clipped from: www.theregister.co.uk The US government is asking for comments on how the internet should be run, and anyone is allowed to comment - but you'll need to be quick.
The NTIA - an arm of the US government's department of commerce - is holding a public meeting at the end of July over what should happen to the current Internet overseeing organisation ICANN when its contract is renewed in September. In the meantime, it has opened a public comment board where you are able to email comments for the US government and the rest of the world to see. The board is open now but comments need to be sent by this Friday, 7 July. The email postal address is DNSTransition@ntia.doc.gov.
The "notice of inquiry" asks specific questions about how ICANN functions - and should function - and poses wide-ranging questions about what could be done in the future. There is some concern that since ICANN remains a relatively unknown organisation this will put people off making their views known, so the At-Large Advisory Committee, which represents the views of ordinary internet users within ICANN, has set up its own query process to elicit suggestions from the wider public.
If you want to know more, you can read about it on the NTIA website, or you can visit the people's representative ALAC at its home pages: www.icannalac.org. Now's your chance to have you're voice heard, so get typing. ®