From: Amanda Pontious <apontious@hughes.net>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 1:48pm
Subject: Re: Enhancement of the .us Domain Space
My husband and I have only been on the net a short time. We enjoy the
net and all it offers. However, we never anticipated having our email
address published. To us this is a private thing and should stay that
way. This is a very bad idea.
We get enough mail with just our own correspondence and is would be a
burden to be getting our bills etc., not to mention all the people that
would start sending email just to sell stuff we don't want. It would be
as bad as telemarketers and probably worse.
This is a bad, disagreeable and unpleasant idea and we are totally
against it. It would make it easier for spammers and people who like to
make trouble and mischief, malicious and otherwise.
Al and Amanda Pontious
###
From: james baney <james_baney@yahoo.com>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 5:42pm
Subject: .us domain
Outstanding idea! I believe its a great start to universal email.
Even though the majority of americans do not have access to the
internet. Its a great way to think ahead
==
From James
Yada Yada Yada
###
From: Matt Grosland <grosland+@cs.cmu.edu>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 4:39am
Subject: .us domain comments
To Whom It May Concern:
The .us domain is simply a reservoir of resource waiting to be
utilized. I am not educated in how beneficial using this resource would
be, though I imagine that any container of space concerning the Internet
would be most useful.
My main concern, as a citizen of the United States, is how the
administering, regulating and maintaining of this resource will be
handled.
I cannot emphasize the following enough: THE GOVERNMENT (federal,
state, or local) SHOULD NOT PLAY ANY ROLE IN THE ADMINISTERING,
REGULATING AND MAINTAINING OF THE .US DOMAIN.
It is clear to me that besides placing an extremely undue tax burden on
the public, it is also extremely unnecessary. The Clinton
Administration has made it clear that they believe that 'everybody
should have e-mail' and they plan on providing the people with that.
However, in the private sector e-mail is free from places like Yahoo and
Hotmail. If the Government takes the .us domain, they will use it for
something the people already have. It will waste our hard-earned money,
and will not progress the country one bit.
In addition, the Government has demonstrated without debate that they
are too inefficient and incompetent to handle country-wide issues that
extend to localities. The amount of taxpayer money that would be spent
on creating the necessary committees, staffing, purchasing the
infrastructure and its installers, debating about policy, will be
gargantuan at best.
It is therefore my opinion that the Private sector should have full
governance over all issues involving .us domain.
Thank you for your time,
Matt Grosland
SCS Facilities
Carnegie-Mellon University
###
From: "Jeff Studley" <jna@ez2.net>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 1:12pm
Subject: USdomain initiative
My wife and I are against the expansion of the .us domain name strutcture as outlined on the cnn website. To have the USPS have their hands on our electronic business will only lead to increased rates for a service we get free now through our ISP.
We do not wish to do business over the internet as security issues will always be present. We feel there will be a higher rate of ID theft and general prying into our lives. As well, in time if there is a strong sway towards ecommerce and such, it would only be a matter of time that the security of all we take for granted (electricity, gas, water, phone, air traffic control and more) could be breached by eterroism and the whole system can be shut down in one fell swoop.
JnA
jna@ez2.net
###
From: Ray Timmons <lists@aik.tec.sc.us>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 7:19pm
Subject: Docket No. 980212036-8172-03
RE: Docket No. 980212036-8172-03
My primary concern with the proposal is the two year Colleges
that presently are required to use the .us domain. A couple of
suggestions are to move the two year Colleges back to the .edu
domain, or to create a new domain for them.
Please do not ignore the two year colleges using the .us
domain.
Ray Timmons
ISM Director
Aiken Technical College
###
From: Max Khat <maximaniac@hotmail.com>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 4:19pm
Subject: Comment on the Postal=email address
Please see the attached comments, in a plain ASCII file.
In case the attachment is damaged, the comments are repeated below:
Dear DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE:
Until the Department of Commerce persuades the US Senate and the
House of Representatives to pass some laws banning the sending of
unsolicited email, all this proposal would do is give me YET ANOTHER
EMAIL ADDRESS TO BE SPAMMED! It would be a matter of days before some
sleazeball put them all on a CDROM and sold them to advertisers.
Here's the problem - with a clearly identifiable geographical email,
many local businesses would feel it's OK to try to attract customers,
after all, the US government is in the process of making it OK to send
SPAM if you jump through a few hoops.
Unfortunately for me, there are nearly 500 pages of business listings
in the Phoenix area phone book, with about 300 business per page. That's
enough to guarantee me 300+ email ads per day. It would also make the chances
of my seeing any government announcement or real bill sent to that address
absolutely ZERO.
Yes, ZERO. ABSOLUTELY ZERO!
I would not use any such address unless it could be GUARANTEED
spam-free, with severe penalties for misuse. Flogging would be my choice of
penalties, but I would settle for stiff fines of $100-500 per email, payable
directly to the recipient of the SPAM, with jail time of one day per email sent
for those who are unable to pay the fines.
Stephanie Goble
738 W. Portland
Phoenix, AZ 85007
###
From: "mud" <mud@infomagic.com>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 9:34pm
Subject: US post office and email
Leave the government out of it for now. It will just be another way of revenue generation. Let the private sector handle email systems. It is working very well right now for countless millions of email transfers daily and doesn't cost a cent over our access costs.
If you guarantee total and complete FREE access and usage, I will be glad to re-evaluate my position.
P. Davis
Attached is a copy in Word97 format
Leave the government out of it for now. It will just be another way of revenue generation. Let the private sector handle email systems. It is working very well right now for countless millions of email transfers daily and doesn't cost a cent over our access costs.
If you guarantee, in bold print, total and complete FREE access and usage, I will be glad to re-evaluate my position.
P. Davis
Flagstaff, Arizona
###
From: "Stephen Marmon" <smarmon@concentric.net>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 11:12am
Subject: Request for Comments on the Enhancement of the .us Domain Space
NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
Docket No. 980212036-8172-03
Request for Comments on the Enhancement of the .us Domain Space
AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration,
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice, Request for Public Comment
I would urge that .us be placed under the control of the United States
Postal Service and that all persons and businesses that have postal delivery
addresses be assigned email addresses with .us, using Zip+4.
Thus my address would be smarmon@20816-2350.us
I believe that this universal system would be of great benefit to all
parties, providing "permanent" addresses, ability to change addresses via
Postal Service change of address systems, and enhancement of email
availability.
Sincerely yours,
Stephen J. Marmon
5124 Baltan Road
Bethesda, MD 20816-2350
301-229-4224
###
From: Robert Stempler <stempler@earthlink.net>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 6:46pm
Subject: Interest .us domain by Post Office
I am against the post office or any government agency directly handling
email on the internet or directly regulating it's processes.
First, the internet is so yoong, and yet so many people have reasonably
reliable access through inexpensive paid services or even though services
like Juno.Com, which offers a free email service. Combine this with the
free computer access offered at universities and some public libraries, and
we have universal access to all who want it. While many may argue that
internet must be well regulated, such self-regulation is in process, and
does take time to develop. If the private sector is not allowed to
complete this process, we will never know and never allow free enterprise
to provide an efficient system at no cost to taxpayers.
Second, I am against the government getting involved in regulation of
speech and the publication of address lists. The proposals I have seen
suggest tying email address with other mailing addresses. This is so
dangerous to everyone's right to privacy, and is entirely unnecessary. For
decades, the phone books have been privately handled, without government
intervention, the same would be true for email addresses. Also, with such
information in the hands of a few bureaucrats, there is a likelihood for
abuse, at least from hackers who are able to break into such public data
bases. Furthermore, there is the possibility that bureacrats will begin to
monitor content and sensor it.
Let the private sector keep full control, within reasonable limits. Save
the government billions of dollars, and keep out of one of the best growth
industries.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Stempler
Southern California
###
From: <stucka@bellsouth.net>
To: NTIA.NTIAHQ(usdomain)
Date: 8/9/98 6:26pm
Subject: .us TLD should stay private
Kind folks,
I'd like to express my displeasure at the idea that the .us TLD be
taken over by the Postal Service.
The reasoning and justification of the idea are flawed, as are the
motivation. As such, I'd simply love to comment on the 11 questions for
discussion, but I'm afraid that by even doing so I'd be making the
Department feel as if it should be the responsible authority for the .us
TLD.
I cannot, and will not, advocate this action.
To whit:
- One of the reasons cited for the move is a shortage of names in the .com
hierarchy. .com has run out of names for several reasons: the rapid growth
of the internet, the idea that even foreign countries can have common
addresses without having consumers' impressions hindered by geographic
locale, and the large base of companies already extant. A move to the .us
domain would be less attractive to business precisely because of its
geographic restrictions and wouldn't open up the name space nearly as much
as plentiful other proposals out there.
- Another question is of motivation. I see little reason for the Postal
Service's proposal other than a power grab; where there compelling
motivations, then the debate might be open to whether USPS is the ideal
candidate for TLD managing.
- The IANA, but virtually all accounts, has done a fair and thorough job
of managing the .us TLD. In alignment with my above comment, I fail to see
why an organization lacking a credible customer service record should
forcibly take over one that is doing a good job.
- The .us domain is less attractive to commerical users not because of the
IANA, but because the .us domain is simply less attractive due to its
association with geographic restricts.
Mike Stucka / stucka@bellsouth.net / 306 Rhodes Lane, Griffin, GA 30224
###
From: Jerry L Poppenheimer <terrenet@compuserve.com>
To: Government <usdomain@ntia.doc.gov>
Date: 8/9/98 5:25pm
Subject: Postal Service e-mail
The concept to involve the Post office in the internet is the worst idea
that any government agency as ever come up with. Turning a service that
"works" over to the post office to mess up, is just ludicrous.
The internet works because government has refrained from getting involved,
knowing that it would only bring chaos.
Jerry Poppenheimer
###