Nonprofits Seek Role
in Managing “.us” Domain
Bids from three companies vying for the right to manage the “.us” Internet domain include agreements to allow a coalition of nonprofit and consumer groups help set policy for assigning the domain names.
Country codes such as France’s “.fr” are assigned to nations to allocate as they please, and the U.S. Commerce Department has sought the new management to make greater commercial use of the domain. However, the coalition, which is led by the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology and includes the American Library Association, is worried that a commercial enterprise taking over the domain management may give short shrift to the public’s best interests. In response to those concerns, the bids from Register.com, Tucows.com, and eNIC agree to the formation of a nonprofit corporation that would work in partnership with the winning bidder to guide policy.
The bids were due July 27. The Washington Post said August 2 that government officials declined to say how many other firms submitted bids. A decision on the proposal is expected by November.
Posted August 6, 2001.
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