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A few months back, I wrote a post linking to an AP story that suggested that some domain name registrars were using search queries to snatch up domain names that were about to be purchased. It seems that the suspicions discussed in the story were founded.

Earlier this evening, a story on Digg declared that Network Solutions was registering any domain name that was users searched for using their link to the WHOIS database. The comments provided copious examples of this practice, none of which are really appropriate to repeat here. I read the methodology described in the original linked post, and tried to duplicate it myself.

See how it turned out, and why you should be careful, after the jump…

I first picked a domain that I suspected wasn’t in use - beaconfire-rocks.com (though we do!). I searched for the domain using the official InterNIC search, and it indicated that it was unclaimed (click images for full screenshot)

 

I then went to Networks Solutions, and ran the same search. Network Solutions indicated that the domain was available, and yes, they’d be glad to register it for me:

 

I then went back to InterNIC to see if my Network Solutions had helpfully decided to go ahead and poach my domain for me. But running a query, it seemed that it was still available. Huh? Could Digg have lied to me? If I couldn’t trust this story, might the Ron Paul blimp not have charted an unprecedented course? Might the Linux desktop not be ever more popular?

Despairing at a possible collapse of the collective worldview, I took a closer look - based on the timestamp, it looks like InterNIC saves on the bandwidth by not updating its database constantly - the last update was before I registered the domain.

So I went to domaintools.com, a fairly reliable place for WHOISing. There, I was told that, unfortunately, my domain was not longer available:

So there it is, folks - the moral of the story seems to be that you should do your searching only from sites that you can rely on not to market your data - I recommend the InterNIC site set up by the Department of Commerce - if you can’t trust Uncle Sam, who can you trust?

In the interest of fairness, I could see NS’s argument in favor of this practice - if you’re searching for a good domain, and find the one you want, but aren’t sure you want to buy it yet, it’s nice to know that you can come back and pick it up later without it being picked up later by someone else. There’s also an argument to be made that just as Google uses their search results to make money, domain name vendors should be able to do the same.

But to have your domain bought by the company who you’re simply using as a search, without your request or opt-in, seems to be a sketchier practice. I’m trying to think of an analogy in general retail, but the fact is that there really is none: part of what makes domain names a "business" is that they’re unique, which is what makes this so insidious.

Hopefully, we’ll see this practice come to an end - as I’ve previously argued, the wild west of domain names needs to come to an end with a healthy dose of governmental regulation. Until then, use caution when searching, and be ready to buy on the spot.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 12:31 am and is filed under Business Strategy and Process, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.