The top-level domain (TLD) .bv refers to Bouvet Island’s domain on the internet. Bouvet Island is an uninhabited territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. Geographically, it is a dependent territory of Norway. In the context of internet domains, TLDs are the last section of a domain name, following the final dot, used to classify domains at the highest level in the DNS structure of the internet.
It is noteworthy to mention that although .bv is assigned to Bouvet Island, it is not open for registration. While the domain name is allocated, there are no registrations or use associated with it. This state of inactivity and non-registration can be attributed to the fact that Bouvet Island is uninhabitated.
Despite this, its digital real estate exists due to rules and principles established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN stipulates that each distinct region identified by ISO 3166-1 should have its own country code top-level domain (ccTLD). As per ISO 3166-1, Bouvet Island is listed separately with its own specific code, leading to its own ccTLD, which is .bv.
However, not all ccTLDs are used. For example, .eh is assigned to the Western Sahara even though it is currently disputed between Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Like .bv, the .eh domain is not in use. The reasons can vary between political issues to practical ones, like in the case of Bouvet Island where there is no local population or infrastructure.
It is worth mentioning a related TLD, .no, which is the Internet country code for Norway. Given that Bouvet Island is a dependent territory of Norway, it might initially make sense to associate the island with the .no TDL. However, due to ICANN and ISO 3166-1 guidelines, Bouvet Island still maintains its individual, albeit unused, .bv ccTLD.
Another point to note is that the non-use of .bv contrasts with other TLDs like .tv and .fm. Similarly assigned to the countries Tuvalu and the Federated States of Micronesia respectively, these have seen commercial use outside their assigned locales, due to their associations with television and radio.
The information provided above is primarily sourced from the official website of ICANN and ISO, as well as publications on digital domain organization from reputable internet governance and IT news sources.
Sources:
- Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
- ISO 3166-1
- ICANN Wiki
- World Intellectual Property Organization
- Internet Society
