RE: [alac] Re: Domain Monetization Background

[Wendy Seltzer <wendy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 01:43 PM 8/22/2006, Sebastián Ricciardi wrote:

> Let´s focus on the USER concerns:
>
> a) Domain monetization is happening. Does anyone has the numbers? (i.e.
> domains registered in add grace period, total domains registered,
> registrations lifetime, etc?

Name Intelligence has been posting statistics 
daily to the ICANNwiki, 
<http://www.icannwiki.org/Domain_Statistics>.  On 
a daily basis, about 1.2 million .com domains are 
added, and about 1.2 million are deleted (the 
numbers are much lower in the other 
gTLDs).  Nearly 3/4 of all the .com domains that 
have ever been registered are currently in 
"deleted" status, more than 153,000,000 domains 
were at one time registered, but are not 
currently -- making them likely fodder for the "tasters."


> b) Is this practice affecting the availability of domains to the public? If
> so, how?

I've heard from several individuals who tried to 
register names, either new names or variations on 
their company's name, only to find them cycling 
through the add-drop-re-add loop.  It further 
seems to me not to benefit the public to have 
this constantly shifting set of adpages posted at low cost to their posters.

ICANN created a policy with a loophole.  That 
loophole is being exploited in unexpected ways 
that are harmful to the use experience of the 
ordinary Internet user.  ICANN should close the loophole.

--Wendy

--
Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@xxxxxxxxxxx
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html
http://www.chillingeffects.org/