Neustar is an ICANN accredited Registry who is the Administrator of the .us TLD space for the Department of Commerce. The .US top-level domain (usTLD) was established in 1985 as the official country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. The expanded second-level .US domain launched on April 24, 2002, enabling companies, nonprofits, government entities and individuals to establish unique, memorable American addresses online. The existing .US structure is a locality-based hierarchy modeled on the geography of the United States. Most usTLD branches in the locality space are overseen by delegated managers (also known as "delegees" or "locality delegees"). This existing hierarchical design provides structure, name uniqueness and a geographic reference point for registrants. NeuStar maintains and enhances this locality-based structure even as it administers the expanded second-level .US domain.

How do I reach someone at NeuStar for Questions or Support?

You can reach Neustar Registry Customer Support Team at:

Customer Support
support.us@neustar.us
1 (888) 415-0365
Outside the U.S. 571-434-5728

How do I remove US Locality names?

Only the Registry can remove a us locality domain name from the data base. If you control a locality name which needs to be removed, please contact customer support for assistance.

What do I do to transfer a US Locality name to someone else?

Transferring US Locality domain name within the us locality space is a Registry function. We can facilitate your transfer requirements if you will contact Customer Support.

What does this service cost?

US Locality domain name are provided under a grand father clause of the Registry. There is no charge for US Locality domains by the Registry.

What can I do with the DM Tool?

The DM Tool allows an authorized delegated manager to change, correct or update contact information for domain names they manage. The manager can also change or establish name server information.

Where can I find a step by step process for using the DM Tool?

How do I modify a domain name record?

What do the Nexus Codes describe in the DM Tool?

The Nexus codes are used to determine the Registrant’s acceptability to be using a US TLD domain. The registrant must meet one of the following criteria. These entries are tested periodically. If the registrant is found to be in violation of the Nexus regulations the domain will be taken from them.

C11: United States citizen

C12: Permanent resident of the United States of America, or any of its insular areas

C21: A U.S.-based organization or company formed within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States insular areas, or organized or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia or any of its insular areas, a U.S. federal, state, or local government entity or a political subdivision thereof.

C31: A foreign entity or organization that has a bona fide presence in the United States of America or any of its insular areas who regularly engages in lawful activities (e.g., sales of goods or services or other business, commercial or non-commercial, including not-for-profit relations in the United States).

C32: Entity has an office or other facility in the United States

What are Domain Name Application Purpose Codes?

Domain Name Application Purpose Codes indicate the reason for which a .US domain name was registered. Below is a list of the acceptable Domain Name Application Purpose Codes with their corresponding definitions:

P1= Business use for profit.
P2= Non-profit business, club, association, religious organization, etc.
P3= Personal Use
P4= Education Purpose
P5= Government Purposes

Why did Neustar decide to use i-names?

Neustar uses XRI and i-names because it is built from the ground up to be a user-centric identifier. User-centric means that you the user are in charge vs. a web site or service vendor.

Each i-name contains a rich set of meta-data that describe “services” that are used by that i-name. This meta-data is described in a standardized XML document called an XRI Resource Description Service (XRDS). An XRDS document can contain any number of services that provide ‘function’ to the i-name. The community i-name that we have provided to you contains up to two services initially. It contains an authentication and/or an authorization service end point. In the future we plan on allowing you to add your own service end points.

Service end points allow for your services to be federated and distributed to any number of service providers. For instance authentication in a federated model splits the user id from the password. In traditional web sites the user id and password are stored locally. In this model the delegated manager web site only knows your user id. Your password is stored at an identity provider. In most cases, you can choose your identity provider, provided they are trusted party to the Neustar site. Currently, in the @dotus community, we are only accepting the Neustar identity service. In the future, you may be able to use different identity providers.

Privacy is another important concept, with XRI services. The intent is that important identifier information such as SSN, Credit Card numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, etc are intended to be hidden behind services that use strong authentication models before sharing them. This is an important privacy concept that was introduced with XRI.

What is an authentication service end point?

An authentication service end point is a special service block within the XRDS XML document that tells a web site, such as the delegated manager tool, who to use to authenticate the user who is attempting to log in. There are primarily two types of authentication service end points. Open ID which is a light weight protocol that has gained in popularity due in large part to its ease of use. A second much more security conscious protocol is SAML. We are currently supporting Open ID in a very constrained way. We currently only support the Neustar identity services IDP.

What is an authorization service endpoint?

The authorization service endpoint is the service that we use to authorize you to use certain resources within the @dotus community. For example, to use the directory service you have to own the domain you want to have listed but to use a the future forum you just have to be a US TLD registrant.

Why doesn’t Neustar allow other Open ID providers?

We currently only support Neustar identity services simply to insure tightly controlled security. We will only accept additional identity providers when there is a clear way to establish trust. The trust model is extremely important because if we cannot trust the identity provider we cannot trust the user who is logging in. Protection of the domain names you have registered with in the delegated manager tool are of the utmost criticality.

Why does the login screen look unusual?

Since i-name based single sign-on uses a federated model the user id is entered here at the delegated manager while your password is entered at your identity provider.

Can I use my i-name at other web sites?

Yes. You may use your id to login at any website that accepts Open ID authentication. Simply prefix your id with @dotus*. If you would like to test it out try logging in at the i-names developer’s portal at http://dev.inames.net.

What is @dotus?

@dotus is the community space we have created for .US registrants.

What is Neustar identity services?

Neustar Identity services is a Neustar run identity provider (IDP). The IDP is a site that manages your credentials (user id and password).

What does this service cost?

I-names in the @dotus community are included in the service we offer.

What other tools make up the @dotus community?

Delegated Manager Tool: Is used to make it easier for managers of .US locality domain names .
Kids.us: This site is dedicated to supporting .kids names.
Zipcode.us: Is were you can find interesting details related to the Zip code.
Directory Listings: All .US registrants can get there names listed in a directory under zipcode.us
Forum: A place to read what is new at the US TLD
Blog: Here you are given the opportunity to express yourself about the US TLD.