Best of the ISP-Lists

Domain Name Hoarding

Valuable domain names are expiring, but are not being offered up for sale. Members of the ISP-Webhosting list discuss the NSI bureaucracy and speculate about ways in which NSI could abuse its monopoly on the whois database.

[September 7, 2000]

On the ISP-Webhosting list in August, SAI shared a common problem:

"I've got a customer that wants an NSI domain. Whois gives me the following:

Record expires on 29-Jul-2000.
Record created on 28-Jul-1995.
Database last updated on 29-Aug-2000 06:45:17 EDT.

It would seem that the registration on the domain has expired, but I can't get it. Is the name being hoarded by NSI, or are they just slow?"

 

A few respondents felt that the latter choice makes the most sense:

[RC observed] "As an example of this, Postbox.com expired on 13 May 2000, yet it's still on hold. I'd like to buy it; perhaps several hundred of us would like to buy it. But how?"

[WXW explained] "Domains go on hold for a long time before being deleted, anywhere from 60 days to 2 years. There is nothing mandating the registrar to delete the name."

Others worried that NSI may have a darker purpose:

[HJ complained] "NSI had a government controlled monopoly for over five years, and is the registrar for far more names than all other registrars combined. If NSI can arbitrarily decide when they want to release a name, there's nothing to prevent them from holding on to valuable names and reselling them at a profit."

[FA added] "NSI are basically hired bookkeepers who are now acting like they own the company's assets. The registration service shouldn't be allowed to own or lease any domain names; they're just supposed to be the bookkeeper. Domain names have monetary value, and sooner or later the courts are going to have to deal with these issues."

BS, on the other hand, was willing to give NSI the benefit of the doubt:

"I think we should consider the fact that many domains are owned by individuals and small businesses, and that a family emergency could leave the person responsible for the domain with more important things to do for a period of time. NSI is not a pleasure to get along with these days, but hording domains simply does not make any sense when they could very easily setup a shell corporation."

BL offered a possible solution to the problem:

"Why don't they simply install a separate registration server to handle expired domains? One where it will let you request an expired domain, but also give the previous owner one last chance to re-register it."

Related conspiracy theory
"Time to Break Up Network Solutions?" The government took on Microsoft because they were abusing their monopoly power. But the government effectively handed NSI their monopoly on a silver platter, and look what they're doing to the industry. Perhaps it's time for some big changes.

—End