New York City

City Opens .NYC availability to all New York City residents and businesses

More than 10,000 New Yorkers have already claimed their own personalized .nyc web address

October 9, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is encouraging “everyone across the five boroughs to make .nyc their own.”
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The de Blasio administration has announced the public availability of the city’s top-level domain, .nyc, for all businesses, organizations and individuals with a physical address in New York City. New Yorkers can register their own personalized .nyc web addresses by visiting www.OwnIt.nyc and selecting an independent retailer of their choice. Domain names are available on a first come, first served basis. 

For the past several months, individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations had the opportunity to request .nyc domains during the Sunrise and Landrush periods. More than 10,000 New Yorkers — representing thousands of small businesses, organizations and dozens of business improvement districts and cultural institutions across the five boroughs — successfully secured their own .nyc domain during this early registration phase.  

During this same time period, the city launched Neighborhoods.nyc, an open application process for community groups to receive a premium neighborhood domain name like WestVillage.nyc, Flatbush.nyc or ForestHills.nyc. 

In recent weeks, the first group of .nyc websites went live, highlighted by the high-profile launch of Digital.nyc. The owners of these domain names, officially called “.nyc Founders,” represent a diverse group of New Yorkers — including First Lady Chirlane McCray, chair of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City; the Birdland Jazz Club; small businesses like the Bronx’s Il Forno Bakery; publications like Gay City News; and nonprofit organizations like the Coalition for Queens, among others. Additional information on .nyc Founders is available at http://www.ownit.nyc/whos-using-it.php.

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New York City is one of the first cities in the country to have its own web domain, and the only one to require a physical address in the city itself. The .nyc domain is part of the creation of a new class of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that will greatly expand the web’s domain name system.

“Whether you’re an artist, a manufacturer, or a tech start-up, with .NYC you can make your mark on the global economy as a New Yorker,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “I’m thrilled to see thousands of New Yorkers and small businesses have already signed up for this unique home on the web, and I encourage everyone across the five boroughs to make .nyc their own.”

Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen agreed. “To compete in the global economy, a strong web presence is no longer a luxury — it’s a must,” Glen said. “The .NYC domain gives individuals and businesses — thinkers and doers of our city — the ability to leverage the power of their location and market their brands to consumers.”

“The success of the Landrush registration period for .nyc web addresses showed us that New Yorkers believe in the value in owning a NYC-branded web address,” said Lisa Hook, president and CEO of Neustar, Inc., the official registry operator for .nyc. “We are excited to open up registration to the general public and see how New Yorkers will leverage their domains and ‘own’ their individual and professional NYC identities.”

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said, “The .nyc domain is an exciting opportunity that uniquely brands the digital landscape, a brand that I believe will help boost online traffic to local ventures. I encourage Brooklynites to take advantage of this application period to attain their own .nyc address.”

“I congratulate Mayor de Blasio on his foresightedness in launching the historic Internet domain of .nyc,” said State Senator Kevin Parker, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy, Telecommunications and Technology. “The beauty of New York City having the .nyc domain name is it leverages New York’s identity as a key center for technology and innovation, and provides tangible support to the entrepreneurial businesses we have all been trying to grow and promote in Silicon Alley and Brooklyn, and by making New York become an internationally known tech sector destination. In coming years, we will look back at this moment as the tipping point, where having a .nyc address became as much a symbol of success as having a physical address in our city’s incredibly successful business districts.”

For more information about .nyc and to register your own, visit OwnIt.nyc


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