State, Local Governments Would Have to Pay for ".us" Internet Domain Names Under Proposal from Department of Commerce.(Brief Article)

Nation's Cities Weekly, July, 2001 by Feld, Harold; Wolf, Jared

The U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC) is considering handing over the ".us" Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) name to a private contractor who will charge a yearly usage fee for this now free service in an effort to generate revenue for the "digitally disadvantaged."

The proposal, which does not require Congressional approval, could impact the budgets of localities -- at present, the ".us" domain consists primarily of state and municipal entities, libraries and K-12 schools. Unlike ".com," ".org" and ".net" domains, ".us" and ".gov" domains are currently free to qualifying entities. This proposal only applies to those using the ".us" domain, such as Chicago and New York City.

The ".us" ccTLD is a unique national resource, a piece of cyberspace...

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