Network Solutions has long called for a fee-based solution to eliminate the related abuses of domain name “tasting” and “front running.”
On June 26, 2008, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board of Directors will consider adoption of its FY09 Budget. This budget includes a provision to make the non-refundable 20 cent per-transaction ICANN fee applicable to domain names deleted during the Add Grace Period (AGP) once the level of deletions exceeds 10 percent of a registrar’s net new registrations in that month. In advance of this important vote, Network Solutions strongly encourages ICANN to enact this important provision as part of its budget.
Applying the non-refundable ICANN fee in this manner should eliminate the much maligned practice of domain name “tasting” – when parties register a domain name for the five-day AGP and place pay-per-click ads on the domain’s Web page to determine if the name is worth more than its registration cost; if it is not, the taster simply deletes the name and receives a full refund. In some cases, the names are immediately reregistered and tasted for another five days. Sometimes this process is repeated over and over in a scheme called “domain kiting.” Both of these practices are abusive as they allow tasters to hold, at no cost, millions of domains that are no longer available to the public for registration.
Elimination of tasting and kiting will also curtail the practice of front running. Front running is when someone registers a domain name, for the purpose of tasting, within minutes or hours after someone else has conducted a search for that domain name. Front runners may get access to domain search data through Internet Service Providers, spyware, or registries. We believe that the adoption of this provision, will make tasting and kiting uneconomical, and will evaporate the incentive to engage in domain name front running.
Network Solutions has received strong feedback from its customers that they want the practice of front running to end. In order to help protect customers, Network Solutions provides an opt-in domain protection measure that reserves available domains for four days. For more information visit: http://about-networksolutions.com/customer-protection-measure.php.
If ICANN adopts the anti-tasting provision, Network Solutions will feel safe in discontinuing its service. Implementing a non-refundable fee during the AGP will deflate domain tasters’ profits and provide a substantial blow to front runners who use and sell search data for tasting purposes. While we understand and appreciate certain concerns initially raised about our protection measure and the way it was implemented, we are heartened by the fact that we successfully highlighted the issue and assisted in moving toward the eradication of these negative practices.¼/p>
