Comment Period Closing on .US Premium Domain Name and Privacy Plan Proposals

Now could be a very good time to pick up a few solid .US domain names just in case, or in preparation for, what could become a landslide increase in the use and demand for the domain extension ending in “.us” for the United States.

NEW YORK, NY – Neustar, the registry which manages the .us domain name extension, is seeking public comment on a recommendation that it should release one and two character domain names (previously held) as well as consider certain domains as “Premium” names and reclassify them as such, increasing their registration and renewal fees while making some names which have never been available, open for registration. The recommendation is coming straight from the usTLD Stakeholder Council, a group that advises and participates in the management, marketing, security and stability of the usTLD.

Things being discussed now will effect what changes will be implemented, if any, and how those changes would effect, positive or negatively, current owners and agencies using the domain. Some examples would be A) Reclassifying all three letter domains, which there are 17,000+ of these, as premiums; B) Reclassifying up to 1,000 three number domains; C) Reclassifying up to 10,000 dictionary words in the English language, and other significant changes.

You can read a full list and run down on the public comment request here.

Another very interesting addition to what is being considered for change is the fact that .us domains have been, since inception, exempt from the ability of registrants to use private registration services. In other words, registrants were unable to take advantage of private registration and therefor had no choice but to leave their full contact details public in any and all whois databases; this too is now being reconsidered and requested for public comment.

Obviously, with scores of new gTLD domain names being released, now is an ideal time to bring back, to the forefront, a short, great extension, to the public eye and remove all deterrents from registration. Both of these significant changes would and should improve the amount of people who choose to use and register .us domain names while allowing more choice with the domain, create more investment opportunity and create much-needed buzz for the extension. Many probably avoided the domain as a candidate for registration simply on the no-privacy rule.

I’ve always liked the .us domain extension (own just a few) and have felt for whatever reason, it’s under-performed its potential. I agree that these proposals will likely boost registration and use of the domain tremendously. As far as privacy, as long as Neustar is willing to fully cooperate with Government and Law Enforcement, I see no harm in allowing private registration service availability as with other domain names; many who intend to do wrong with a domain can find another way to effectively list false info anyway. On the premium release, I’m looking forward to it. I’d suggest Neustar keep reserved the 52 states and DC (so that states may reserve their city.state.us) and release everything else to the public.

The comment period opened on December 15th 2016 and closes on January 16, 2017. Anyone can file a comment. If you are a member of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) you can rest assured that ICA will be filing a comment on behalf of its members and is currently requesting  feedback from the members. If you are ready to file a comment on your own visit this link.

John Colascione

About The Author: John Colascione is Chief Executive Officer of Internet Marketing Services Inc. He specializes in Website Monetization, is a Google AdWords Certified Professional, authored a ‘how to’ book called ”Mastering Your Website‘, and is a key player in several Internet related businesses through his search engine strategy brand Searchen Networks®