure	O
private	O
domain	O
name	O
registration	O
via	O
anonymizing	O
proxies	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
their	O
contact	O
information	O
must	O
be	O
made	O
public	O
.	O
</s>
