Front-running is a domain name scam that involves someone
registering a domain name that another party has searched for the
availability of and then charging that person more than a normal
fee for the name.
In an attempt to combat the scam Network Solutions last week
introduced a new policy by which it kept control of searched-for
domain names for four days, prompting accusations that it itself
was front-running.
The company scaled back some of its changes, but a spokeswoman
told OUT-LAW.COM that it was working on a way to ensure that only
the initial searcher for a domain name could buy it in that
four-day period.
One major criticism of the new Network Solutions rules had been
that while it stopped other companies scamming the name, anyone
could come and buy it from Network Solutions in the five-day
period, not just the original searcher.
"We have been looking into possibly implementing something where
we could register it and hold it for whomever originally searched
on it," said Susan Wade. "It is possible, it's just the development
time, how to capture the information, but it's definitely something
we are looking into."
Despite the fact that the process locks any searcher who wants
the domain name immediately into buying from Network Solutions,
Wade said that the company was not front-running.
"By implementing this we are not front-running, we are just
holding it for four days. We are not monetising it, we have no
intention of keeping it or selling it in the secondary market, we
are just holding it and if you want to come back to out store front
and buy it you can, after that we are letting it go," she said.
The company said that it believed some registries were selling
search query data to front-runners who then snapped up desired
addresses.
Wade said that while it had stopped reserving domains searched
for on its WHOIS service, it would continue to do so with domains
searched for on its home page.
"We are still registering domains if you come to our home page
and do a search for them for up to four days and in that time
anyone can come in and pay our regular rate for the domain," said
Wade. "For the people who go to our WHOIS a lot of people are going
to see what domain is registered to whom. We have made the decision
to take the registration customer protection measure off the WHOIS
page."
