During recent testimony to the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the NTIA requested that documents containing advice it received from the Department of Justice during the recent .com contract negotiations between ICANN and VeriSign not be revealed to the public:

ntia_request

Ironically, NTIA made this request on the heels of Sunshine Week, during which the House has passed four measures that promote and preserve open government, including a bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act.

Why would the public benefit from seeing these documents? At the time of the contracts release, sentiment among registries, registrars and registrants was very negative, citing anti-trust concerns. Eventually, however, the contract was approved. So one has to wonder, if DoJ's review was favorable what's the big deal about putting them in the public record?