"In recent years, we have seen a significant up-tick in threats to the free flow of information on the Internet," said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. "Censorship continues to be a significant problem in too many countries, and a range of new Internet-related regulations, or other actions by governments around the world, are springing up as speed bumps on the information superhighway."
DOC has issued a Federal Register notice detailing its request for comments. Input from all stakeholders will be accepted until November 15, 2010. Written comments may be submitted by mail to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration at U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Room 4701, Washington, DC 20230. Online submissions in electronic form may be sent to [email protected]. Submissions may be in any of the following formats: HTML, ASCII, Word, odf, rtf, or pdf.
After analyzing the comments responding to this Notice, the Department intends to publish a report which will contribute to the Administration's domestic policy and international engagement on these issues.
The mission of the Internet Policy Task Force is to identify key public policy and operational challenges in the Internet environment. The Task Force leverages expertise across many bureaus at the DOC, including those responsible for domestic and international information and communications technology policy, international trade, cybersecurity standards and best practices, intellectual property, business advocacy, and export control.
This call for comments is part of a series of inquiries from the Task Force; similar reviews of privacy, cybersecurity, and copyright policy, creativity and innovation in the Internet economy are available on the Task Force website.