Gwybodaeth Bellach

Y corff sy'n cyfnewid rhifau Rhyngrwyd am enwau yw ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number), http://www.icann.org/. Yn flaenorol roedd IANA (The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), http://www.iana.org yn delio gyda hyn. Mae ICANN yn defnyddio y ol-ddodiaid gwlad dwy lythyren sydd wedi eu diffinio yn ISO3166. Pwyswch ar y ddolen ganlynol ar gyfer 'Trefn sefydlu ccTLDs' IANA.

Mae ISO3166 fodd bynnag yn ôl ddyddio'r Rhyngrwyd ac yn cael ei ddefnyddio mewn amrywiaeth o gyd-destunau arwahan i barthau gwlad y Rhyngrwyd.

Nid yw annibyniaeth yn hanfodol i wlad gael parth.

"Cynrychiola'r codau - enwau gwledydd, ardaloedd dibynnol, yn ogystal ag ardaloedd eraill o ddiddordeb sy'n ymwneud â chyfnewidiaeth rhyngwladol, heb ddynodi unrhyw dybiaeth neu barn ynglyn â statws cyfreithlon gwlad neu diriogaeth neu ei awdurdodau, neu ynghylch terfynau ei ffiniau"

Y mae'n bosib i unrhyw ardal o ddiddordeb gael parth gyda chefnogaeth y corff safonol berthnasol. Er enghraifft (.im) yw Ynys Manaw, (.je) yw Jersey a (.gg) yw Guernsey. Cafodd y rhain eu derbyn gan IANA (rhagflaenydd ICANN) yn 'ddamweiniol'. Mae IANA yn parhau:

"Y mae Jersey yn rhan o ISO 3166 arall sy'n diffinio codau sydd ar gadw. Cafodd holl godau'r UPU (Universal Postal Union) a oedd ar y rhestr yma eu caniatau i restr Parthau lefel uchaf. Cynghorwyd yn awr i ni beidio â defnyddio'r rhestr yma mwyach. Fodd bynnag, y mae'r holl dirprwyiaethau lefel uchaf o'r rhestr yn parhau."

Cynrychiolydd Prydain (ac felly Cymru) ar ISO yw Sefydliad Safonau Prydain neu BSI http://www.bsi-global.com

Y mae'n ymddangos nad oedd Llywodraeth Prydain yn fodlon iawn fod Jersey, Guernsey ac Ynys Manaw wedi derbyn statws llawn ISO3166. Dylai fod ymgynghori wedi digwydd gyda Llywodraeth Prydain, ac mae'n debygol y byddant wedi gwrthod symudiad o'r fath.

Erbyn hyn mae ICANN ond yn defnyddio codau safonol ISO 3166-1, er y mae codau sydd eisioes wedi eu penodi yn cael eu cadw. Nid yw uk (gwelir ar y rhan fwyaf o gyfeiriadau ebost y DU) yn ISO3166. Y côd perthnasol yw GB. Y mae'r rheswm dros cael GB fel côd gwlad yn y lle cyntaf yn lle UK yn cael ei esbonio yma.

Felly, ar hyn o bryd y mae 8 ccTLD yn cael eu defnyddio er nad ydynt yn codau dwy-lythyren ISO 3166-1, sef AC (Ynysoedd y Dyrchafael), GG (Guernsey), IM (Ynys Manaw), JE (Jersey), SU (Undeb Sofietaidd), TP (Dwyrain Timor), UK (Deyrnas Unedig) YU (Iwgoslafia).

Y mae sefyllfa'r DU oblegyd ISO3166 felly yn hollol ddi-drefn. Ni ddylai Jersey, Guernsey ac Ynys Manaw gael codau ond mae ganddynt, ac y mae'r D.U. wedi ei rhestri fel "GB", ond "UK" sy'n weladwy yn y DNS. Yn dilyn datganoli, y mae gan Gymru Cynulliad Genedlaethol, ac y mae gan yr Alban Senedd, ond nid oes ganddynt gofnod DNS; er fod gan ardaloedd megis Antartica a'r UE gofnod, yn ogystal ag ynysoedd pitw megis Pitcairn .pn (poblogaeth o 48).

Mae rhai o'r ynysoedd yma sy'n berchen ar gôd ISO 3166 a chofnod DNS eu hunain, yn diriogaethau dibynnol i Awstralia neu Seland Newydd. Mae Ynys Manaw ac ynysoedd y Culfor yn ddibynyddion y Goron yn hytrach na rhan o'r DU neu Brydain Fawr (Ond maent wedi eu cofnodi fel rhannau o Ynysoedd Prydain). Er y gwrthwynebiad gan Lywodraeth Prydain, dylsai'r rhain fod wedi derbyn côdau ISO 3166 ymhell yn ôl - mae ganddynt ddeddfwriaethau gwahanol, graddfeydd post gwahanol, ayb.

Mae'r ôl-ddodiad .co.uk hefyd wedi ei or-ddefnyddio - mae gormod o bobl yn ceisio am yr un enwau. Dyna pam y penderfynodd Nominet i sefydlu .plc.uk a .ltd.uk. Er yr ehangiad yma, mae uk.com yn cael ei ddefnyddio ar raddfa eang

Ac felly rydym yn dod at fater o be dylai'r parth lefel uchaf fod i Gymru (a'r Alban, Lloegr a Gogledd Iwerddon) Pwyswch ar y ddolen ganlynol i weld siart o'r côdau gwlad dwy lythyren (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes) sydd wedi eu clustnodi yn barod.

I Gymru rydym yn awgrymu .cw

Diolch yn fawr iawn i Craig Cockburn am adael i mi ddefnyddio'r wybodaeth oddi ar ei wefan!

   Further Information

The organisation which allocates Internet numbers to names is ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number), http://www.icann.org. The responsibility was previously handled by IANA (The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), http://www.iana.org. The two letter country suffixes that ICANN use are those defined in ISO3166. Press on the following link for IANA's 'Procedures for Establishing ccTLDs'

Incidentally, ISO3166 predates the Internet and is used in a wide variety of contexts besides Internet country domains.

Independence is not a prerequisite for getting a country domain.

"The codes represent the names of countries, dependencies and other areas of special interest for purposes of international exchange, without indicating expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its' authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its' frontiers."

Any area of "special interest" can get one with the support of the relevant standards body. For instance, the Isle of Man is (.im), Jersey is (.je) and Guernsey is (.gg). These ones slipped through to IANA (the forerunner of ICANN) by "mistake". IANA continues:

"Jersey is part of another ISO 3166 list which defines reserved codes. All UPU (Universal Postal Union) codes on this list we allowed into the top level domain list. We have now been advised to not use this reserved code list any further. However, all top level delegations from that list remain current."

Britain's (and hence Wales) representative on ISO is the British Standards Institute or BSI http://www.bsi-global.com

It appears that the UK government was not at all pleased about Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man being granted full ISO3166 status. The UK government should have been consulted and their subsequent stance indicates that they would have opposed such a move.

The codes ICANN now uses are exclusively those from the ISO 3166-1 standard, although codes previously allocated under previous rules are maintained. In particular, uk (seen on most UK e-mail addresses) is not in ISO3166, the appropriate country code in ISO3166 is GB. Why GB was the country code in the first place rather than UK is explained here.

At present, therefore, eight ccTLDs are currently in use despite not being ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes, namely AC (Ascension Island), GG (Guernsey), IM (Isle of Man), JE (Jersey), SU (Soviet Union), TP (East Timor), UK (United Kingdom) YU (Yugoslavia).

The situation in the UK as regards ISO3166 is rather a mess. Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man shouldn't have codes but do, and the UK's is listed as "GB", but "UK" is what appears in the DNS. Wales has it's own Assembly, and Scotland has its own parliament with devolution but they still do not have their own DNS entry, even though other areas such as Antartica and the EU do. So do many minor islands. Some of them are barely inhabited (Pitcairn .pn, population 48).

Some are now dependencies of Australia or New Zealand but still have their own ISO 3166 codes and DNS entries. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are Crown Dependencies rather than parts of the UK or Great Britain (but they are classed as part of the British Isles). Despite what Her Majesty's Government might say on the matter, they should have had ISO 3166 codes long ago - they have different legislation, have different postal rates, etc.

The .co.uk suffix is also oversubscribed - too many people chasing the same names. That's why Nominet introduced .plc.uk and .ltd.uk. Even the .plc.uk and .ltd.uk expansion has still resulted in uk.com becoming quite widely used.

Therefore we come to the matter of what the top level domain for Wales (and Scotland, England, Northern Ireland) might be! Click on the following link to see a chart of the two letter country codes (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes) already in use.

For Wales (Cymru) we suggest .cw

with the 'c' representing Cymru and the 'w' representing Wales. Here are some more ideas for the rest of the countries that are part of the British Isles:

A Special thanks to Craig Cockburn for allowing us to use the information on his excellent website SiliconGlen.com!

© Ymgyrch .cw Campaign