ADR - Alternative Dispute Resolution. A uniform procedure for resolving disputes concerning domain names. ADR web site

ARIN - American Registry for Internet Numbers. ARIN web site

ARPA or DARPA - (Defense) Advanced Research Projects Agency. ARPA is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense. (D)ARPA web site

CENTR - Council of European National Top level domain Registries. CENTR web site

CORE - Internet Council of Registrars. A non-profit membership association of Internet domain name registrars. CORE web site

DNS - Domain Name System. The distributed database that translates a domain name into an IP address. For example, www.cdt.org translates to 166.84.59.9

DOC - United States Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce promotes job creation, economic growth, sustainable development and improved living standards for all Americans by working in partnership with business, universities, communities and workers. DOC web site

Domain Name - A name that is tied to an IP address.

gTLD - generic Top Level Domain.

gTLD-MoU - Generic Top Level Domain Memorandum of Understanding. The international governance framework in which policies for the administration and enhancement of the Internet's global Domain Name System (DNS) are developed and deployed.. gTLD-MoU web site

IAB - Internet Architecture Board. The Internet Architecture Board is a technical advisory group of the Internet Society. IAB web site

IAHC - The Internet International Ad Hoc Committee. One of the original groups proposed to deal with certain DNS management issues, dissolved May 1, 1997. IAHC web site

IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. An organization dedicated to preserving the central coordinating functions of the global Internet for the public good. IANA web site

ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is the non-profit corporation that was formed to assume responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions now performed under U.S. Government contract by IANA and other entities. ICANN web site

IETF - Internet Engineering Task Force. IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet IETF web site

InterNIC - A collaborative project between AT&T and Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) supported by the National Science Foundation. Internic web site

IP - Internet Protocol - The format for allowing communication between different devices on the Internet.

ISOC - Internet Society. Provides leadership in addressing issues that confront the future of the Internet, and is the organization home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). ISOC web site

ITU - International Telecommunication Union. United Nations organization to allow negotiations of international telecommunications. ITU web site

MoU - Memorandum of Understanding. A document which, if meeting the other criteria, can be, in law, a contract. Generally, in the world of commerce or international negotiations, a MOU is considered to be a preliminary document; not a comprehensive agreement between two parties but rather an interim or partial agreement on some elements, in some cases a mere agreement in principle, on which there has been accord. Most MOU's imply that something more is eventually expected. .

NSI - Network Solutions, Inc. The government contractor that was asked by the Department of Commerce in 1993 to coordinate the distribution and management of domain names. NSI web site

NTIA - U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. NTIA is the Executive Branch's principal voice on domestic and international telecommunications and information technology issues. NTIA web site

Registrar - A company which acts as an interface between domain-name holders and the registry, providing registration and value-added services

Registry - An entity responsible for maintaining a TLD's zone files, which contain the name of each SLD in that TLD, as well as the location of each SLD's supporting zone name server.

SLD - Second Level Domain - Refers to the tier of names below ".com", ".org", ".uk", and other Top Level Domains. For example, "cdt.org" is a Second Level Domain within the Top Level Domain ".org". Similar SLD's in different TLD's don't necessarily have any relationship -- "cdt.org" and "cdt.com" are different names, administered by different organizations.

TLD - Top Level Domain - Refers to the final portion of a domain name, and to the highest level of the domain name hierarchy. The Top Level Domains include namespaces such as ".com", ".org", ".uk", and other well-known categories.

Whois - A database query system that provides technical contact information and other details about a domain nameholder.

WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO is a United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. WIP was asked by the Department of Commerce to provide recommendations to ICANN about domain name trademark dispute resolution.WIPO web site