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Brazil's Domain Kingdom: What's the story behind the .br domain name?
Since 1989, .br has served as Brazil’s official domain, witnessing the country’s continuous digital evolution. With the rapid growth of Brazil's Internet population, the story carried by this domain name and the efforts behind it also show the country's struggle in the field of Internet development.
From the initial academic institution to today's corporate website, the development history of .br is a story full of challenges and opportunities.
Internationally, .br is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Brazil, originally created by Jon Postel in 1989 and managed by Registro.br. Over time, the task was eventually handed over to the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br). As registration systems became automated, .br usage grew rapidly in the late 1990s and is now the sixth largest ccTLD in the world.
One of the main features of this domain is that it requires a local contact for registration, and since 2005 it has also accepted domain name registrations containing Portuguese characters, including various accented letters. If a Brazilian company or individual wishes to own a domain name, it only needs to follow a series of simple rules and ensure that the domain name is unique in the system.
“With the popularization of the Internet, we must ensure that the registration of each domain name is reasonable and meets the usage standards.” - Regarding the strict management of domain names, the relevant departments in Brazil said this.
According to Registro.br statistics, as of September 2024, the number of .br registrations has exceeded 5.38 million, of which approximately 30% use DNSSEC technology to enhance security. In addition, many subdomains of .br such as .edu.br and .org.br are used accordingly by educational and non-profit institutions, showing the diversity of this domain name and the cultural meaning behind it.
Although Brazil was officially connected to the Internet in 1991, .br's academic background existed on multiple networks before that time. Its first batch of registrations came mainly from academic research institutions, providing these institutions with an opportunity to identify their digital identities. With the expansion of corporate Internet business, the management organization of .br began to adjust, and in 2005, NIC.br, which was responsible for domain registration and information, was established.
In 2017, NIC.br experienced a security incident involving a hack of Brazilian bank DNS records. Although officials denied claims that the system had been "hacked," they still acknowledged the system's vulnerabilities, underscoring the importance of the ongoing pursuit and maintenance of network security.
“Risks may be hidden in every corner of the Internet. For a rapidly developing market like Brazil, this is a challenge that cannot be underestimated.”
In recent years, in addition to commercial use and academic research, .br domain names have also begun to appear in more diverse application scenarios, including public institutions, online communities, and technology industries. According to predictions, emerging industries such as online gambling will be able to operate under exclusive domain names in the future, showing Brazil's integration and innovation in the Internet industry.
With the increasing expansion of the international Internet, .br is not only the Internet logo of Brazil, but also an important witness to its cultural and economic development. This domain name represents not only a network address, but also a country's digital identity and progress. It makes us think: amidst the rapid changes in the digital age, how will Brazil's network domains develop in the future?
