Re: domain..explain this

["Robert P. J. Day" <rpjday mindspring com>]

On Wed, 31 Jul 2002, Jesse Angell wrote:

> I contacted DirectNic.com about that
> and they said Verisign/Network Solutions often hold domains for over a
> year..
> Something seems fishy about that

quite some time ago, i read that some of the domain registrars would
collect expired domains and, rather than put them back on the market,
would try to sell them themselves at whatever they could get on the
open market.

in short, these registrars were not simply acting as custodians of
these domain names -- they took the position that they now *owned*
these domain names and could hawk them to the highest bidder.

as a socialist canadian, i am not normally a fan of capital punishment,
but in this case, i will make an exception.  well, for that and for
people who play loud bass music in their cars.

seriously, if a domain has expired and officially no one owns it,
demand to know why it is not available for purchase.  and if you
don't get a satisfactory answer, consider legal action.  chances are,
verisign/nsi are using that year to sell that domain name to the
highest bidder.

rday