# Why don’t US web addresses have to end in .us? (and other intl. Internet questions)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-us-web-addresses-have-to-end-in-us-and-other-intl-internet-questions/142092>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 11, 2002, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-us-web-addresses-have-to-end-in-us-and-other-intl-internet-questions/142092 "2002-12-11T21:04:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-us-web-addresses-have-to-end-in-us-and-other-intl-internet-questions/142092/21 "2002-12-12T07:14:59Z")

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What I want to know is how the U.S. Army was beaten to [www.army.com](http://www.army.com) .

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**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-us-web-addresses-have-to-end-in-us-and-other-intl-internet-questions/142092/22 "2002-12-12T07:23:09Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Cisco \*  
> \*\*You got a cite for that? I could just be crazy but it seems like I read somewhere a looong time ago that .com was short for _communications_ 😕 \*\*

[RFC1591](http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc1591.txt)

_COM - This domain is intended for commercial entities, that is  
companies._

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**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-us-web-addresses-have-to-end-in-us-and-other-intl-internet-questions/142092/23 "2002-12-12T11:32:26Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by friedo \*  
> \*\*The web is rather useless without a network to run it upon, **Tapioca**. 😃 \*\*

But that network would be pretty crappy without Packet Switching.

And what would be the point of the network without computers?

😃

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