No domain snatching? ICANN guys please wake up
February 18th, 2008 shadminI have been rather astonished to read this report where after “investigations” an ICANN-sponsorized panel found no evidence of domain snatching…
Now I KNOW and many people do as know of the existence of this practice. Almost monthly we have clients who, after conducting a WHOIS look up for a domain, find the domain registered when they come back a few days later to get it registered. Most of these domains are so particular that the possibility of a coincidence just needs to be be dismissed. If that were a coincidence, why almost all those domains are registered by domainers, or for the luckiest, released to public domain after five days? There is clearly some malpractice going on there.
Now the domain tasting part. To justify not levying the 20 cents for domain returned, the same reports says that “many parties complained that the fee would penalize legitimate returns, such as ones to correct typos”. First, how many registrants do know at the first place that they can return domains within five days, and how many actually have this option from the registrar or reseller they purchase the domain from? Second, I believe that the incidence of charging 20 cents to someone who registered a domain in error, can completely be justified if at the same time it prevents or limits the companies involved in organized domain tasting, registering millions of domains, keeping them for five days with ads on them, returning them (and getting back their money) while keeping the better one (those which showed some traffic potential during the “tasting” period)…
