Nominet UK facts for kids

Nominet UK is an organization that helps manage internet addresses for the United Kingdom. It is in charge of the .uk domain name, which is the ending you see on many UK websites.

Nominet directly manages popular internet addresses like .co.uk, .org.uk, and .sch.uk. They also look after the .wales and .cymru domains, which are for websites in Wales.

As of February 2021, there were over 10.9 million .uk domain names registered. Nominet was started on May 14, 1996. This happened because the old group managing internet addresses couldn't keep up with how many new websites were being created.

Nominet is a special kind of company. It's a "not-for-profit" organization, meaning it doesn't aim to make money for owners. Instead, it uses its income to improve its services. Many internet companies are members of Nominet.

If you want to get a .uk internet address, you usually go through a "domain registrar." These are businesses that Nominet allows to register and manage addresses for people. Nominet also helps solve problems if people disagree about who owns a .uk internet address. They offer a free mediation service to help sort things out.

History of UK Internet Addresses

Most countries have their own special internet address ending, called a top-level domain (TLD). The .uk ending was first used in 1985. Back then, a volunteer group called the "Naming Committee" handled all the registrations.

This group was made up of members from big UK internet companies. As more and more people started using the internet in the mid-1990s, the demand for internet addresses grew very fast. The old rules said that a company's internet address had to exactly match its name, and each company could only have one address. These rules quickly became a problem.

The Naming Committee couldn't handle all the new requests. It became clear that a new organization was needed to manage the .uk internet addresses.

Forming Nominet UK

People discussed what kind of new organization should take over. Dr. Willie Black and John Carey from UKERNA worked on a plan for a new group called Nominet. A meeting was held in April 1996 to talk about the future.

They decided not to set up a company that made profits or a charity. Instead, Nominet was created on May 14, 1996. It became a private, not-for-profit company where members had a say. Dr. Black became the first leader of the new company.

Old Internet Addresses

From when Nominet started on July 1, 1996, until 2002, internet addresses registered before Nominet were free. In 2002, Nominet began to charge for these older addresses and moved them to their standard rules. You can tell if an address is one of these older ones if its registration date is before August 1996.

Changes in 2021

In early 2021, over 140 Nominet members asked for a special meeting. They wanted to vote on removing five directors from the board. They also wanted to appoint new directors, including Sir Michael Lyons, who used to be the Chairman of the BBC.

Nominet members list, printed out on 575 individual sheets of paper, instead of being supplied electronically under the Companies Act 2006

The company secretary, Rory Kelly, sent the list of members on 575 sheets of paper instead of electronically. As a result, the company that asked for the list arranged for 575 trees to be planted.

The special meeting happened on March 22, 2021. The members voted, and the five directors were removed from the board. Two of them, Eleanor Bradley and Ben Hill, stayed in their other jobs at Nominet.

How Members Voted

Before the vote, Nominet said they would not tell members how many votes each person had until after the results were out. This information was later released.

Some big internet companies publicly shared how they planned to vote:

• For removing directors: Tucows, Namecheap, LINX, and Krystal Hosting.
• Against removing directors: Blacknight.
• Abstained (did not vote): Google.

Vote Results

At the meeting on March 22, 2021, the vote to remove the five directors passed. About 53.5% of the votes were for removing them, and 47.26% were against.

Some of Nominet's original founders said they would support the new directors. Later in 2021, new directors were elected to the board. Paul Fletcher was announced as the new CEO of Nominet, starting in February 2022.

Nominet in 2022

Paul Fletcher officially became the new CEO of Nominet in February 2022. He quickly met with Nominet members.

In March 2022, Nominet announced that it would stop allowing new internet address registrations from companies in Russia. This was a big step, as Nominet had always been neutral before.

Other Activities

Nominet also helps with cyber security. Since 2016, they have been working with the National Cyber Security Centre to protect the UK government's internet traffic.

In 2020, Nominet invested £4 million into its services and bought a cyber security company from the US called CyGlass.

Internet Address Management

Nominet manages the main internet address endings (top-level domains) for the UK:

• .uk – The main internet address for the United Kingdom.
• .cymru – An internet address for Wales.
• .wales – Another internet address for Wales.

Specific UK Internet Addresses Nominet Manages

Nominet also manages these specific types of internet addresses:

• .co.uk – Used for businesses.
• .org.uk – Used for groups that don't make a profit.
• .net.uk – Only for UK internet service providers.
• .ltd.uk – Only for UK limited companies; the address must match the company's registered name.
• .plc.uk – Only for UK public limited companies; the address must match the company's registered name.
• .sch.uk – Only for primary and secondary schools.
• .me.uk – For personal use.

Other UK Internet Addresses

Some other internet addresses in the UK are managed by different organizations:

• .mod.uk – Managed by the Ministry of Defence.
• .mil.uk – Also managed by the Ministry of Defence.

Special Internet Addresses

Some internet addresses look like they are specific types of addresses, but they are actually registered as main internet addresses with Nominet:

• .gov.uk was used for UK government groups. Now, gov.uk is its own main internet address.
• .ac.uk is often used for UK schools and research places. However, ac.uk is actually a main internet address registered to JANET.

See also

• .uk (ccTLD)
• .io (TLD)
• Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy
• Apple Inc. litigation § itunes.co.uk – Nominet's decision in a dispute over the itunes.co.uk address.
• Internet Provider Security