ICANN to investigate domain name search theft

Have you ever searched for a domain name, found that it was available at the time of the search, only to find it has been registered by someone else when you come back to register it a few minutes later?

Well, apparently enough people have complained about this occurance to indicate that it might not be simply a coincidence every time.

The Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) of ICANN has launched a probe into what they call domain front-running. The term front-running was coined in the wild west, when land speculators purchased soon to be valuable land based on insider information.

"When the domain name of interest for which an availability check is made is registered shortly after such a check, the individuals making the availability check may reasonably assume that the organization operating the web site or service they used to determine the availability of the name pre-emptively registered the name," said the report by the SSAC.

People have been using whois services and domain registrars to check domain name availability, and presumed occurances of front-running can only tarnish the reputation of the said service in the eyes of the customer.

"Registrants have filed complaints with ICANN, registrars, and with intellectual property attorneys that suggest domain name front running incidents may have occurred," it said. "SSAC does not yet have any hard data to draw conclusions regarding the frequency (if any) of the occurrence of domain name front running."

Even though some of the above mentioned occurances might be down to coincidence, it is very hard to believe that all such domain name searches and subsequent registrations by a third party are merely coincidental.

In any case, I think it is very good that ICANN has taken note and that they will at least raise awareness of the customers concerns.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at 11:26 am and is filed under Domain News, Domain Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.