According to Scotsman.com, there is a strong backing for Scotland to create a domain extension that is separate from the rest of the United Kingdom.

In March of this year the TimesOnline reported that Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, lodged a formal request to change the country’s website addresses to .sco. Now, nine months later, the support continues to build.

Two government polls showed support among Scottish organizations at 58% and an international survey of special interest groups saw the figure rise to 82%.

Before going to visit Catalonia, where the area’s unique sTLD (.cat) has attracted 30,000 registrations in the past two years, Mr. Salmond explained the need for a new extension:

“The time is ripe for the worldwide family of Scots to have their own domain reflecting an online community defined by a shared commitment to Scottish identity, culture and economic promotion.”

An earlier proposal by Scotnom Limited for a second level domain, .scot.uk, was rejected by Nominet UK in 2001 as it did not have the support of the online Scottish community, most of whom wanted a separate TLD.

[via Scotsman]