New York City Set For First Geographic Domain Name In The USA

If you see a webpage with ".NYC" at the end of it in the future, you'll know good and well that the city itself approved. That is to say that New York City will indeed, once the domain name launches, be the first geographically-based group to have their own top-level address. And it's not just limited to government sites, mind you.

The city of New York has made clear their intent to open the address to businesses, organizations, and residents, with registration beginning in late 2013. At the moment it's not clear what prerequisites will need to be met before a "JoeSchmo.NYC" address will be handed out, but when we know, you'll know.

• NYC PRIDE – Proclaim to the world that you are a proud New Yorker or NYC-based business / organization.

• GET FOUND IN NYC – Finding a search result that is located in NYC can be challenging. Search engines often generate millions of results. Make your NYC business, organization or content easier for users to find.

• SHOW YOUR NYC CREATIVITY – NYC is home to some of the world's most creative people, museums, music, dance, entertainment, media and all of the arts. Use your .nyc address to express and share your creativity.

In the end it will be registrars who continue to hold sway over the domain name, with the city making clear this week that NYC "expects multiple Registrars to participate and for pricing to be competitive with the market prices for other top-level domains.

It should also be known that Neustar, Inc. currently operates the registry for groups like the Department of Commerce with .US as well as .BIZ working under a contract with ICANN and that New York City has chosen Neustar to provide services to .NYC. This set of services will include registry services and support for the public – soon!