[thelist] The Collapse of NSI....????

[Isaac Forman]

Here's some NSI news from arstechnica (not really news, but just something to
bitch about ;):


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What does NSI do with all of those domain names that expire and never get
renewed? They appear to be hoarding them up so that they can auction them off at
some point. Check it:

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Competitors of Network Solutions (NSI) are furious over what they say is the
Virginia company's refusal to put unpaid names back into the "pool" for others
to register. "This act is completely and utterly illegal," said Sasha Mornell,
senior vice president of Register.com, the second-largest registrar. "It's an
abuse of their former monopolist power." Michael Mann, president of
BuyDomains.com, said, "There are at least 1 million names that are currently
being hoarded by Network Solutions." Mann's company searches public databases to
track how many names should be available, but aren't. He said in the month of
May alone, 207,448 ".com" names expired and were kept off the market by NSI.
"Since this doesn't include '.nets' and '.orgs,' we estimate the total number to
be approximately 300,000 names per month they're hoarding," Mann said.
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Some folks are even claiming that NSI is extending their domain name leases,
totally without their permission, so that the names won't show up on the market
again. One guy says he was trying to wait out his lease so he could re-register
his name with another registrar, but NSI extended the lease for another year
without even consulting him, an act that will force him to pay their hefty
transfer fee if he wants to switch registrars. The whole thing is pretty
outrageous, but I can't say I'm surprised. NSI is a company that never ceases to
amaze me with their unique combination of profound incompetence and sheer
audacity. I suspect that if NSI were in charge of nuclear secrets, they could
give the guys at Lost Alamos Labs a run for their money.
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Ridiculous, eh? Extending leases, withholding expired domains, etc.


isaac