It's worth asking: Why is domain name speculation such a problem?It seems to me
that the reason is simple: Because domains can change hands between individuals.
Imagine
if telephone numbers worked the same way. You'd see people paying millions
for really good 800 numbers. But it *doesn't* work that way -- you have to
buy the 800 numbers from the phone company, so you don't see cool 800 numbers being
sold on eBay for two million dollars.
Imagine if the domain registrars banned the
third-party trade in domain names. If you no longer wanted a domain, you'd just have
to hand it back and the registrars would auction it off or sell it to the first interested
party. This would kill the parasites who buy up hundreds of domain names overnight,
and free those names for sale at reasonable prices.
What kind of business people
are in charge at Network Solutions, that they watch domains changing hands for two
million bucks and don't wonder to themselves "Why aren't we getting any of that?"