Feds Ask Private Sector To Help Develop Domain

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March 10, 1999 (12:54 PM EST)

Feds Ask Private Sector To Help Develop Domain

By Mary Mosquera,

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Clinton administration is looking for ideas from the private sector on how to expand and manage the .us domain name space.

The government is also using private-sector input to build consensus as it transfers administration of the Internet to a private nonprofit group.

Industry observers said the top-level .us domain is an underused, underdeveloped asset with few stakeholders. The government wants to make that space more attractive for commercial use, said Becky Burr, associate administrator for the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Administration officials met Tuesday with Internet companies, interest groups, and Network Solutions Inc. (NSI) -- the sole provider of Internet addresses since 1993 -- as a first step to find the best way to put the country domain name to full use.

"We are early in the process, looking for a common vision or agreed on process where we can go forward with a real coherent plan with resources," said Brian Kahin, White House senior policy analyst for the information infrastructure. The administration is accepting comments until April 9; it has already received 195 comments on how to proceed with the .us domain space.

The U.S. Postal Service proposed a model to take over management of the domain name that connects e-mail addresses with an actual home or business address, allowing the Post Office to deliver mail online and offline. No formal plan has been offered yet, said Leo Campbell, head of the U.S. Postal Service e-commerce division.

The Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California administers .us and subcontracts to Herndon, Va.-based NSI. Generally, state and local governments use the domain name, and they subdivide the name to localities, such as htpp://www.co.mo.md.us, for Montgomery County, Md. Some commercial names have been assigned the address.

Unlike other domain names, such as .com and .org, .us has plenty of space to expand without displacing the geopolitical structure. Some Internet players would like to see more commercial use of .us to relieve some of the pressure for unique addresses. Companies are increasingly vying for the same .com address. But the locality-based system is too complex for many companies.

National governments will continue to have authority to establish the policies for their country codes, such as .us, after the new international Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, begins to manage the domain name functions. However, the U.S. experience with its .us country code is different from other countries, Burr said. Other nations subdivide their codes in less restricted ways than the United States geopolitical order, she said.

ICANN is set to open the registration of Internet addresses .com, .org, and .net to competition beginning April 26.