The top-level domain .ee was introduced in 1992 and was operated byEENet until July 2010. The administrator of .ee domain was theacademicEndel Lippmaa.
There was a limit of one domain name per legal entity, and registrations of additional names to protect trademarks were specifically denied because "the domain name has no trademark status".
As domains under .ee were meant to be an institution's identification on the Internet (like the register code in the commercial register), registration of additional domains in the defense of a trademark or a name form is not possible.[5]
The new order of registration of .ee TLD became available on 5 July 2010.
Estonian Internet Foundation took over .ee ccTLD registry functions from EENet.
With the new domain rules, both private individuals and foreigners can register an unlimited number of domains directly under .ee.
Domain name registration is done on two levels, .ee domain registrants are serviced by authorizedregistrars. Also, payment of registry administration from the state budget was stopped and a fee was established for domain registration.
All existing domains registered before the transition had to be re-registered during a 6-month transition period which ended on 5 January 2011. Registration services can be done through accredited registrars listed on Estonian Internet Foundation website.
Domain disputes are handled by Domain Disputes Committee.
On June 13, 2011,[6] the registration of domains with the dotted letters õ, ä, ö, ü, š and žš, ž was enabled, which covered the entire Estonian alphabet under the .ee domain.
From March 1, 2013,[7] domains can also be registered for two or up to three years.
On July 18, 2013, the tasks of managing the .ee domain were handed over to EIS internationally. By the decision of the board of directors ofICANN, EIS was entered into the international database of top-level domains as the administrator or sponsoring organization of the .ee domain. With the status of a sponsoring organization, all administrative tasks related to the .ee domain in front of both the domestic and the international Internet community are concentrated in one institution.
On January 6, 2014,[8] EIS, in cooperation with accredited registrars, launched theDNSSEC service - a system of security keys that ensures that the user is directed to the web page whose address is entered in the web browser. For example, DNSSEC ensures that entering the web address of your online bank in the address bar of a web browser does not redirect the user to a similar-looking page set up by fraudsters to steal data and passwords.
The new order of domain registering in 2010 was met with great controversy.
The relaunch of the registry was at one point delayed to be reassessed.[11] When the relaunch was finalized, the annual fee for a .ee domain was announced to be 285 Estonian kroons (18.2 euros) plustax, which was met with wide criticism.[12]
A list of shortcomings was presented in a public notice to Estonian Internet Foundation byTõnu Samuel and Jaan Jänesmäe, mentioning that the .ee domain had become the most expensive TLD inEurope.[12] Their cause gained over 800 supporters on Facebook.[13]
TheNGO Estonian Internet Community was founded partly as a reaction to the controversial domain reform with 22 founding members.[13] Its board is made up ofTõnu Samuel, Elver Loho and Heiti Kender.
In 2010 it noted on its blog that several of its members had lost faith in the possibility of any sort of compromise and had independently written e-mails toIANA asking them to step in to resolve the controversy.[14]
Over the following years the annual fee has gradually dropped,[15] reaching 6 euros on 1 January 2017.[9]
