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Comment by warbler73 | Hacker News Reader

recreation.gov is a .gov site. Which is supposed to mean it is owned by the government and not a private run site collecting fees for a for-profit defense contractor.

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I previously had little issue with the fees because I assumed they went back to the parks due to the .gov domain. Now that I know it's just a private 3rd party collecting them and our parks and public lands are still underfunded is infuriating.

Yes. I've been booking back country camping and trail access for a couple of years now and at no time did I suspect the money was going anywhere other than the National Park Service and BLM to support the programs and sites. I never would have imagined significant amounts, in some cases the majority of funds collected at a .gov park service site was going to a for profit defense contractor. In fact the site states in places that fees go to support the parks. No where does it say fees go to support for profit defense contractors.

When you buy a stamp, the fees also "go to support defense contractors".

... because the USPS also pays their contractors.

"Hiring a contractor" ≠ "the contractor owns it" ≠ "the contractor runs it"

The government hires contractors for most things, but the projects are still owned and directed by the government.

Where is this meaning of ".gov" to be found?

Here: https://home.dotgov.gov Operated by CISA care of the GSA.

Specifically: https://home.dotgov.gov/registration/requirements/#eligibili...

See also RFC 920: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc920 Section "Initial Set of Top Level Domains"

https://home.dotgov.gov/

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