The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking comments from college endowments and other investors about its attempts to identify companies that do business in countries identified as state sponsors of terrorism.

The federal agency added a feature to its Web site last summer pointing out companies that had disclosed business ties in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan,and Syria. The feature was suspended indefinitely less than a month later, however, amid concerns that the information was outdated, and, stripped of its context, could have a negative effect on listed companies.

An entry in Friday’s Federal Register asks for comments about the Web feature and whether it should be restarted, or whether there might be other ways that companies doing business in those nations could be more easily and fairly identified. —Martin Van Der Werf