WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Commerce Department
has extended the period to submit comments on issues involving the future
expansion and administration of the .us domain space. The new deadline
is October 5, 1998. A notice announcing the extension will be published
in the Federal Register on August 27, 1998.
The Commerce Department is requesting public
comment on this issue to further explore how management and administration
of .us could be optimized or enhanced to encourage increased registrations
in the .us name space. The .us domain is the "national" or "country code"
top level domain (ccTLD) assigned to the United States for domain name
registration and is currently managed as a locality based hierarchy in
which second-level domain space is allocated to States and U.S. territories.
The original Request for Comment was published
in the Federal Register on Tuesday, August 4, 1998. It poses specific questions
related to the future of .us administration. The questions include how
domain names should be assigned under .us, the type of entity that should
administer .us, and the role of the states and localities in domain name
registration, among others. In addition, the public is invited to comment
on other aspects of .us management.
The Federal Register Notice is posted on
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA)
home page at http://www.ntia.doc.gov;
hard copies are available by calling NTIA's Office of Public Affairs at
202-482-3999. Commenters are asked to send electronic comments to usdomain@ntia.doc.gov
or mail written comments to attn. Karen Rose, NTIA-OIA, 14th
and Constitution Ave., NW, Room 4701, Washington, DC 20230. All comments
received will be posted on NTIA's home page.
The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration serves as the principal adviser to the President, Vice President
and Secretary of Commerce on domestic and international communications
and information issues and represents the Executive Branch before Congress,
other Federal agencies, foreign governments and international organizations.