.cc

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.cc

Introduced	13 October 1997
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	eNIC (a VeriSign company)
Sponsor	Island Internet Services
Intended use	Entities connected with Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Actual use	Varied site topics; few sites relate to the islands
Registration restrictions	None
Structure	Registrations permitted at second level
Documents	Registration agreement
Dispute policies	UDRP
Registry website	Verisign .cc Registry

On the Internet, .cc is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian territory. It is administered by a United States company, VeriSign, through a subsidiary company, eNIC, which promotes it for international registration as "the next .com". The .cc domain was originally assigned to eNIC in October 1997 by the IANA; eNIC manages the TLD alongside SamsDirect Internet.^[1]

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also uses the .cc domain, along with .nc.tr. Google treats .cc as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) because "users and website owners frequently see [the domain] as being more generic than country-targeted."^[2]

Registration is made directly at second-level.

The TLD is preferred by many cricket and cycling clubs, as well as churches and Christian organizations, since "CC" can be an abbreviation for "Christian Church" or "Catholic Church". Some open-source/open-hardware projects, such as the Arduino project, use a .cc for their home pages, since "CC" is also the abbreviation for "Creative Commons", whose licenses are used in the projects. Business owners in Southern Massachusetts are rapidly adopting Cape Cod CC domains for local identity. Canadian Club whiskey has also used .cc domains for marketing purposes.^{[citation needed]} It is also used for some community colleges, though other domains, such as .edu, are more popular.