Thursday, January 31, 2008
ICANN Considers Fee to Halt Domain Tasting
Network World has the skinny on ICANN's proposal to address to of the scourges of domain registration --front running and domain tasting.
ICANN wants to charge a minimal fee -- 20 cents -- to companies that register a domain and then return in within the five day grace period that registrars currently offer.
While that's not much per domain, when you have scammers -- er legitimate companies -- registering hundreds of domains per day, the dollar amount add up in a hurry.
Domain tasting is a problem for users because it means a domain they want to purchase may be temporarily or permanently unavailable. It also means more low-quality Web pages on the Internet that are designed only for generating advertising revenue.
Per NW, a study released by ICANN shows that during January 2007 51 million domains were registered, but 94% percent were returned within the 5 day period.
The fee is also expected to put the brakes on another practice known as front running that is conducted by registers. Network Solutions and other registrars use the five-day period to hold a domain that has been searched on at its site. Prospective buyers then can't buy it from anyone else unless they pay a higher fee to NetSol than other registrars charge. The company said it would end the policy if the 20 cent fee is enacted.
All good, but I say ICANN should go further and limit the tasting period from 5 days to 24 hours. Buyer's remorse can happen, but when you are only spending a few bucks for a domain, a day is more than enough time to make a decision.
By John Gartner at 10:02 AM | Comments (1)
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