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Today ICANN released a beta version Top-Level Domain (TLD) Verification Tool. This verification tool has been developed in response to problems reported by gTLD registries and end-users of the non-acceptance of some existing TLDs. These problems occur in some current applications because: 1) they do not recognize any TLD of more than three characters; or, 2) they rely on legacy information where only com/net/org and a handful of ccTLDs are recognized as valid.

Applications relying on such erroneous TLD criteria result in an inconsistent experience for users, detracting from the benefits of a single, global interoperable DNS. This TLD verification tool will provide a means for application developers and providers to incorporate current root-zone data into their applications, thereby fostering broad acceptance of all TLDs.

The verification tool is available for download at the following links and is released under an Open Source license:

- Universal Acceptance Toolkit (Beta 2, .tar.gz)
- Universal Acceptance Toolkit (Beta 2, .zip)

This code has been designed to either query top-level domain name validity using the DNS protocol, or to verify top-level domains against an official list maintained by IANA. The tool is being released as a library of functions available in Java, Perl and Python. Sample code has also been developed in C. Additional alternatives may be developed based upon demand.

ICANN will promote the availability of the verification tool via an education campaign directed to Internet Service Providers, website designers, software application developers and other members of the Internet community that are affected by this issue.

ICANN encourages testing and feedback on this beta version of the verification tool. Comments or questions about the tool may be submitted to verification-tool-comments@icann.org.

Comments may be viewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/verification-tool-comments/.