.hm
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| Introduced | 1997 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active* |
| Registry | HM Domain Registry |
| Sponsor | HM Domain Registry |
| Intended use | Entities associated with  Heard Island and McDonald Islands |
| Actual use | Gets some use, none of it related to Heard and McDonald Islands |
| Registry website | HM Domain Registry |
.hm is an Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD). Ostensibly, the domain is reserved for the Heard and McDonald Islands, uninhabited islands in the southern Indian Ocean that are under the sovereign control of Australia; Australia instead uses an .aq domain for its sites related to Heard and McDonald Islands.
History[edit]
The .hm registry was added in July 1997 by Edward Sweeney and its registration system accessible on registry.hm.[1]
By 2019, the .hm registration stopped working and .hm websites started to go dark. Journalists leading the investigation said acquaintances in the industry had not seen Edward Sweeney, still in charge of the .hm registry, since 2000. In this case, since country-code registries exist entirely autonomously like nation states, the ICANN wouldn't have had the right to change the .hm registry. Since no government represent the Heard and McDonald Islands, no legal entity could have legally claimed ownership of the .hm registry. After the affair broke out, Edward Sweeney resurfaced, saying he was still running the .hm registry and had ran into technical issues.[1]
Registration is directly at the second level and is managed by the HM Domain Registry; any entity can register a .hm domain.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Kieren McCarthy (6 February 2019). "Things that make you go .hm... Has a piece of the internet just sunk into the ocean? It appears so". Theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
External links[edit]
- IANA .hm whois information
- .hm domain registration website
- Official Australia government site about Heard & Mcdonald Islands, heardisland.aq
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