[svlug] Domain name grab

[Rafael Skodlar]

On Sat, 26 Sep 1998, Mark Willey wrote:

> 
> The problem with this system is that the NIC does not make you pay for the 
> doamins that you "Grab".  If your payment lapses (ir you never pay) then 3 
> months later, the domain is free again.  These grabbers just re-grab the name 
> automatically, thereby holding the domain without pay indefinitely.  If the 
> NIC made them actually pay for the names they are hoarding, this behavior 
> would be stopped.  They simply cound not afford 12,000 names at $100 a pop for 
> 2 years.

That's not much. they paid only $900000 (12k * $75). What they are doing
(my understanding) is divide in subdomains and sell those for $35 or
whatever per year. That means they can sell bob.smith.com,
robert.smith.com, mary.smith.com, and...

same for animals doberman.dog.net, chiuahua.dog.net, pitbull.dog.net, ...

That's almost unlimited subdomain space. If they sell disk space and other
ISP services with it you can see the potential. I am surprized that MS is
not in it :-) 

> 
> Or we could decentralize and distribute authority for the domain name system.  
> My preference.  This centralized DNS authority is a weak point in the system.
> 

That's difficult to do. One possibility would be to use postal system
which is designed to make unique addresses already. I believe that USPS is
working on something like that. Of course, your address would change when
you move which is not a convenience in virtual address space.

So many things slip through the system when everybody is preoccupied with
the events in public life.

> But I agree that these hoarders are criminals and should be dealt with 
> appropriately.
> 
> Mark
> 
..........

  Rafael


--
echo "unsubscribe svlug" | mail majordomo at svlug.org
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ to unsubscribe