.self

Our Mission The mission of the .self gTLD is to establish a secure, autonomous, and human-centric digital namespace that empowers individuals and small businesses to achieve true data sovereignty. Operated by the Human-Centered Computing Foundation (HCCF), a U.S. 501(c)(3) public-interest nonprofit, the .self registry will operate as a public good and lower the barrier for the average person to obtain a domain. The core purpose of .self is to provide an accessible infrastructure dedicated to self-hosting, privacy, and independent digital ownership. It will enable technology to operate at human scale, ensuring that individual users and their local businesses can host their own websites, applications, and identities while retaining absolute control over when, how, and with whom they share their personal data. Intended Registrants and Users The intended registrants for .self domains are individual human users who may use their domain for their own personal, commercial, or charitable reasons. The registry is designed to be as accessible as possible, such that technical understanding of DNS is not required in order to obtain and use a domain. Our purpose is sustainable because we aim to entitle every human to a .self subdomain that they can use for their entire life. The intended users are the general global public, who will interact with .self endpoints with the guaranteed trust that the namespace is managed by an ethical, non-profit steward committed to people over profits. Unique features To achieve this purpose and align with HCCF’s foundational objectives, the registry will operate in unique ways: Equitable Access Controls: Enforcing a strict "one-subdomain-per-person" rule to eliminate domain speculation, parking, and reselling, thereby ensuring fair access for genuine individual human users. Support for Self-Hosting: Creating and maintaining open-source software clients and technical standards to lower the barrier for individuals and small businesses to safely integrate with the TLD and configure their own self-hosted environments. Shared Infrastructure Services: Operating built-in, low-throughput secure features (such as secure mail relays and tunnel endpoints) that inherently satisfy personal and small-business needs while preventing spam and abuse. Ecosystem Integration: Partnering with open-source project foundations and academic institutions to cross-validate certified human-centered products that natively operate within the .self namespace.

The mission of .SELF is to provide a namespace associated with the applied-for string. The .SELF gTLD is intended to serve a broad range of registrants and users, including individuals, businesses, organizations, communities, projects, and other entities that identify with, relate to, or wish to be associated with the concept represented by the applied-for string. The purpose of .SELF is to enable registrants to establish online identities using domain names that correspond to this concept. To achieve this purpose, Toddler Logic, LLC will make .SELF available for registration through registrars and other appropriate distribution channels; maintain a secure, stable, and reliable registry infrastructure; implement registration and operational policies that support the availability, security, and integrity of the namespace; and provide ongoing administration of the gTLD to enable registrants to register and use domain names within the namespace. The purpose of .SELF is sustainable over time because the applied-for string is broadly recognized and has broad applicability across a wide range of contexts. As society, technology, and methods of communication evolve, organizations and individuals will continue to establish online identities associated with the applied-for string.