Paying to Squat

Just as the profits in traditional cybersquatting are in decline, VeriSign announces a "pay-to-squat" service for domain names that are expiring. The service will hand out domain names on a "first come, first served" basis.

by Michael Singer of siliconvalley.internet.com [January 7, 2002]

And you thought that VeriSign was going to be nicer this year.

Aiming at the wallet of the little guy, VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Friday announced an upcoming Wait Listing Service (WLS). The plan is expected to charge people $40 a year for the right to register an expired domain name.

Mountain View, Calif.-based company expects the new service to launch on March 20, 2002.

The dot-com domain name registrar is coordinating the plan with Portland, Ore.-based SnapNames, which licenses its Parallel Registry technology for VeriSign's .COM and .NET registry architecture.

"This is a positive move for our industry—one that will ensure an equal-access, first-come, first-served, and reasonably priced service that would be available to every registrant, regardless of sophistication," says SnapNames chairman and CEO Ron Wiener. "For years, people have been waiting for a way to be next in line for domain names. WLS would finally and directly meet this need."

The idea is to allow parties to be next in line to register a domain name once it is deleted from the registry. Currently the wait listing services is a virtual free-for-all.

"People tell us that they follow some sites on a daily or even hourly basis," says VeriSign spokesperson Cheryl Regan. "The time is right for a service like this, with the volume of names coming up."

VeriSign says offering its Wait Listing Service at the registry level would provide equal access to all registrars and would result in a higher efficacy rate for applicants, as the registration is virtually assured, should the current domain name registration expire.

The proposal has been sent off to ICANN-accredited registrars (who represent the distribution channel for this service). The comment period ends January 18.

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