Domain names moving to be end-user unfriendly?

News via CircleID – ICANN (the regulators who manage internet names) have proposed contracts that would allow pricing of domain names based on the perceived attractiveness of the name.  The article has a well-dissected example of how really popular names (the example always given is sex.com or sex.org) could be very expensive, but what it really means is that all names are at risk.  Any domain name that can be made popular (think of google.com or useradvocate.com :) ) could have their price raised to be painful, all so that the registrars’ monopolies can be more valuable.

This is bad for the average domain-name user (purchaser) but is really even worse for the average web browsing user.  What if you wanted to find that cute boutique you found online last year, only to discover that it is gone and someone else paid more money for the domain?  Would you realize it was another shop and not the same one with a web redesign?  Or would it only be after you paid for an item and found out the quality was nothing like it used to be?

This ‘trust us, they won’t do it’ is ridiculous and sounds like the Telco proposals where they promise not to overcharge us for internet access… I’m not so trusting.  In a scarce-supply, regulated, environment, the reason you have price caps and regulation is to protect the users. Maybe the regulators need a reminder.

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