.br
Introduced18 April 1989
TLD typeCountry code top-level domain (ccTLD)
StatusActive
RegistryRegistro.br
SponsorCGI.br
Intended useEntities connected with Brazil
Actual useVery popular in Brazil (largest Portuguese language Web presence)[1]
Registered domains5,226,129 (2023-08-28)[2]
Registration restrictionsVarying restrictions based on which second-level name registration is within. In all cases the registrant must have either a CPF or CNPJ, documents usually granted only to Brazilian residents or recognized companies
Structure
  • Registrations at third level beneath various categories (but .com.br is still much more popular than others);
  • Second-level registrations were allowed for institutions of higher education until 2000
DNSSECyes
Registry websiteregistro.br

.br is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Brazil. It was administered by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee until 2005 when it started being administered by Brazilian Network Information Center. A local contact is required for any registration. Registrations of domain names with Portuguese characters are also accepted.

With the exception of universities, the second-level domain is fixed and selected from a list that defines the category. For example, .art.br is in the art (music, folklore etc.) category, and .org.br is in the non-governmental organization category. Institutions of tertiary education were allowed to use the ccSLD .edu.br, although some use .com.br and others (mainly public universities) use .br. There are also some other few exceptions that were allowed to use the second level domain until the end of 2000. As of April 2010, most domain registrations ignore categories and register in the .com.br domain, which has over 90% of all registered domains. The .jus.br (Judiciary), and .b.br (banks) domains have mandatory DNSSEC use.

History

Created and delegated to Brazil in 1989[3] by Jon Postel,[4] initially the domain was operated manually by Registro.br and administered by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). Originally, only researchers and institutions to which they belonged had the interest and ability to adopt the new system and register domains under .br.

At the time, networks prevalent in the Brazilian academic setting were the BITNET ("Because It's Time NETwork"), the HEPnet ("High Energy Physics Network") and the UUCP ("Unix-to-Unix Copy Program"). As such, even before Brazil officially connected to the Internet in 1991, the .br domain was used to identify the machines participating in networks already in use by academics.

In 1995 the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (Portuguese: Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil, or simply CGI.br) was created with an objective to coordinate the allocation of Internet addresses (IPs) and the registration of .br domain names. There were 851 domains registered with the Brazilian DNS by the beginning of 1996, thereafter experiencing rapid growth with the mass arrival of companies, Internet providers and media onto the Internet. The registration system was automated in 1997 and was developed using open source software.

In 2005, CGI.br created its own executive arm, the Brazilian Network Information Center (Portuguese: Núcleo de Informação e Coordenação do Ponto BR, or simply NIC.br),[5] which currently serves in both administrative and operational capacity for the registry.

In 2017, accounts associated with DNS records of Brazilian banks were hacked. Kaspersky's researchers pointed out to a vulnerability in NIC.br's website and suggested its infrastructure had been compromised. NIC's director at the time, Frederico Neves, denied that NIC.br was "hacked", although NIC.br admitted the vulnerability.[6]

Domain registry

To register any domains under .br, it is necessary to enter into contact with Registro.br. Entities legally established in Brazil as a company ("pessoa jurídica") or a physical person ("profissional liberal" and "pessoas físicas") that has a contact within Brazil can register domains.[7] Foreign companies that have a power-of-attorney legally established in Brazil can also do it by following specific rules.

The registration of domains including non-ASCII Portuguese characters (à, á, â, ã, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú, ü and ç) is accepted since 2005.[8]

Syntactic rules for .br domains

  • Minimum of 2 and maximum of 26 characters, not including the category. For example, in the field XXXX.COM.BR, this limitation relates to the XXXX.
  • Valid characters are [A-Z, 0-9], the hyphen, and the following accented characters: à, á, â, ã, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú, ü, ç.[8]
  • Domains cannot contain only numbers.
  • To maintain the integrity of the registry, Registro.br sets up an equivalence mapping to compare domain names with and without accented characters. The mapping is done by converting accented characters and the cedilla for their non-accented versions and "c", respectively, and discards hyphens. A new domain will only be allowed to be registered when there is no equivalent to a pre-existing domain, or when the applicant is the same entity that owns the domain equivalent.
Specifically for the domain .NOM.BR, it is necessary to choose two names, i.e.: NAME1.NAME2.NOM.BR.

Usage statistics

The .BR TLD is the most common Portuguese language website suffix,[1] surpassing all other Portuguese-speaking countries' TLDs as well as .COM in popularity.

Usage of the .BR space, highlighting its five most registered second-level domains

  COM.BR (92.93%)
  NET.BR (1.48%)
  ORG.BR (1.00%)
  ADV.BR (0.89%)
  IND.BR (0.43%)
  Other (3.27%)

Data as of 28 August 2023.[2]

As of 28 August 2023, Registro.br's statistics page reported the following:[2]

  • 5,226,129 total domains registered under .BR;
  • 1,574,913 (30.14%) domains using DNSSEC.
Second-level domain breakdown per category (see § Predefined domains)
CategoryTotal domain countMost registeredLeast registered
Generic4,994,486 (95.57%)COM.BR (4,856,420, or 92.93% of the total)EMP.BR (843, or 0.02% of the total)
Legal persons112,175 (2.15%)ORG.BR (52,423, or 1.00% of the total)DEF.BR and TC.BR
(28 each, or 0.0005% of the total)
Professionals92,478 (1.77%)ADV.BR (46,574, or 0.89% of the total)ZLG.BR (8, or 0.0002% of the total)
Cities13,711 (0.26%)RIO.BR (2,618, or 0.05% of the total)SAOGONCA.BR (1, or 0.00002% of the total)
Natural persons8,594 (0.16%)BLOG.BR (6,519, or 0.12% of the total)FLOG.BR (105, or 0.002% of the total)
Universities4,685 (0.09%)EDU.BR (3,478, or 0.07% of the total)—

The "Universities" category only has a single predefined second-level domain, EDU.BR, but it also includes 1,207 (0.02% of the total) custom second-level domains registered directly under .BR – for example, the National Observatory at ON.BR.

Second-level domains

Direct registration

In 1991, it was decided that universities and research institutes would be allowed second-level .br domains directly. For example: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro got ufrj.br; University of São Paulo got usp.br; National Institute for Space Research got inpe.br; and so on.[9]

In late 2000, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee reported abuse in this system, and called for all institutions directly under .br to be moved to .edu.br – so, for example, ufrj.br would become ufrj.edu.br. During a meeting in early 2001, however, the Committee decided it would be of public interest to not move every second-level domain as to avoid confusion, but instead established rules regarding their registration:[10]

  • No longer accepting automatic registration of second-level domains, and evaluating every request for one individually;
  • Creating edu.br, and forwarding requests from education and research institutions to it;
  • Concession to education and research institutes that already had a second-level .br domain, as long as its usage is appropriate and that domain name is related to the institution's name or acronym. Domains approved are automatically duplicated under edu.br as well, and both may exist concurrently – for example, the still existing ufrj.br also has a registered ufrj.edu.br, although the latter is not used;
  • Other institutions not approved above must be migrated permanently to edu.br (but would be given sufficient time for the transition).

As of August 2023, Registro.br reports 1207 domains registered directly under .br.[2]

Predefined domains

As of August 2021, there are 140 different second-level domains of .br under which custom domains can be registered, and they are divided into six categories: "Generic", "Cities", "Universities", "Professionals", "Natural persons" and "Legal persons".[11] They are the following:

"Generic" second-level .br domains
Domain Intended use
APP.br Apps
ART.br Arts: music, painting, folklore
COM.br Commercial activities
DEV.br Developers and development platforms
ECO.br Eco- or environment focused activities
EMP.br Small and micro-enterprises
LOG.br Transport and logistics
NET.br Commercial activities
ONG.br Non-governmental organizations
SEG.br Security
TEC.br Technology
"Universities" second-level .br domains
Domain Intended use
EDU.br Higher education institutions
"Natural persons" second-level .br domains
Domain Intended use
BLOG.br Web logs
FLOG.br Photo logs
NOM.br Natural persons
VLOG.br Video logs
WIKI.br Wiki-like pages
"Legal persons" second-level .br domains
Unrestricted
Domain Intended use
AGR.br Agriculture- or farm-related companies
ESP.br Sport in general
ETC.br Companies that do not fit into other categories
FAR.br Pharmacies and drugstores
IMB.br Real estate agencies
IND.br Industries
INF.br Media and information (radios, newspapers, libraries, ...)
RADIO.br "Companies wishing to transmit audio through the network"
REC.br Recreational activities, games
SRV.br Work for hire
TMP.br Temporary events, such as fairs and expos
TUR.br Tourism-related companies
TV.br "Internet transmission of sounds and images"
Restricted
Domain Intended use
AM.br Radio companies
COOP.br Cooperatives
FM.br Radio companies
G12.br Primary or secondary schools (K–12 equivalent)
GOV.br Federal government institutions
MIL.br Brazilian Armed Forces
ORG.br Not-for-profit non-governmental organizations
PSI.br Internet service providers
DNSSEC required
Domain Intended use
B.br Banks
DEF.br Public defenders
JUS.br Judiciary institutions
LEG.br Legislative institutions
MP.br Public Ministry institutions
TC.br Tribunal de Contas da União
"Professionals" second-level .br domains
Domain Intended use
ADM.br Administrators
ADV.br Lawyers
ARQ.br Architecture
ATO.br Actors
BIB.br Librarians and library scientists
BIO.br Biologists
BMD.br Biomedical scientists
CIM.br Realtors
CNG.br Scenographers
CNT.br Accountants
COZ.br Gastronomists
DES.br Designers and illustrators
DET.br Detectives and private investigator
ECN.br Economists
ENF.br Nurses
ENG.br Engineers
ETI.br IT professionals
FND.br Speech–language pathologist
FOT.br Photographers
FST.br Physical therapistss
GEO.br Geologists
GGF.br Geography professionals
JOR.br Journalists
LEL.br Auctioneers
MAT.br Mathematicians and statisticians
MED.br Medical doctors
MUS.br Musicians
NOT.br Notaries
NTR.br Nutritionists
ODO.br Dentists
PPG.br Publicists and marketeers
PRO.br Teachers and professors
PSC.br Psychologists
QSL.br Amateur radio operators
REP.br Commercial representatives
SLG.br Sociologists
TAXI.br Taxi drivers
TEO.br Theologists
TRD.br Translators
VET.br Veterinarians
ZLG.br Zoologists
"Cities" second-level .br domains
Domain Intended use
9GUACU.br Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro
ABC.br ABC Region, São Paulo
AJU.br Aracaju, Sergipe
ANANI.br Ananindeua, Pará
APARECIDA.br Aparecida, São Paulo
BARUERI.br Barueri, São Paulo
BELEM.br Belém, Pará
BHZ.br Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais
BOAVISTA.br Boa Vista, Roraima
BSB.br Brasília, Federal District
CAMPINAGRANDE.br Campina Grande, Paraíba
CAMPINAS.br Campinas, São Paulo
CAXIAS.br Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro[12]
CONTAGEM.br Contagem, Minas Gerais
CUIABA.br Cuiabá, Mato Grosso
CURITIBA.br Curitiba, Paraná
FEIRA.br Feira de Santana, Bahia
FLORIPA.br Florianópolis, Santa Catarina
FORTAL.br Fortaleza, Ceará
FOZ.br Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná
GOIANIA.br Goiânia, Goiás
GRU.br Guarulhos, São Paulo
JAB.br Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Pernambuco
JAMPA.br João Pessoa, Paraíba
JDF.br Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais
JOINVILLE.br Joinville, Santa Catarina
LONDRINA.br Londrina, Paraná
MACAPA.br Macapá, Amapá
MACEIO.br Maceió, Alagoas
MANAUS.br Manaus, Amazonas
MARINGA.br Maringá, Paraná
MORENA.br Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul
NATAL.br Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
NITEROI.br Niterói, Rio de Janeiro
OSASCO.br Osasco, São Paulo
PALMAS.br Palmas, Tocantins
POA.br Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul
PVH.br Porto Velho, Rondônia
RECIFE.br Recife, Pernambuco
RIBEIRAO.br Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo[13]
RIO.br Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
RIOBRANCO.br Rio Branco, Acre
RIOPRETO.br São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo
SALVADOR.br Salvador, Bahia
SAMPA.br São Paulo, São Paulo
SANTAMARIA.br Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul
SANTOANDRE.br Santo André, São Paulo
SAOBERNARDO.br São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo
SAOGONCA.br São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro
SJC.br São José dos Campos, São Paulo
SLZ.br São Luís, Maranhão
SOROCABA.br Sorocaba, São Paulo
THE.br Teresina, Piauí
UDI.br Uberlândia, Minas Gerais
VIX.br Vitória, Espírito Santo

Special second-level domains

From 2000 until 2009, during election cycles, electoral candidates could register domains under CAN.br, with the format [name][number].can.br – where the name is the registered candidate name, and the number is the identification number for that candidate in the election (related to the party's identification number).[14][15] The second-level domain was in a category of its own, called "natural persons, special".[16]

As an example, during the 2004 elections for mayor of Aracaju:[17]

  • Marcelo Déda had the website deda13.can.br (his surname and Worker's Party's identification number, 13);
  • Susana Azevedo had the website susana23.can.br (her first name and Cidadania's identification number, 23);
  • Jorge Alberto had the website jorgealberto15.can.br (his name and MDB's identification number, 15).

Domains were free for registered candidates. Additionally, domains were automatically cancelled at the end of the first round if the candidate lost, and remaining ones were cancelled after the end of the second round.[14]

No new .can.br domains have been registered since 2009.[18]

Agencies

There are multiple agencies registered directly under .br, as second-level domains, that are not higher education or research institutions. The following list might not be exhaustive:

Agencies on second-level .br domains
Domain Domain meaning Description
CGI.brAcronym for "Comitê Gestor da Internet" (lit. 'Internet Administration Committee')The Committee establishes strategic directives related to the use and development of the internet in Brazil, directives for the registration of domain names, IP allocation and administration regarding the .br TLD
NIC.brAcronym for Network Information CenterCreated to implement decisions and projects of the Committee (CGI.br)
IX.br
PTT.br (old)		IX: Acronym for Internet eXchange
PTT: Acronym for "Ponto de Troca de Tráfego" (lit. 'Traffic Exchange Point')		Handles the internet exchange point system of Brazil
REGISTRO.brPortuguese for "registration".br registry
CETIC.brAcronym for "CEntro de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação" (lit. 'Center of Information and Communications Technology')Officially called "Centro Regional de Estudos para o Desenvolvimento da Sociedade da Informação", it monitors the adoption of information and communications technology in Brazil
CEPTRO.brAcronym for "Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas em Tecnologia de Redes e Operações" (lit. 'Center for Studies and Research in Network Technology and Operations')Responsible for initiatives and projects that support or perfect the internet infrastructure in Brazil
CERT.brAcronym for Computer Emergency Response TeamHas the mission to increase the security levels and incident handling capabilities regarding networks connected to Brazil's internet
CEWEB.brAcronym for "Centro de Estudos sobre Tecnologias Web" (lit. 'Center for Studies on Web Technologies')Has the mission to enable the participation of the Brazilian community in the global development of the web
W3C.brW3CBrazilian branch of the World Wide Web Consortium
NTP.brAcronym for Network Time ProtocolProvides the legal, standard time for Brazil
IPV6.brIPv6Promote and disseminate IPv6 usage in Brazil
ANTISPAM.brAnti-spamHas the mission to inform users and network administrators about spam, its implications and forms of protection and combat
INTERNETSEGURA.brPortuguese for "Safe Internet"Has the mission to incentivize the safe use of the internet
ZAPPIENS.brNamed after Portugal's now defunct Zappiens.pt, managed by the FCCNHas the mission to be a free service for the aggregation and distribution of audiovisual scientific, educational, artistic and cultural content in Portuguese

Most of these agencies are subsidiaries of CGI.br and, as such, they follow a similar corporate identity. The "logos" are combinations of the names of the agencies with the logo for .br, all of which are simply typed out with Brandon Schoech (Tepid Monkey)'s freeware font "Qhytsdakx":

Networks

There are multiple networks registered directly under .br, usually of academic nature. Again, this list may not be exhaustive:

Networks on second-level .br domains
Domain Domain meaning Description
RNP.br
RNP2.br		Acronym for "Rede Nacional de ensino e Pesquisa" (lit. 'National Network of Education and Research')An academic backbone of Brazilian internet
RCT-SC.brAcronym for "Rede Catarinense de Ciência e Tecnologia" (lit. 'Santa Catarina Network for Science and Technology')Academic network for the state of Santa Catarina
REDERIO.br"Rede Rio" (lit. 'Rio Network')Academic network for the state of Rio de Janeiro
REDNESP.br
ANSP.br (old)		Acronym for "Research and EDucation NEtwork at São Paulo"Academic network for the state of São Paulo
TCHE.br"Rede Tchê" (lit. 'Tchê Network'), named after the interjection common in the South of Brazil, tchêAcademic network for the South Region of Brazil

See also

References

  1. 1 2 As of 18 August 2021, Google showed 2.76 billion pages for site: .br, 351 million for site: .pt (Portugal) and 6.16 million for site: .ao (Angola). Portuguese pages in the .com domain were 2.19 billion.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Estatísticas". Registro.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). 28 August 2023. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  3. ↑ IANA - Informações sobre a delegação do .br
  4. ↑ NIC.br - CGI.br comemora os 20 anos do ".br"
  5. ↑ "Comunicado ao Público". CGI.br. 14 February 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Andy Greenberg (4 April 2017). "How Hackers Hijacked a Bank's Entire Online Operation". Wired. Kaspersky believes the attackers compromised NIC.br (...) Kaspersky points to a January blog post from NIC.br that admitted to a vulnerability in its website (...) [Frederico Neves] denied that NIC.br had been "hacked." But he conceded that accounts may have been altered
  7. ↑ "Why Choose a .BR Domain for Your Business in Brazil?". www.nominus.com.
  8. 1 2 Registro.br - Tips and Rules
  9. ↑ Getschko, Demi (1 April 2006). "Nomes de domínio na internet". Pesquisa sobre o uso das tecnologias da informação e da comunicação 2005 (in Brazilian Portuguese). São Paulo: CGI.br: 21–24. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  10. ↑ "Nota de Esclarecimento sobre utilização do DPN .edu". NIC.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  11. ↑ "Categorias de domínios .br" [Categories of .br domains]. Registro.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  12. ↑ "Duque de Caxias terá domínios 'caxias.br'" [Duque de Caxias will have 'caxias.br' domains]. NIC.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). 1 September 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  13. ↑ Santos, Leonardo (22 September 2017). "Ribeirão Preto ganha próprio domínio de internet" [Ribeirão Preto gets its own internet domain]. NIC.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  14. 1 2 Januário, Larissa (24 March 2008). "Eleições 2008: candidatos terão domínio can.br" [2008 Elections: candidates will have can.br domain]. NIC.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  15. ↑ "Ata da Reunião de 28 de fevereiro de 2002" (in Brazilian Portuguese). 28 February 2002. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  16. ↑ "Resolução CGI.br/RES/2008/008/P". CGI.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). 28 November 2008. Archived from the original on 21 April 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  17. ↑ Franciscato, Carlos Eduardo (11 September 2004). "Como a Internet está ajudando eleitores e candidatos". Infonet (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  18. ↑ "can.br - 31/12/1995 a 17/08/2021". Registro.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
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