In a day and age where internet access is widespread and utilized on a daily basis, it’s common for citizens across the U.S. to turn to websites when seeking out information on an governmental entity or program.
However, it’s also all too common for nefarious groups and individuals to impersonate official websites in an attempt to steal personal information.
This is precisely why the U.S. General Services Administration offers the DotGov program, which makes official .gov domain names available to U.S. government organizations ranging from federal agencies to local municipalities.
Now, the town of Pahrump and Nye County are both set to acquire new second-level domain names containing the official “.gov”.
On Tuesday, Jan. 22 the Nye County Commission gave its approval of letters to be sent to .Gov Registration for the purpose of purchasing NyeCountyNV.gov and PahrumpNV.gov at a cost of $400 annually per domain name.
“Bona fide government servcies should be easy to identify on the internet,” the DotGov program website details. “Using a .gov domain shows you’re an official government organization… Since .gov domains are intertwined with access to government services, we work to make .gov a trusted, secure and authoritative space; we publish our policies, recommend security best practices and make .gov domain data publicly available.”
Before the motion to approve came to a vote on Jan. 22, Nye County Commissioner Leo Blundo had a quick question to put to Nye County IT Director Brad Adams.
“Why is it PahrumpNV.gov? Why not just Pahrump.gov and NyeCounty.gov?” Blundo asked.
“It’s part of .gov,” Adams replied. “They do have a naming convention requirement. You can apply for an exception for it, if it’s a unique name or a few other criteria. But that is… required.”
Blundo asked if the rest of the state of Nevada is following that naming convention as well, which Adams confirmed.
The motion to approve then passed unanimously.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com