.tk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Introduced | 1997 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | Dot TK (run by Taloha, Inc.) |
| Sponsor | Government of Tokelau; Teletok; Vixie NZ Ltd (caretaker) |
| Intended use | Entities connected with Tokelau |
| Actual use | A wide variety of uses, generally not related to Tokelau; free domains available (with DNS hosted by registry) or paid registrations which can be hosted elsewhere |
| Registration restrictions | None |
| Structure | Registrations are taken directly at the second level; free domains are redirected to actual website addresses within frame |
| Documents | Policies |
| Dispute policies | Dispute Resolution Policy |
| Website | Dot.TK |
.tk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand located in the South Pacific.
Tokelau provides any interested individuals .tk domain names free of charge, but forces the placement of advertising banners on all provided domains. These free domains are pointed to Tokelau nameservers, which redirect HTTP traffic via HTML frames to a specified web page. The domains also redirect five email addresses to external addresses. Because of this redirection, use of free .tk domains for other services (such as hosting servers for other protocols such as FTP and IRC or creating hostnames and subdomains within them) is not officially possible. Sites not visited at least 25 times in consecutive 90 day periods are automatically cancelled to avoid the domains being unavailable to more active websites.
Dot-TK recently provided .tk websites the option to join a network called TiKinet, a close-knit network that links sites to each other based on key words called TiKilinks. The network is expected to increase traffic to the websites, many of which are personal sites and blogs operated by individuals who otherwise would have no way to advertise their sites. [1]
To be able to use one's own nameservers, or get a "special" .tk domain name, for example, trademark domain names for most Fortune 500 companies, and to avoid advertisements, the user must buy it. Paid domain names start at $6.95 US per year.
Potentially valuable names with less than 4 characters are unavailable for free registration, and must be purchased - usually at a premium price of over $1000 USD.
Internet service provider Road Runner on Time Warner Cable, continues to block sites with the .tk domain with some exceptions including dot.tk, google.tk and tcl.tk. It is unknown what the process is for determining which sites are blocked.
[edit] Controversy
Despite Dot TK stating on their website that the "optional advertisement on your website [...] can be easily removed FOR FREE" many users of Dot TK are unable to remove the advertisements. Removing them is not free of charge but through a "premium rate (paid) SMS" service - paying to remove the ad. Dot.tk currently offers an ambassador program, in which users put a link on their website that offers the services of Dot.tk. For every person a user refers, he/she will get one "fish". Fish can then be traded in for various items, including a Dot.tk paid domain. Originally, a pop up ad was available as an option to DotTK users, but if a pop up blocker was detected, a forced intro page would display. Now, DotTK does not have the pop-up/intro page option for free domains, and all free domains must have a DotTK banner at the top of the website. In addition to these advertisements, Dot TK may sometimes display their registration page instead of the registered website, making the user's site inaccessible. As the server tries to guess your location from your IP address, you may live in a country completely different from the IP reverse-resolve - unfortunately this means the page will be displayed in a different language.
Previously, every access to a free site first would show an advertisement before the redirect to the registered site took place - unless the site manager disabled it in the Linker-Promo section of 'My Dot Tk', you couldn't have more than three free domain names.
There are reports that .tk domains have been used for phishing scams and spam.[2]
Moreover, the Dot.tk 'free forwarding service' is also widely used by spammers and scammers on free advertising services such as Gumtree.[citation needed] Despite numerous attempts to contact the 'dot.tk' abuse team, the service is still permitting unscrupulous users to set up forwarding addresses which enable them to mask their real domain name / url and redirect innocent victims to sometimes illegal / fraudulent web sites.[citation needed]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Divya Narain, "Dot TK Websites Now Interlinked to One Another", TMCnet, December 19, 2007. http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/enterprise/articles/16886-dot-tk-websites-now-interlinked-one-another.htm
- ^ Field, Michael (2007-03-16). Pacific atolls host world's most dangerous websites. The Age. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
