The U.S. Department of Commerce is rushing as fast as it can to give away a valuable taxpayer-owned asset — the .us (pronounced dot-US) top-level Internet domain.
You’re probably familiar with the most widely recognized top-level domains. They include the .com, .org, .edu and .gov portions of the domain-name hierarchy, the Internet suffixes that are part of the system that helps computers find each other on the Net.
You may not be aware that each nation has its own two-letter ”top-level domain,” such as .uk for the United Kingdom or .cn for China. The one for the United States, .us, is mainly used by states, local communities, schools and public libraries. For example, the city of San Jose has a domain called www.ci.san-jose.ca.us, reflecting the community’s geography.
Now the Department of Commerce is planning to literally give away the management of .us to an outside, private entity. The new administrator would have the right to charge for listings — a potential gold mine — and would be encouraged to turn this public commons into yet another commercial outpost.
(Here are the relevant documents on the Commerce Department’s Web site.)
With a haste that is unseemly at best, the department’s proposal period started last month and ends next week, an absurdly and improperly short amount of time for something so important to be taking place. Some observers say the process may favor Silicon Valley-based Verisign’s Networld Solutions unit, which came into its highly profitable existence through a sweetheart deal with the government years ago and now enjoys unearned dominance over key top-level domains such as .com.
The odor emanating from this entire process has led to questions and protests from public-interest groups, nonprofit organizations and members of Congress. At least, say the critics, the Commerce Department should reconsider its haste in this giveaway.
The department’s plan ”proposes terms that impinge on the sovereignty of states and proposes to divest the American people of a unique national resource for no substantial return, while enriching the single private contractor lucky enough to receive the award,” said a July 12 letter (PDF file; 18k) to Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans. The letter was co-signed by representatives from a variety of organizations including the Media Access Project, Consumer Federation of America, Goodwill Industries International, National League of Cities and the United Church of Christ.
The department’s response to critics this week, in the update (Word file; 106k) posted on its Web site, can be summed up as follows: ”Up yours.”
Maybe the department will pay more attention to U.S. Sens.Ernest Hollings, D-SC, John D. Rockefeller IV, D-WV, and John Kerry, D-Mass., who wrote on July 18, ”This action seems premature and may not be in the public interest.”
If this malodorous process bothers you, too, get involved before it’s too late.
Call your member of the House of Representatives and both U.S. senators from your state. Also call the Commerce Department. Tell them you don’t like what’s going on with the department’s ”Request for Quotation (RFQ) SB1335-01-Q-0740. Send faxes. Do something.
Tell whoever will listen to slow down this gravy train — and to remember that the public interest still counts for something.