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The add/drop scheme. How millions of .COM names are used but never paid for.

HotPointsWithBobParson

“Add/drop” abuse is everybody’s problem.

We Americans have a big problem – actually it’s everybody’s problem — and it has something in common with the .EU Landrush abuse I just finished writing about – no one wants to talk about it. The problem I’m talking about is abuse of the ADD Grace Period (AGP) by a number of key registrars right here in the good ole U.S.A.

The AGP is a five day window during which a newly registered domain name can be deleted or dropped and the registration fee is then refunded by the Registry. The original intent of the AGP was to provide a mechanism for Registrars and registrants to correct mistakes, reverse fraudulent registrations, etc. That original intent has gone astray - because today the AGP is being misused in a large way. I call it the add/drop scheme.

The add/drop scheme hurts all Internet users.

Millions of good .COM domain names – on any given day over 3.5 million and climbing — are unfairly made unavailable to small businesses and others who would actually register and use them in ways for which the names were intended. Many times businesses accidentally let their domain names expire. When they go to renew them, they find they have been snapped up – and taken away with a huge expensive hassle to follow – by an add/drop registrar.

It’s important to first understand the awesome size of the problem.

On the 31st day of March 2006, approximately 764,672 .COM names were registered. Of these names, after the five day AGP period expired, only 61,169 .COM names were actually retained.

So, of the 764,672 names registered on March 31st, 703,503 — or 92% — were dropped just before the grace period expired. The lion’s share – perhaps 99% — were dropped by registrars participating in the add/drop scheme.

During the week of March 27 — April 2, 2006, 5,822,881 .COM names were registered. Of those names, only 455,918 .COM names were actually retained after the grace period expired.

Of the .COM names registered during the above week 5,366,963 – or 92.1% — were dropped during the grace period. Once again, at least 99% of these were dropped by registrars participating in the add/drop scheme.

--full story--

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