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Information for Domain Name Registrants

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A domain name registrant is an individual or entity who registers a domain name. Upon registration of a domain name, a registrant enters into a contract with a registrar. The contract describes the terms under which the registrar agrees to register and maintain the requested name. After registration, registrants manage their domain name settings through their registrar. To modify a setting, a registrant submits the changes to the registrar, and the registrar sends the change to the registry. As a domain name registrant, you have certain rights and responsibilities. Your rights include access to information from your registrar regarding processes for registering, managing, transferring, renewing, and restoring your domain name registration.

(Click Here) Info-graphic for domain name holders: Important Tips to Help Keep Your Domain Name Secure

(Click Here) Sign-up to take the free online ICANN Learn course "Registrant Basics: Essentials for Domain Name Holders"

(Click Here) Complete Blog Series: Do you have a domain name? Here's what you need to know.

(Click Here) Issues and Challenges Impacting Domain Name Registrants Report Series

(Click Here) '5 Things Every Domain Name Registrant Should Know About' Information Series

(Click Here) Domain Name Registration Data Policies and Related Requirements

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News and Updates

NPOC Launches Webinar Series "DNS Operational Concerns"

New Resources Available to Domain Name Holders (Registrants)

Registrant Program Update: New Report on Registrant Issues and Challenges & ICANN Learn Course for Registrants

Registrant FAQs

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Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."