What is a .Pro domain name?
A .Pro domain name is the first and only restricted top-level domain
exclusively for professionals, approved and regulated by the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and operated
by RegistryPro. It is a bundled security offering of a profession-specific
domain name, (med.pro, law.pro or cpa.pro) along with a professional
verification and professional level digital certificate to enable
secure email communications.
Why do I need a .Pro domain name?
Professionals who have a heightened security and privacy obligation
will benefit from the easy to implement and use .Pro domain name
and professional level certificate. Professionals in the legal,
medical and accounting fields have an obligation to keep client
records, communications and personal information secure and private.
With .Pro, emails can be digitally signed and encrypted which
enable privacy.
How does .Pro works?
A .Pro domain name is issued to professionals who self-certify
that they meet the eligibility requirements and pass a verification
process. Once they pass, they are issued a digital certificate
which can be downloaded to your computer for use in digitally
signing and encrypting email communications. A professional level
digital certificate provides the following levels of digital trust:
Authentication - provides proof of a digital identity Confidentiality
- maintains privacy and confidentiality of content Integrity -
ensures the content has not been changed or altered Non-repudiation
- provides proof that the communication was sent.
Who can register a .Pro domain name?
At this time, only members of the medical, legal and accounting
professions will be eligible to register for .Pro domains.
The .Pro professional eligibility requirements are intended to
restrict domain name registrations within the .Pro top-level domain
to persons and organizations that are licensed or otherwise credentialed
by the appropriate government agencies or organizations to provide
professional services to the public in the legal, medical and
accounting fields.
Eligible registrants may reigster as one of three major profession-specific
domains:
.law.pro .cpa.pro .med.pro
In the future, variations of these domains will be available
to take into account local, professional and linguistic differences
in the various regions in which .Pro domain names will be offered
(e.g., .avocat.pro, .bar.pro, .recht.pro, and .jur.pro).
What are the basic eligibility criteria?
Generally, to be in compliance with the professional eligibility
requirements, a registrant must be either:
- An individual who is currently licensed as (i) a Certified
Public Accountant, (ii) a physician (including a medical doctor),
or (iii) an attorney at law, who is currently licensed in one
of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia; or,
- An organization, that provides accounting, legal or medical
professional services, and has an employee who satisfies one
of the above criteria and registers on behalf of such entity
or organization. Examples of such organizations include: accounting
firms, hospitals, legal publishers, medical supply companies,
or even the law department of a large company.
Registrants outside the 50 United States are eligible for Defensive
Name Registrations. Additional jurisdictions will be added shortly.
All .Pro domain name registrants must remain in compliance with
the professional eligibility requirements at all times during
their registration.
When will .Pro be launching in markets other than the US? The
.Pro domain will only be available to professionals who hold licenses
in the United States at the initial launch. As verification methods
are established in overseas jurisdictions, .Pro will become available
globally, quickly. In the meantime, Defensive registration will
be available for international customers who want to protect their
trademarks defensively or secure their .Pro domain name until
such time that .Pro domain names may become available in their
jurisdictions.
What information must be provided as proof of eligibility for
a .Pro domain name?
All applicants will need to submit personal and professional information
in order to be eligible for a .Pro domain. Information will include
but is not limited to: country of residence, full legal name,
home address, date of birth, last four digits of social security
number, type of profession, jurisdiction, professional license
number, date issued, name as it appears on license, address where
professional license was issued.
How will .Pro review the eligibility of registrants in
the .Pro domain?
What distinguishes the .Pro TLD from other domain extensions is
its unique registration requirements. RegistryPro will require
that registrants self-certify that they are professionals who
meet the requirements of their profession and jurisdiction and
provide information license and identity information which can
be independently cross-referenced either through an online review
process or a manual verification process established by an authorized
Registrar.
Will eligibility be reviewed again after registration? Eligibility
for registration in the .Pro domain will be verified at the time
of registration and will also be periodically re-verified, at
a minimum annually, at the time of a registrants' digital certificate
annual renewal.
Is this a real-time registration? No, to ensure a high level
of security, .Pro registrations are multi-stage and require an
out-of band process to provide some assurance that the registrant
is who they represent themselves to be.
What is the Verification Process?
Registrars shall enforce the Professional Eligibility Requirements
and must verify the personal identity of each registrant as a
condition of registration. To satisfy the registration requirements,
Registrars may:
(i) contract with RegistryPro for individual identity and professional
verification services, (ii) conduct personal identity and professional
eligibility verification manually, or (iii) contract with other
third-parties for automated verification services.
What personal and professional information will a registrant
have to provide to the Registry to successfully complete the authentication
and verification process known as the "AV Check"? Professional
Eligibility: All registrants of resolving .pro domain names must
demonstrate that they meet the professional eligibility requirements
of the .pro registry. Eligibility is demonstrated by presenting
a set of personal authentication and professional verification
(A/V) data. The accuracy of the A/V data must be verified, and
it must be confirmed that the individual indicated by the A/V
data is aware of and authorized the initiation of the check. This
person must be given the power to approve or veto any actions,
such as completion of the registration of a domain name, that
may be taken as a result of a successful check.
A .pro registrant may either be an individual professional
or a professional organization?
When the registrant is an organization, there must be a qualifying
professional who meets the normal eligibility standards for an
individual registrant. This individual must certifiy that they
are an employee of the registrant organization and that the organization
provides services directly related to the individual's profession.
Please refer to the RegistryPro website for a complete description
of professional eligibility for the .pro restricted gTLD.
The following A/V data must be provided to the Registry for the
subject of the A/V check:
Personal Data
- Full Name
- First
- Middle
- Last
- Suffix
- Home Address
- Street (up to 3 fields)
- City
- State or Province
- Postal Code
- Country
- Date of Birth
- Last Four Digits of Social Security Number
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Professional Data
- Type of Profession (Medicine, Legal, Accountancy)
- Jurisdiction (A US State or DC)
- Professional License Number
- Date Issued
- Name as it Appears on License
- First
- Middle
- Last
- Suffix
- Address to Which Professional License was Issued
- Street (up to 3 fields)
- City
- State or Province
- Postal Code
- Country
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What is a RegistryPro professional certificate?
A RegistryPro professional certificate is a sophisticated personal
digital certificate which can be issued to professionals who have
self-certified their professional status, as well as going through
an Authentication and a Verification process. In the future, these
individuals may also have access to SSL server certificates among
other retail and managed certificates for both their professional
and nonprofessional staff and clients. However, at this time,
RegistryPro is only offering this type of certification with a
.pro domain name.
Definitions?
Applicant: The individual licensed professional that is applying
for the digital certificate who is, or is employed by, the Registrant
registering the domain name. Registrant: The entity that will
be holding the domain, or the prospective domain holder. Refers
to either the professional himself or herself, or an entire professional
organization. Qualifying professional: Organizations registering
a .pro domain name must have an individual licensed professional
who meets the requi rements for the domain name, and is able to
certify the eligibility of the organization. This individual is
the Qualifying Professional. Certificate subject: The individual
associated with the digital certificate's cryptographic key. They
must have successfully completed the A/V check in order to become
the certificate subject.
What is an A/V check?
This is a process completed by RegistryPro in order to verify
the professional's license and authenticate their personal information.
This is done to confirm the professional does meet the requirements
of becoming a .pro digital certificate holder and the registrant
of a .pro domain.
What are some of the business rules applied with Professional
Certificates?
RegistryPro Professional Certificates are issued at the time of
a .pro domain name registration. Successful completion of the
A/V check also qualifies the individual to receive a RegistryPro
professional certificate account. One account can be opened for
every successful A/V check. This account is only available to
either the registrant or the qualifying professional. Only one
original certificate, and up to two replacement certificates will
be issued per year without additional charges. For each certificate,
only one email address can be used. Any type of email address
can be used. Any changes to email address require that a new certificate
be issued, as stated above, only two replacement certificates
will be issued per year without additional charge. The RegistryPro
digital certificate is independent of any domain names that the
certified individual may have registered in their name. The only
time an associated domain name will be identified is if it is
part of the professional's listed email contact. A confirmation
receipt will be sent to the listed email contact in order to verify
the accuracy of the contact information provided. Upon completion
of the A/V check, the certificate must be issued within 30 days.
If it is not, the certificate account cannot be opened, should
an account be opened, it will be automatically closed.
There is a chance that some registrants may submit their personal
criteria to the Registry and not pass their authentication process.
If this occurs they will be given 2 retry attempts to correct
the personal information within a 60 day period. If they fail
the authentication, the domain will be revoded with no refund
awarded.
How is the subject identified?
An A/V check is processed, and if the subject's check is successful,
and they meet the specified requirements they are given a certificate
acc ount and are able to issue certificates that identify them
as the certified subject. The certificate has a unique serial
number, which can be used to identify the subject's certificate
account. The account is associated with the information obtained
during an A/V check.
What are the different uses of a RegistryPro Professional
Certificate, and what types of applications can I use?
What are the different uses of a RegistryPro Professional Certificate,
and what types of applications can I use? The digital certificates
can be used to encrypt messages, verification of a digital signature,
email non-repudiation, and other possible applications. With a
digital certificate the public key can be used to send private
messages to the subject, messages sent will show any signs of
t ampering that may have occurred, authentication checks are performed
on those who send messages, the presence of digital signature
can be used to commit the subject to agreement with a legal document,
and the private key associated with the certificate may be used
to serve as authori zation for admittance to particular secure
internet sites and servers.
What exactly does the process of setting up and managing a Certificate
account involve? First the certificate account must be created.
Registering a .pro domain name, will involve authentication of
personal data and verification p rofessional information by RegistryPro.
After the domain name is activated, the subject will be prompted
to set up an account. The account can be accessed by following
a link provided by us through an E-mail sent after the registration
of the domain. The E-ma il will contain a user ID and password
that must be used to gain access to the site, and any information
sent will be sent over a secure conne ction. Changes to the Certificate
Account information must be made by logging into the account with
the user ID and password. Should the user ID information be lost,
access to the account can be gained by answering some specific
indicative questions, after which point, a new password will need
to be created. Professionals must submit a request to obtain any
additional issuances of digital certificates. The certificate
can be revoked by RegistryPro, or as per request of the subject
at any time for a number of reasons. The certificate can then
be reissued using th e same policies and procedures as the original.
New A/V checks must be done for every account renewal?
New A/V checks must be done for every account renewal. All certificates
must be revoked before the account can be closed, and the account
may be closed at anytime following its setup.
What are the charges involved with certificate accounts?
The initial fee covers the cost of domain registration, creation
of certificate accounts with one original certificate issuance
and two replac ement certificates. There are no refunds.
How do I confirm if my certificate has been revoked?
All certificates that have been revoked before the expiration
date are listed on the
Certificate Revocation List on the web that can be visite
d at a link provided on the certificate itself.
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