The deadline is looming on a United States Government project aimed at canvassing public views on how the internet is run.

The internet policy arm of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), released a "notice of inquiry" at the end of May asking for anyone to contribute their thoughts on the existing internet governance policies.

Those who wish to have until tomorrow to register their thoughts at DNSTransition@ntia.doc.gov.

Opinions will be posted on the NTIA's website, which has so far drawn over 200 responses from around the world.

Around half of them have used a template created by the Internet Governance Project, a US-based organisation that is calling for the US government to hand over control of the internet's domain name system to an independent body.

The US Government's overall control of the internet remains highly controversial, despite a four-year United Nations review that culminated in a World Summit in Tunisia in November last year.

At that summit, the US retained control of the internet. But subsequent events, including a refusal to approve a ".xxx" internet domain for pornographic websites following pressure from both right-wing Christian groups and pornographers, have brought the issue to the forefront again.

The NTIA inquiry is focused on the role of the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the not-for-profit US company that acts as overseer of the internet.

ICANN's contract with the US Government, from which it derives its authority, is due for renewal on September 30.

The ICANN model was regarded as a bold experiment in shared decision-making between governments, business and civil society when it was formed in 1998.

However, at an ICANN's meeting in Marrakech last week, its president and chief executive Paul Twomey said that the organisation did not intend to respond directly to the NTIA inquiry. Instead, ICANN will run a parallel consultation process.

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