[At-Large] Research Requested

[Danny Younger]

A recent blog entry by Jay Westerdal again points to
institutionalized theft of domain name research -- see
http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/03/stealing-domain-name-research/

Many registrants have complained that when they
attempt to research the availability of a particular
domain name, that domain name is invariably registered
by another party within hours.

Jay argues that one culprit in the process may be ISPs
that are collecting Non-eXistent Domain (NXD) Data
that results from an address-bar search.  He states: 
"I personally talked with a representative that gave
me her business card and quoted me a six figure number
for access to their NXD data."

We now have registry contracts (such as .com) that
specifically allow for the collection of such data:

"Traffic Data.  Nothing in this Agreement shall
preclude Registry Operator from making commercial use
of, or collecting, traffic data regarding domain names
or non-existent domain names"

I also suspect that many registrars are selling the
results of search queries performed on their sites
that don't result in immediate registrations to third
parties.

Whatever the case may be, I view these actions
collectively as a threat to what should be an
inviolate domain name registration process.

I urge the ALAC to initiate an investigation into this
phenomenon and to advise the ICANN Board accordingly
of the results of your research.


 
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