DISQUS

Technology Liberation Front: Unsavory Domain Tasting - ICANN Starts to Take Action

  • tinkertim · 2 years ago
    I'm not quite sure if there is anything that could be done about this in a single act. It is a growing (and festering) problem.




    Years in the web hosting industry tell me, at least 4/10 domain registrations are fraudulent, using stolen credit card numbers or phished PayPal accounts. Since these charges are typically small, they might remain undiscovered by the rightful owner of the account or card for 15 - 30 days (depending on when they get their statement). Even with the grace period as-is, hosts and registrars end up eating a significant majority of these domains.





    That's a problem for the host and registrar as well as a problem for someone who might want that domain and attempt to register it legally.





    I'd be in favor of a 45 day grace period, but release/refunds should have to be accompanied with proof of fraud. Since fraud is one of the biggest factors driving prices higher, this might help a bit.





    However, this puts a greater administrative weight on ICANN, as I said, I'm not sure that there is any good solution to the problem.





    I see no other sensible reason for 'tasting', either you want the domain or you don't. At least they're (attempting) to address it. I hope that they deal with this a little more efficiently than they dealt with the Registerfly melt down.