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, 14^th 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.