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    • .as

    Country-code top-level domains

    Overview

    .as is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for American Samoa. It is used both by entities connected with American Samoa and more broadly for domain hacks or by organizations where "AS" has special meaning. Registrations are made directly at the second level.

    History

    • Introduced / implemented: June 12, 1997.
    • Registry / sponsor: American Samoan Network Information Center (AS Domain Registry, also called ASNIC).
    • Technical operations have been handled by Island Networks (the provider that also manages .gg and .je) according to registry information.
    • Dispute policy: UDRP. Registry website: https://nic.as/

    Usage and Audience

    • Intended use: entities connected with American Samoa.
    • Actual use:
      • Used for a variety of purposes including registrations unconnected to American Samoa.
      • Popular for domain hacks (using the ".as" ending as part of words in languages where "-as" is a plural or suffix).
      • Adopted by organizations where "AS" or "A/S" is meaningful (e.g., joint-stock company suffixes in Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Czech Republic).
      • Used by technical communities (e.g., sites about autonomous systems or BGP such as bgp4.as).
      • Example regional usage: McDonald's Australia uses macc.as for short URLs.

    Registration Rules

    • Registration model: unrestricted ccTLD; registrations are at the second level.
    • Eligibility / restrictions:
      • No general residency restriction on who may register; the registry states there is no restriction on registrants and the domain is popular outside Samoa.
      • Domains should not be used for pornographic or racist material; ASNIC has the right to determine if a domain name is offensive and may refuse applications.
      • Registrant must represent and warrant that:
        • statements in the application are true and the registrant has the right to use the domain name as requested;
        • there is a bona fide intention to use the domain name actively on the Internet;
        • the domain is not intended for unlawful purposes, unfair competition, or to injure another's reputation;
        • the registration/use does not infringe third-party intellectual property rights.
    • Pricing / residency note: domain names are free of charge for businesses and individuals resident in or associated with American Samoa (per registry information).
    • IDN and character rules:
      • Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) support began on 1 March 2005.
      • IDN support includes an additional 92 UTF-8 Latin-script characters as detailed by the registry.
      • Domain length: 3 to 63 characters.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • Domain hacks and examples:
      • escol.as (Brazilian site name playing on pluralization "escolas").
      • macc.as used by McDonald's Australia (short URLs, e.g., macc.as/feedback).
      • bgp4.as (used by BGP/autonomous system related services).
      • Registrations by entities related to Asturias (Spain) and by companies using "AS" as a corporate suffix.
    • 2016 legacy registrar vulnerability:
      • A vulnerability in a legacy registrar system was publicized in April 2016; it was reported that the issue might have exposed plaintext passwords for some domain contacts.
      • The AS Domain Registry confirmed legacy managed domains were subject to human oversight; no exploit attempts were reported and the issue was closed.

    Operator

    AS Domain Registry

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       AS

organisation: AS Domain Registry
address:      P.O. Box 997303
address:      Pago Pago 96799
address:      American Samoa

contact:      administrative
name:         Registrar
organisation: AS Domain Registry
address:      P.O. Box 997303
address:      Pago Pago 96799
address:      American Samoa
phone:        +684 252 9742
e-mail:       domainmaster@nic.as

contact:      technical
name:         GDNS Hostmaster
organisation: GDNS, LLC
address:      PO Box 32
address:      Frenchtown NJ 08825
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 212 334 3660
fax-no:       +1 212 208 2674
e-mail:       hostmaster@gdns.com

nserver:      NS1.ASNIC.BIZ 213.248.219.254 2a01:618:403:0:0:0:0:254
nserver:      NS2.ASNIC.INFO 103.49.83.254 2401:fd80:403:0:0:0:0:254
nserver:      NS3.ASNIC.ORG 213.248.223.254 2a01:618:407:0:0:0:0:254
nserver:      NS4.ASNIC.UK 2401:fd80:407:0:0:0:0:254 43.230.51.254
nserver:      NS5.ASNIC.US 194.146.106.86 2001:67c:1010:22:0:0:0:53
nserver:      PCH.NIC.AS 2001:500:14:6111:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.111

whois:        whois.nic.as

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.nic.as

created:      1997-06-12
changed:      2022-05-06
source:       IANA

    Registrars