Dot GG and dot JE turn 30

Friday, 7 August 2026 11:15

For three decades, Channel Island websites have used unique internet domains.

On 7 August 1996, the Bailiwick’s internet domain ".GG" first appeared in the internet’s master address book, and Jersey's ".JE" a day later.

Dr Nigel Roberts and Alderney’s Laurie Brown had to persuade officials in California that the Crown Dependencies deserved their own root, separate from the UK.

Dr Roberts sent a "campaign" of emails to Professor Jon Postel, who was in charge of the internet’s address book.

“We were told that all three Crown Dependencies were to be lumped in with the UK under dot UK - and that was that.

“The absurd part was that some uninhabited British territories - rocks whose only residents were penguins and the occasional visiting scientist - already had internet codes of their own. The Channel Islands did not.”

When E-sports boomed in the 2010s, players started using GG to mean "good game".

The manager of Australia's domain ".AU", Chris Disspain, says the anniversary is worth celebrating.

".GG is a classic example of how the infrastructure of the internet and particularly country codes should work.

"It seamlessly, quietly and reliably represents Guernsey on the internet whilst being open to innovators and users around the world for whom the 2 simple letters ‘gg’ mean something entirely different.

“There are thousands of domain endings now - .xyz, .biz, .top, you name it.

“And yet a place-based identity like .GG still holds its own, carrying Guernsey’s name out to the rest of the world every single day.”