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ICANN Approves Waiting List Service
August 25, 2002
That crashing sound you hear is the sound of an entire niche industry collapsing.
VeriSign's controversial call for a waiting list service was passed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) late last week, despite objections raised earlier by one of its supporting organizations.
After a six-month grace period on expired domain names has passed, VeriSign will begin a one-year test program to determine whether the service is a boon to domain name owners and domain name wannabes.
The amendment gives the registry another revenue stream to pocket and essentially puts companies that offer to grab a domain name for interested buyers out of business. A waiting list service lets interested domain name seekers pay for the opportunity to grab an existing domain name once it expires.
Though VeriSign won't offer the service directly to domain name holders, it will charge registrars an undetermined fee ($25 has been mentioned) to offer the service to its customers. The fee is assessed whether the original domain name holder gives up the domain name or not.
In July, the domain names supporting organization (DNSO), one of three technical bodies whose task is to advise ICANN directors, rejected the amendment VeriSign was looking to adopt, but said it would cooperate if the board voted otherwise -- provided the board adopt several conditions.
More at: http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/1451891
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