Many Dot-Name Domains Break The Rules

Brian McWilliams
Friday, May 31, 2002

Thousands of recently registered "dot-name" domains violate regulations governing the new Web addresses, according to a study released today. 

A review of dot-name domains registered before May 16 showed that nearly 6,000, or more than eight percent, fail to comply with registration restrictions approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), according to Ben Edelman, a technology analyst for Harvard's Berkman Center For Internet & Society. 

The ".name" suffix went live in mid-January, following a preregistration period in which Internet users signed up for 60,000 dot-name addresses. 

Under restrictions approved by ICANN, registrations of dot-name domains must adhere to the format "firstname.lastname.name" and must be "a person's legal name, or a name by which the person is commonly known." 

But Edelman's review of nearly 74,000 dot-name registrations showed, for example, that more than 100 dot-name domains include the word "domain," while almost 400 include the word "the," and more than 500 registered dot-name domains include the word "family." 

Edelman also noted that two people registered dozens of dot-names that bore the names of famous individuals. 

While he concedes that "some members of the Internet community may consider such non-compliance unimportant," Edelman said the statistics do not bode well for the opening of registrations for dot-pro domains, expected late this year. 

More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51060-2002Jun3.html