The '.us' Internet Domain

Abstract:     
A vast increase in usage and new legal problems are about to occur in the ".us" domain. Soon, the domain will become very popular, because anyone with a United States nexus will be able to register a second level domain name, such as "example.us". The United States government is entrusting management of the ".us" domain to a private contractor. The privatization plan is poorly designed. It will repeat the problems that have emerged with ".com" and ".biz" and create a number of new legal difficulties. This paper points out the shortcomings in the privatization plan and suggests some possible remedies.

Keywords: Domain names, Internet

JEL Classifications: K0, K2

Working Paper Series