Domain Name System

Jonathan Bruce Postel (August 6, 1943 – October 16, 1998) was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for being the Editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and for administering the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) until his death. In his lifetime he was known as the "god of the Internet" for his comprehensive influence on the medium.

Paul V. Mockapetris (born 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, US) is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer, who, together with Jon Postel, invented the Internet Domain Name System (DNS).

Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting) is the practice of registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name, with a bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services, and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names (identification strings) assigned to each of the associated entities. Most prominently, it translates readily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for locating and identifying computer services and devices with the underlying network protocols. The Domain Name System has been an essential component of the functionality of the Internet since 1985.

In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. Domain names are used in various networking contexts and for application-specific naming and addressing purposes. In general, a domain name identifies a network domain or an Internet Protocol (IP) resource, such as a personal computer used to access the Internet, or a server computer.

Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains and the .cc country-code top-level domains, and the back-end systems for the .jobs and .edu sponsored top-level domains.

Monika Ann-Mari (Anne-Marie) Eklund Löwinder (Amel), born 26 September 1957 in Stockholm, is a Swedish Internet expert.

Juan Diego Calle is a serial entrepreneur who is best known for being the Founder and formerly CEO of .CO Internet SAS, the company behind the .CO top-level domain extension. In 2014, .CO Internet SAS was acquired by Neustar Inc. for $109 million. Mr. Calle is also involved with several other startups, including POP.co (a platform to help entrepreneurs and businesses launch an integrated web presence), BoutiqueHotels.com (a hotel and travel booking platform), and Building.co (a shared office space for growth stage ventures). In 2001, Mr. Calle co-founded TeRespondo.com, a performance based advertising network in Latin America that was acquired by Yahoo, Inc. in 2005.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Doughney, 263 F.3d 359 (4th Cir. 2001), was an Internet domain trademark infringement decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The ruling became an early precedent on the nature of domain names as both trademarked intellectual property and free speech.

A domain name registrar is a company, person, or office that manages the reservation of Internet domain names.