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Jun. 20, 2008

Domain registrar Network Solutions announced on today that it will be supporting ICANN's proposal in applying a non-refundable 20 cent per-transaction ICANN fee to domain names deleted during the Add Grace Period.

ICANN says the small fee is applicable once the level of deletions exceeds 10 percent of a domain name registrar's net new registrations in that given month.

The act of "domain name tasting" exploits the fact that individuals or companies can register a domain and keep it for up to five full days. During that time, abusers can test domains to see if they generate more in advertising revenues than the cost of their annual registration fee, and if they don't, return it and ask for a full refund.

As part of its fiscal 2009 budget, the ICANN board of directors will decide next week whether to adopt this anti-domain tasting provision, which was first proposed three months ago.

Network Solutions says the practice is very abusive and has urged the ICANN board to adopt the non-refundable fee so there is no longer any financial incentive to engage in the practice.

But this is viewed by many as very hypocritical, considering that earlier this year Network Solutions adopted the controversial practice of registering on its own behalf any domain searches performed on its site.

Network Solutions has long been criticized for engaging in front-running - the practice where an individual registers a domain name for the purpose of tasting, immediately after someone else has conducted a search for that domain.

In February, Network Solutions was named in a federal class action lawsuit regarding this practice.

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Source: The Planet.