back to article UK.gov gives nod to .scot

While the Coalition government may oppose Scottish independence, it has nevertheless given the go-ahead to a Scottish move for independence on the internet. The UK government has reportedly granted Dot Scot Registry, a not-for-profit company, with approval to apply for .scot, a new internet top-level domain. The wannabe …

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  1. This Side Up

    Yes but...

    with four- or five letter domains they're not proper countries. Couldn't they find unused two-letter combinations?

    1. Robert E A Harvey
      Alien

      Re: Yes but...

      we are allowed any character set in urls now, so perhaps something in ogham?

      http://www.mockfont.com/old/ for fonts

      <- I wonder what fonts the Greys use?

    2. Anonymous John

      Re: Yes but...

      AA hasn't been taken, and Alba is Gaelic for "Scotland".

      Alba gu bràth!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        Re: Yes but...

        I wouldn't choose that name, you're likely to get visited by 1000 Scottish patriots and 1,000,000 horny guys looking for pictures of Jessica Alba taking a bath!

        Not that there is anything wrong with that.....

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's just a vanity .dot nothing more nothing less.

    4. /dev/null
      Boffin

      Re: Yes but...

      No. In ISO 3166-2, most of the 2-letter codes starting with S are already taken. AFAIK, only SF, SP, SQ, and SW are left. If you resorted to one based on "Ecosse", then EC and ES are taken. On the other hand, for the 1.2% of Scots who have the Gaelic, AB (for AlBa) is still available...

      1. frank ly
        Happy

        @ /dev/null Re: Yes but...

        SF = Scotland Forever!

      2. Anonymous John

        Re: Yes but...

        Also the 1.2% that can pronounce "Alba". I'm sure a much higher percentage knows the name by sight.

      3. Stuart Halliday
        Thumb Up

        Re: Yes but...

        So pay the money and buy .sc off the Seychelles?

        It's been done before. :)

    5. Danny 2

      Re: Yes but...

      "with four- or five letter domains they're not proper countries"

      Aye, right, says you Jimmy! It's just a convention to use ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes in the Domain Name System as country code top-level domains. It's not always followed which is why this is theregister.co.uk instead of theregister.co.gb - so Scotland can have a different alpha-2 code than it's ccTLD. Plus being the first independent nation with a four letter ccTLD would be a mark of distinction, innovation and modernity.

      When this story was first reported on the Scotsman the suggestion was .Sco, and I was the first person to point out that as four letter ccTLDs were available then Dot Scot made far more sense. Partly due to a dislike of Sco-Unix, but mostly because it rhymes and is more intuitive.

  2. Hardcastle the ancient
    Pint

    So now we need .England? .geordie? Perhaps .wessex , .danelaw, .pennine, .weald, .cotswold?

    and .softsouthernlagerdrinkingbastards or .chav?

    1. Robert E A Harvey
      Pint

      AIUI, the correct form would be .softsouthernlagerdrinkingjessies or .softsouthernlagerdrinkingpoofs

      1. Anomalous Cowturd
        Happy

        @Robert

        When I lived oop 't North, (though not that far north), I was known as plain old softysouthernpoof...

        I'm neither soft, nor poofy, and I was living with a rufty tufty northern bird at the time...

        I'm led to believe it's a term of affection. ;o)

        Happy days. Fscking cheap too!

  3. This Side Up

    .en is available for England, .ul for Northern Ireland (.ni is Nicaragua) and .wa for Wales. Buit it's difficult to find a suitable two letter code for Scotland and Cymru. Actually you could have .nb for Scotland but that would really annoy them!

    1. Hardcastle the ancient

      .im = Isle of Man ; .gg = Guernsey ; .je = Jersey

      1. Graham Bartlett

        Look forward to the LotR fan getting rohirr.im, or the metal fan going for fields-of-the-nephil.im...

        And of course there's the plain silly. Bagsy boingboingboin.gg!

        1. Pax681

          metal fan?

          The fields of the Nephilim were most DEFINITELY Goth.. not metal.

    2. Anonymous Coward 15

      We are the knights who say...

      UL!

    3. Seanmon
      Thumb Up

      .nb

      Not half as annoying as London meeja types referring to the likes of Birmingham as "the north".

      Actually North Britain was a perfectly legit Victorian term for Scotland. The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh was originally the North Britain hotel and the bar is still known as NBs

      1. John 110
        Flame

        Re: .nb

        "...North Britain was a perfectly legit ENGLISH Victorian term for Scotland..."

        There, fixed it for you...

        1. Ken 16 Silver badge
          Trollface

          Re: .nb

          Assuming you accept the act of Union 1707 as legitimate.

      2. This Side Up
        Headmaster

        Re: .nb

        I think you'll find that the Balmoral used to be the North British Hotel.

  4. twolegs
    Facepalm

    freedom

    So who will be first to register the TLD, .free and then the address 'scot.free' - England maybe after scottish independence?

    best leave the brief website 'a.scot' alone or maybe Her Majesty might send the corgis round!

    1. Christoph
      Coat

      Re: freedom

      "the address 'scot.free' - England maybe after scottish independence?"

      With all the other odd bits that will still be attached, it will be the Former United Kingdom

      1. Robert E A Harvey
        Unhappy

        it will be the Former United Kingdom

        so .fuk then?

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: it will be the Former United Kingdom

          By then we may just be another part or the EU, run by the Germans but in the language of diplomacy, ie French. The would make the Former UK just a European Department.

          .fuked.

      2. /dev/null

        Re: freedom

        With 92% of its previous population, and NI still part of it, there'll be nothing "former" about it.

        1. Robert E A Harvey

          Re: freedom (@/dev/null)

          Nor much "united" if past history is any guide.

        2. Pax681

          Re: freedom

          "With 92% of its previous population, and NI still part of it, there'll be nothing "former" about it"

          you don't know much about history do you?

          First there was the union of the Crowns by James 6th of Scotland/1st of England in 1603....

          THEN...what made the "United Kingdom" was the act of the union in 1707... the uniting oif Scotland and England.

          Wales being subsumed as a Principality of England already by then.

          with Scotland Independent then there will be no united kingdom.

          Northern Ireland has nothing to do with that at all.

          So when Scotland does become independent the UK will be no longer. this is plain, simple, logical and factual and, for that matter, about 300 years overdue.

          Saor Alba agus Alba gu Brath!

          1. /dev/null
            FAIL

            Re: freedom

            I see cybernats have even started invading El Reg...

            Actually, (according to some at least), the term "United Kingdom" only came into official use in 1801 with the union with Ireland and the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. See here for instance. Before that it was just "Great Britain" (or possibly "Kingdom of Great Britain").

            So, while there is still a part of Ireland united with (a part of) Britain, there is still an argument to call it the UK, and frankly it would be too much hassle to call it anything else.

  5. dogged
    Thumb Down

    They're not Celts.

  6. qwarty

    .scam

    Never mind .xxx and .scot, we need just one more top level domain for www.icann.scam and the other tricksters.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    We need .scot

    We need .scot, if for nothing more than:

    great.scot - a site for Dr. Brown fans

    mr.scot - with such subdomains as i.need.those.engines

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: We need .scot

      and twojagspre.scot

    2. Captain DaFt

      Re: We need .scot

      No, no, NO! Great.scot is the perfect domain for a Rocky Horror Picture Show fan site!

    3. CD001

      Re: We need .scot

      Have to admit - the first thing I thought was "I wonder if great.scot will be registered by Doc Emmett Brown"...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    .jk?

    For the jocks?

    1. Velv
      Trollface

      Re: .jk?

      I was think more .jk for jakies

      (Urban Dictionary)

  9. Andrew Duffin

    Hilarious.

    Advertise yourself as a parochial provincial with a chip on your shoulder - what could possibly go wrong?

    1. Ralph B
      Go

      What could go wrong?

      What could go right? You could sell a lot of shortbread, haggis, whisky and tartan to the USA.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: What could go wrong?

        "What could go right? You could sell a lot of shortbread, haggis, whisky and tartan to the USA."

        I thought the USA banned the import of haggis years ago?

        1. disgruntled yank

          Re: What could go wrong?

          My impression is that even the folk who go in for caber-tossing draw the line at haggis.

          Of course, most Americans of Scottish descent are from the Lowlands, since most Scots were and are--the pockets of highlander descent in the Carolinas are pretty tiny. This does not prevent enthusiasts from pulling on the plaids & playing the pipes their ancestors of colonial times would have abhorred.

          1. The Fuzzy Wotnot
            Facepalm

            Re: What could go wrong?

            People pulling out the kilts and tartans, despite most of that tourist type tat having been masterminded by Sir Walter Scott stirring up Scot's patriotism and an attempt way to stop a Scottish worker's revolution in the 19th century shortly before King George toured the Highlands!

        2. Pax681

          Re: What could go wrong?

          erm.. we also happen to be the biggest oil producing nation in Europe and thanks to a tony Blair cock up when he took 6000 square miles of Scottish territorial waters back in 1999 he accidentally gave Scotland al the mineral rights that would have been the "UK" rights to the antarctic..

          also upon independence we would be due 8.7% of all UK assets.. such as the mineral rights to the Falklands and all sorts.

          Try actually knowing your subject matter and stop making statements that even the tories/labour and fib dumbs won't even use any more.

          This crap that scotland would not be financially able to cope is just that.. crap.

          Scotland would actually be vastly better off, even now Scotland is in surplus but dragged down by UK debt and fiscal mis-management.

          this is fact... try googling stuff once and a while... you may even find some facts instead of opinion based on the guff that's been spouted at Scots for years to tell us the sky will/is fall/falling down

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who has the authority?

    How does this fit in the current devolved regime- what would have happened if the Scottish Parliament was OK with it but Westminster wasn't?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Who has the authority?

      Same thing that normally happens.

      The politicians make a lot of noise and get on telly.

      The lawyers make a lot of money arguing the point

      Nobody else gives a flying *************

  11. mark1978

    As others have said .scot isn't a proper country TLD,

    .ab (for Alba) is available.

    1. Tom 38

      That's OK, Scotland isn't a proper country.

      Yet.

      1. Pax681

        Actually Tom, under the Articles of the union.. yes it IS.

        Hence is distinct and separate legal system amongst other things.

        however it will regain it's sovereign status post independence

  12. Graham Bartlett

    Don't forget

    ma.scot

  13. b166er

    Whatever next?

    great.scot?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    .joke

    Nothing like a waste of money for a pointless vanity exercise

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just to really wind them up

    Uk.gov should have approved .scotch

  16. alan buxey
    Unhappy

    .scot domain is naff and crude

    they need to apply for a proper ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 2-letter country code.

    1. P. Lee
      Coat

      Re: .scot domain is naff and crude

      .gb ?

    2. RecQuery

      Re: .scot domain is naff and crude

      We can't really talk. The UK doesn't use it's official domain of .gb and because we have .uk that screws the Ukraine also.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Same old spin from the Master of Marketing

    .scot sounds great on paper, but in reality, despite the protestations of Scotnom Ltd, it is being exploited by Alex Salmond in his pitch for glory. Meanwhile we will have to stump up extra registrar fees to keep our trademarks safe.....again.

    Sad that so many will be taken in by more toxic marketing: next we will hear that we are somehow less Scottish if we do not operate under the .scot gTLD.

  18. Willie T
    Joke

    New porn domain?

    For posting revealing pictures of men in kilts? up.scot

    1. Robert E A Harvey

      argh!

      Brainbleach please.

  19. pctechxp

    .England

    I for one would like to see a .England domain as a proud Englishman.

    St George's Cross flag icon please along with flags for a Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

    1. Pax681

      Re: .England

      pctechxp well said sir!

      i am often bemused at English people rallying behind the union flag instead of the St Georges cross!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Time to start registering

    How long before new domains start appearing? drunken.scot, tight.scot glasgowsmile.scot maybe ?

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