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WASHINGTON -- Thousands of citizens and companies alike are rushing to reserve their .us domain names, available on a first-come, first-served basis since last week.

Internet users have flocked to accredited registrar sites like VeriSign and Register.com to buy a piece of .us space, previously reserved only for government and businesses, in the city.state.us structure. New York City's public transportation Web site, for example, is currently www.mta.ny.us. With the re-launched domain names, it could become something like www.newyorkmetro.us.

Creative Choices

Implemented by the Commerce Department and managed by Washington-based NeuStar, free-for-all .us registrations started on April 24. Obvious choices like www.andrew.us or www.jennifer.us might already be taken, but plenty of "www.yourname.us" options are still up for grabs.

Open registration follows a "sunrise period" for businesses that lasted from March 4 to April 16. During that time, only businesses with trademarks filed before July 27, 2001, could register company .us domain names.

"We want people to feel that they have a presence in the U.S.," Lisette Zarnowski, a spokesperson for Register.com, said. "This also lets companies that may not have gotten the .com name they wanted to have a .us name."

The .us domain is different from the .usa designation, which was being marketed fraudulently by a British company. The .usa extension is not authorized by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which registers all domain names.

Approval is still pending for the similar "kids.us" or ".kids" domains. Such designations are being considered by legislators who propose its creation to provide a safe place for children on the Web.

Who's Eligible

A U.S. citizen or resident qualifies for a .us extension, as does a business or organization with a U.S. presence. Zarnowski says a recent widespread resurgence of patriotism has probably helped increase the popularity of .us.

"We've always been the "America.com," she says. "I think people will be proud to have an official American Internet address."

In fact, 68 million Americans said they preferred the .us Internet address over the .com address, according to a recent Harris Interactive Poll.

The open availability of .us domain names is "an opportunity to establish an American online identity," says Richard Forman, president of Register.com. Perhaps more practically, it also allows shorter, easier-to-remember e-mail addresses and Web sites.

An open domain inevitably will cause disputes, however. Cybersquatting, or buying up domain names, including trademarked names, and re-selling them, is common among .com designations especially. To handle and prevent future squabbles, NeuStar has announced that the National Arbitration Forum, which is a large U.S.-based mediation service provider, will handle dispute resolution for .us domain names.