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.es is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Spain. It is administered by the Network Information Center of Spain. Registrations are permitted at the second level or at the third level beneath various generic second level categories. Some qualifications and restrictions apply to third-level registrations depending on which second-level domain they are within. Second-level registrations have had some limitations including requiring registrants to have a connection with Spain, but these restrictions were lifted in a multi-stage process completed by the end of 2005, at which point registrations at the second level of .es were open to anybody worldwide. Due to the commonhood of English words ending in -es, the .es ccTLD has potential use in the creation of domain hacks.
Second-level domains There also exist a number of second-level domains: Alternatives Until the liberalization in November 2005, registering in .es was expensive and encumbered compared to other ccTLDs. The second-level word had to be either a trade mark valid in Spain, the exact name of the registering business or association or be the first name and at least the first surname of the registering individual. Common words and placenames were unregisterable. There was also a requirement of a minimum of three characters in the name, though some exceptions like hp.es (Hewlett-Packard Spain) and pp.es (People's Party) were allowed. As an alternative many Spanish organizations registered under .com, .org or .net. Because of issues of strong local identities, some organizations chose foreign domains that reminded of Spanish subdivisions like .as for Asturias or ajuntament.gi, for a time the site of the municipality of Girona though registered under the Gibraltarian ccTLD. The 2005 establishment by ICANN of .cat for sites related to the Catalan language and culture is expected to operate as an alternative or complement to .es. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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