.gq
Introduced10 July 1997
TLD typeCountry code top-level domain
StatusActive
RegistryGETESA
SponsorGETESA
Intended useEntities connected with  Equatorial Guinea
Actual useSees rare use, mostly not in Equatorial Guinea.
Registration restrictionsFree domains available with some restrictions; paid registrations for legal ownership have no activity requirement
DocumentsRegistration Agreement (free domains)
Registration Agreement (paid domains)
Dispute policiesUDRP (paid domains only)
Registry websitewww.dominio.gq

.gq is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Equatorial Guinea. Freenom relaunched the TLD on October 1, 2014, and domains became available for free on January 1, 2015.[1][2]

The .gq registry allows the creation of emoji domain names.

History

The .gq domain was launched in July 1997 by GETESA, the nation's prominent internet service provider.[3]

In October 2014, domain company Freenom partnered with GETESA to try a business model which involved giving away .gq domain names for free. Before the public launch, there was a sunrise period to allow trademark holders to register their names. Public domain registration commenced on January 1, 2015.[4]

Abuse

Due to the lack of cost required to obtain a .gq domain, the TLD has been prone to usage for spam, phishing and other malicious purposes. A study conducted by internet security company Symantec found that 92% of the top 50 .gq websites were being used for "shady" purposes. Out of all of the websites on a .gq domain that were surveyed by Symantec, a whole 98.94% were being used for malicious purposes.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "FREENOM RELAUNCHES THE NATIONAL TOP LEVEL DOMAIN OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA" (PDF). October 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ "REGISTRATION OF A DOMAIN". December 11, 2014.
  3. ↑ "IANA — .gq Domain Delegation Data". www.iana.org. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  4. ↑ Freenom. "Freenom Relaunches The National Top Level Domain Of Equatorial Guinea". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  5. ↑ "Shady TLDs: .GQ Not Looking So Dapper". Symantec Security Response. Retrieved 2018-11-15.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.