Technology News Briefs

Co-ops Can Now Register Community Names

WASHINGTON, D.C.-DotCoop, the registry sponsor of the .coop top-level domain (TLD) on the Internet, has introduced a program that permits cooperative organizations to register community names, such as france.coop, italy.coop, china.coop and brazil.coop, as well as generic sector names such as organic.coop, agriculture.coop, bank.coop and food.coop. The names will be awarded to eligible cooperative organizations based on competitive proposals, dotCoop said.

"The Community Names program offers the most valuable names in the domain to be used by all members of the cooperative community," said Paul Hazen, president and CEO of dotCoop. "Stewards of these names will be getting a special opportunity to showcase their cooperative communities that shows a significant difference between .coop and the rest of the Internet."

According to dotCoop, these online "communities" will allow cooperatives to be identified through location such as region, country and continent, as well as by industry and interest sectors. Regional, national, international and sector- specific co-op organizations can serve as "stewards" for a .coop community under these generic names. Community sites will provide information about co-ops within that community, links to individual co-op sites, and other sector specific information. Stewards of community sites will develop the content and services for their site.

DotCoop is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Cooperative Business Association. For info: www.ncba.coop.