Revoking of 'dash' domains begins
The discovery last weekend by Network Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: NSOL) that 846 domains had been registered using a dash mark as the last character in the name (for example, e-.com, or help-.com) prompted the Virginia-based company to promptly implement a fix preventing more names from being registered.
Network Solutions then notified ICANN and the 23 other companies actively registering domain names of the problem, reminding them of a long-standing policy that prohibits any character other than a numeral or letter to be used at the beginning or end of a domain name.
NSI officials said only about five registrars allowed the names to be registered. The glitch was unintentionally caused because some of the registrars forgot to add filtering code into the software they use when someone tries to register a name.
The registrars who accepted the domain names will be refunding individuals' registration fees.
For years, only NSI was allowed to register domain names, but with the establishment of ICANN and the U.S. government's desire to open the market to competition, nearly 100 companies have been approved to accept registrations. But NSI continues to maintain the master list of who owns which domain names.
'Dash' URLs break ftp
At least one of the names registered, microsoft-.com, involved a registered trademark, causing officials to speculate that allowing the dash mark could encourage cybersquatting.
Besides that possibility, Brian O'Shaughnessy, spokesperson for NSI, says having a dash at the end of the name "breaks" such Internet applications as ftp and telnet.
But Anthony La Forge, who registered e-.com, e-.org, and e-.net for his Iowa-based business, calls O'Shaughnessy's claims "a convenient excuse" and says he hopes ICANN's decision can be appealed.
"Finding another name will be extremely inconvenient," said La Forge. "Domains that are that short are extremely expensive and hard to come by."
ICANN President Mike Roberts says his organization didn't really have a choice in the matter. The rule about prohibiting domains ending with dashes was part of a set of contracts signed by ICANN, the U.S. government and NSI ensuring the right to open up competition within the registry field.
"If we would have said anything other than (what) we did, we would have had to go to the community and ask them about changing the contracts," explained Roberts.
A few problems expected
Both Roberts and O'Shaughnessy pointed out that, for a system less than a year old that registers thousands of new domains each day, a few glitches are to be expected.
Still, this is first time an entire class of names has been revoked. Until now, most revocations have occurred when administrative problems arose and a domain was registered to more than one person.
Sally Abel, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based trademark lawyer specializing in Internet issues, thinks the dispute is largely due to a case of everyone wanting too much, too soon, and will likely move the registration system toward a model that includes more specifically laid out rules.
"We're starting with a system that's like the 'Wild, Wild West,' said Abel. "Everybody wants it to be the opportunity to get rich quick, but the flip side is everyone wants total accountability, instantaneously, on a system that was never designed to handle the kind of traffic or address the kinds of issues that people are now addressing on the Web and in the domain name system."