NeuStar Inc. to administer ".us" domain

Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON: The US Department of Commerce said on Monday it had awarded

control of the ".us" Internet domain to NeuStar Inc., a private

company that intends to market the little-used online address to a wider

audience.

The move sets the stage for greater development of what has been until now an

online backwater reserved for local governments, schools and libraries. NeuStar

officials said they would reserve large parts of the domain for free use by such

groups, while seeking to attract others looking to plant an American flag in the

borderless world of cyberspace.

"For the first time, US residents, government bodies and public-service

organizations are able to establish an American identity on the Internet,"

said Jeff Ganek, chief executive and chairman.

Existing .us addresses should be running on NeuStar computers by the end of

the year, officials said, while new names should be available by the middle of

next year.

NeuStar, based in Washington, operates the central database of North American

telephone numbers. The company also has a hand in the new ".biz"

domain through NeuLevel Inc., a joint venture with Australian telecommunications

company Melbourne IT.

Country domains can be used differently



Unlike better-known domains such as ".com" and ".org," which
fall under the control of the quasi-governmental Internet Corporation for

Assigned Names and Numbers, country codes such as France's ".fr" and

Japan's ".jp" are assigned to each country to manage as they please.

Some countries, like as the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu, have opted to

market their domains to outsiders, while others, like Canada, reserve their

domains for the use of native citizens and companies.

The United States has opted until now for a decentralized, nonprofit system

based on locality. For example, the Web site for the Cape Elizabeth, Maine,

public school system can be found at www.cape.k12.me.us.

Under NeuStar's control, the school could opt for more streamlined names such

as www.capeschools.us, or www.capeelizabeth.us.

At the same time, the wider US public could apply for .us names as well.

Neustar officials say they expect to sign up millions of new names like www.johndoe.us

and www.acmecorp.us.

While NeuStar will host existing names for free, the company will make $5

each year for each new address it signs up. Registration will be limited to US

residents and companies or other groups with a significant presence in the

United States.

Outside groups want input



The company won a contract to administer the domain for four years, with options
to extend the contract for an additional two years. The process has not been

without controversy. Democratic lawmakers and a

wide range of interest groups lodged protests this summer when the Commerce

Department announced that it intended to hand control of the domain to a private

business.

Several groups, from the American Library Association to AT&T Corp., to

the National League of Cities, formed a policy board with the hopes that the

contract winner would allow them to represent the interests of current .us

tenants.

While several applicants said they would work with the board, NeuStar was not

among them. Instead, the company intends to set up a policy board of its own,

made up of government, nonprofit, commercial and other interests. "We need

a community where there are multiple stakeholders, all of whom are on the

governance board," Ganek said.

NeuStar also plans to operate a preregistration "sunrise" period,

to allow trademark holders to register their names before cybersquatters can

snap them up and resell them at a premium. Intended to minimize conflicts,

preregistration periods have created conflicts of their own, however. NeuLevel

is fighting a California lawsuit charging that its preregistration system

amounts to an illegal lottery, while the Afilias registry has seen the rollout

of its new ".info" domain marred by abuses and fraudulent

registrations.

NeuStar officials said they would verify all trademark claims before

approving them. Michael Palage, an intellectual property lawyer who has done

work for Afilias, said NeuStar's task would be significantly easier because it

would only accept U.S. trademarks. Afilias accepted trademark claims from any

country in the world, with the result that as many as a quarter of its claims

could be invalid. It has said it will challenge certain registrations, he said.

(C) Reuters Limited.