Anyone can register a .so domain without any particular restrictions; it can be between three and 63 characters long. The use of special characters according to the Punycode procedure is not possible.
history
The top-level domain .so was initially administered by a company from Pennsylvania , as administration within the country was impossible due to the ongoing Somali civil war . After this company went bankrupt, the .so domain was practically unused. On the side of the registration authority there was a notice that the domain is not in use due to the ongoing civil war and that no registrations will be accepted. In 2009 the administration of the domain was finally handed over to the Somali interim government, since April 1, 2011, the registrations for the public with the .SO registry are possible.
It has been criticized for years that the registry, compared to other organizations, has not issued clear guidelines for arbitration in disputes about a specific domain. When assigning .so addresses, the first-come, first-served rule applies without exception , even for owners of a registered trademark .
