The .COM namespace is the property of the United States Department of Commerce, which has a responsibility to the American public to provide the best service at

The .COM namespace is the property of the United States Department of Commerce, which has a responsibility to the American public to provide the best service at the lowest cost. Contracting to Verisign and allowing it to extract rents may well be the best way of doing so. But a right to make a profit off a public resource? Why? Why Verisign and not, say, me?