At 1/3/02 12:37 PM, William X Walsh wrote: >> Yeah. Again, I don't really want to defend Verisign, but the reality is >> that they "own" deleted .com domain names one way or another, and they're > >No, they don't. They own a right to administer the .com namespace, >but they do not "own" the TLD, so there is no claim of "ownership" in >the TLD or second level names under it.
You're right, but that's why I put "own" in quotes. They don't really own individual names, but they have, alas, been given the exclusive right to sell them for $6. Therefore, what we're talking about is whether that right allows them to choose to sell some of those domains to the first person who adds himself to an exclusive list by ponying up an extra $40. The reason it feels "less wrong" than the OpenSRS experiment is that the registry does already have a contractual right to sell expired domains, whereas registrars clearly don't. However, "less wrong" doesn't make it right. The more I think about it, the more I find myself opposed. Verisign was given the right to sell domains for $6, and part of the reason the contracts were "awarded" to Verisign is that they promised to maintain the $6 price. Now they've found a way to maintain the $6 price shown in the contracts... as long as people pay them an extra $40 for the privilege of being on an exclusive list. That seems to violate the spirit of the idea that the registry agreed to charge a fixed $6 for domains in exchange for being given a monopoly. The trouble is that the contracts are all too vague. I don't believe they specify that Verisign has to give names out on a first-come, first-served basis, or that the allocation has to be "fair". (I think it was just assumed that would always be the case... ha!) If the registry ran this scheme as a basically non-profit or low-profit arrangement (allowing registrars, including Verisign Registrar, to collect all the profits), I'd be in favor of it, as you'd then have pricing competition amongst registrars -- it would fit in more with the registry/registrar model. Basically, I'd like to see it so that Verisign isn't using their monopoly power on expired domains to ream people, which is what this scheme amounts to. -- Robert L Mathews, Tiger Technologies
