events Petition to remove all restrictions from .US

[Shea]

I have created a petition to remove all restrictions from the .US domain name.
In order for the White House to review the petition it must reach 100,000.00 signatures in 30 days.
If this is met, according to the US Government, "Get an official update from the White House within 60 days".

There is no way I can get 100,000 signatures unless some serious mass platforms get a hold of this, and share it. So I'm absolutely reliant on everyone of interest, to help me share this. Thanks.. And as of right now, I got 99,999 signatures as of today, October 27

Link to sign below

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-us-domain-registration-requirements




The White House States the follow, copy and paste from there page


"With We the People, you can easily create a petition online, share it, and collect signatures. If you gather 100,000 signature in 30 days, we’ll review your petition, make sure it gets in front of the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.

Petitioning has the potential to enact real change, but it’s also your fundamental right as an American citizen, and an opportunity to connect with a community of like-minded people who are invested in making a change. Ideally, running a petition on We the People is just the start of something bigger — a long-term, robust form of civic engagement."

Also, if you have any suggestions on who I might contact to help me push this, please respond with name, website, or email.

 

[platey]

@platey I can't reg .US for example !

I registered my. us domains before restrictions came in I think but I only have the. us in one domain because the domain is a us term unique to us and because I have same domain in. Com etc and my other. us I have is because I own a. Me and also the. Us eg a play on words etc

 

[eurorealtor]

By the way (out of topic) .sk Slovakia ccTLD recently removed restrictions and is now open to anyone I believe.

 

[tonyk2000]

Since US residents are already eligible, who would benefit from policy changes then? Non-US entities?
Any non-US entity or organization with a bona fide presence in US is also eligible.

Why would non-US user without US presence want to associate himself with US or any other foreign country? It makes little sense. And we are not speaking about (for example) .io gtld (British Indian Ocean Territory) or .me gtld (Montenegro) - those are promoted differently. I am not US resident or citizen for example, have zero connections with that country, and, therefore, I have no interest in acquiring .us domain(s) for any purpose. Even as a domainer - also zero interest, as investing in local domains of any particular country is somewhat risky.

So, if .US authorities elected to restrict this extension - let it be so...

 

[jmcc]

.ie - Need to scan a copy of your Irish ID / Passport to register

The terms are a bit more than that. The Irish ID/Passport is generally for a personal domain name rather than a busines registrations. The terms have been relaxed over recent years and there is a a proposal to move to one where such entitlement does not have to be demonstrated prior to registration. The .US ccTLD is in a far worse state as it is effectively competing with .COM as the de facto US ccTLD. The .US ccTLD has been chonically undermarketed whereas it is almost accepted that every new Irish business targeting the Irish market will have a .IE domain name. The growth in .IE domain names in the Irish market has been outstripping the .COM for a long time and that's even when they are sometimes three or more times as expensive as a .COM registration.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Kate]

Since US residents are already eligible, who would benefit from policy changes then? Non-US entities?
Any non-US entity or organization with a bona fide presence in US is also eligible.

Why would non-US user without US presence want to associate himself with US or any other foreign country? It makes little sense.

Simply because there are foreign companies that may want to register a .us (or .ca or...) to target the consumers of that country. They may not have bona fide presence in the form of local offices or local subsidiary.
The requirements are ambiguous and interpreted differently depending on whom you ask. Also, some entities may avoid .us because they are afraid of not fulfilling the requirements.

If you look at big US companies like Google or FB, they can already buy plenty of ccTLDs to deliver localized versions of their websites, even without maintaining a presence in each of those countries.

 

[frank-germany]

my good
you only need aditional 99.998 sign ups

oops

 

[OnlineDomainCom]

Neustar is to blame for both .us and .biz and now .nyc.
They just sit there and wait for the money to come in since 2002. Ridiculous.

People may not realize, but there are a lot of ccTLDs that are unrestricted today, and the trend is toward loosening of the restrictions.
I support lifting the restrictions on .us (and .ca too would be great).

But this will not make .us popular. An influx of domainer registrations will do no good and this is not the right way to address the problem. .us has a management problem, but also a particular history and US exceptionalism. Besides, many domainers do not even bother about the nexus. Most of the time, you can get away with it... it's easier to skirt the rules than make sales.

 

[OnlineDomainCom]

.ie is one of the very few restricted ccTLDs along with .us.

.ie - Need to scan a copy of your Irish ID / Passport to register

 

[OnlineDomainCom]

.US always had restrictions.

I registered my. us domains before restrictions came in I think but I only have the. us in one domain because the domain is a us term unique to us and because I have same domain in. Com etc and my other. us I have is because I own a. Me and also the. Us eg a play on words etc

 

[OnlineDomainCom]

I support the petition but I will not sign it as I see no point.

 

[MrConor]

.CA is also protected eh? :P

 

[wwwweb]

I don't think the OP has made it clear why he wants the restriction lifted.

Is it because you want to buy then for 99 cents, and spam US based companies to pay you a few hundred dollars for them?

There is no shortage of extensions that are open, why are you targeting .us, they clearly know if they open it up they will make more revenue, but they are not concerned with this.

 

[ecalc]

According to the petition, the proposal would increase "profits of domain name registrar, investors, local business, foreign business entities, global enconmy [sic], and individuals", in other words the cotton gin all over again.

 

[offthehandle]

http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2017/dailyposts/20170929.htm

Timing is right, coincidently read this today. @Shea
Maybe in addition to your petition, sending a letter to the group or attend the townhall meeting to voice your opinion.

There is a webcast link also on the page.

 

[Shea]

@offthehandle
Thanks! I registered to attend. Even if the petition is not successful maybe it will make an impact in some sort of way. I am a firm believer in the butterfly effect. I'll be going also consider other avenues of approach to help influence the policy.

 

[iowadawg]

Heck, why not a petition to make the price of all domains from all registrars only 99 cents?
Probably get more signers.,...

 

[jmcc]

Heck, why not a petition to make the price of all domains from all registrars only 99 cents?
Probably get more signers.,...

Low pricing causes problems for a TLD. The obvious one is that low pricing cannot last and it is generally pitched as a discounted first year registration with the second year being at full fee. This causes a boom and bust registration cycle with a spike in new registrations followed by a drop about a year later as most of these registrations are not renewed. The other aspect with low registration fees is that it attracts the wrong kind of registrant (spammer/phisher and other dubious types) and this causes long-term damage to the credibility of a TLD. Too many of this kind of registration and a TLD effectively collapses because no natural development of websites and businesses takes place and any sites that were using the TLD quickly migrate to more reputable TLDs. Used sparingly and correctly, discounted registrations can help build a TLD. Overuse turns a TLD into a zombie TLD.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Steven McEvoy]

I do not agree I think .us should keep its restrictions!! Your just trying to make money off .us

 

[MR Harrist]

I almost push my domain with huge link! unfortunately this restriction make me worry! I think I should change to net or com! good luck, with dot US! , I hope US ppl buy dotUS ! ohh, almost forget, US ppl don't care about dot US they only care about dot com ! to bad!

 

[xynames]

.us should remain restricted to US residents.

 

[Shea]

@Steven McEvoy

I do not agree I think .us should keep its restrictions!! Your just trying to make money off .us

Which one of us does NOT want our investment/domains to increase in value?
I love how you say, "your just trying to make money of the .us", because that is what every domainer does with their domains.

 

[lock]

I don't think it is a good idea if your patriotic to USA.
Would you like some ICE T with your sell out?
Petition business to use dot us extension.

 

[Kate]

By the way, I'm curious. Did any domainers in favor of keeping .us restricted, bought .de .uk .io or other ccTLDs ?

 

[jmcc]

By the way, I'm curious. Did any domainers in favor of keeping .us restricted, bought .de .uk .io or other ccTLDs ?

I have a few .IE, .EU, .UK domains but my reasons for being in favour of keeping the restrictions are based on a lot of experience with ccTLDs and the web usage surveys that I run on gTLDs and ccTLDs. While the .US ccTLD has been poorly marketed, there are some types of registrations that are not good for the quality or credibility of a TLD. It is really only possible to relax restrictions on a ccTLD when it is properly serving the local market and when the local market is strong enough to keep it as the primary TLD for that country.

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

A ccTLD is not like a gTLD in that it has a well defined geographical market. It is not just domainers who form that market. Domaining exists as part of a complex ecology. There is also a level of usage and development in that ecology that should be larger than the domainer part. If a TLD has no significant natural development (like some of the new gTLDs), there is often a problem with the domainer part of the market being larger than the end user part of the market. The .US ccTLD just isn't at the stage where restrictions should be relaxed. If it can manage to get that level of usage and natural development up, then it might be time to consider relaxing the restrictions in a few years. If there's little or no development in a TLD, then speculative registrations are a waste of money because they will probably have to renewed for five or ten years before the TLD begins to develop.

Regards...jmcc