Dotster, which has been my favorite place to register domain names, is circulating a letter to all its users asking for us to tell ICANN that we don’t like Verisign’s proposal for the “secondary domain market.” As far as I can tell from this, Verisign is proposing that SnapNames be the only authorized provider of the “Domain Name Wait Listing Service” that lets a user grab an existing name as soon as it becomes available. So, if I want “www.amazon.com,” I can pay a service a subscription fee so that if Amazon forgets to renew its registration of “www.amazon.com” it goes to me. Verisign — the owner of Network Solutions. which is the monopoly ICANN was established to break up — apparently would be the only one entitled to offer this service, which is currently widely available on the Net. It would charge $24/year whether or not the name came available, whereas other services charge less and only charge if the user succeeds in getting the name.

Now, here’s what I don’t understand. If two people register for “www.amazon.com” with different services, and Jeff Bezos forgets to put “Renew domain name” in his Palm Pilot, which of the two wins? Is this the problem Verisign is attempting to solve?

Let me know how I feel about this so I can register my opinion at ICANN by the end of July, and so I know whether I want to sign the online petition against the proposal.

Thank you.

Categories: Uncategorized dw