Internet agency to battle domain name ’tasting’

Internet agency to battle
domain name ’tasting’

NEW YORK — The Internet’s key oversight agency is taking a preliminary step toward combating domain name tasting — the online equivalent of buying expensive clothes on a charge card only to return them for a full refund after wearing them to a party.

Entrepreneurs have been taking advantage of a five-day grace period to sample domain names, keeping the relative few that might generate advertising revenues and dropping the rest before paying.

The grace period was originally designed to rectify legitimate mistakes, such as registrants mistyping the domain name they are about to buy. But with automation and a burgeoning online advertising market, entrepreneurs generated big bucks exploiting the policy to test hoards of names.

The practice ties up millions of domain names at any given time, making it more difficult for legitimate individuals and businesses to get a desirable name.

In a draft report issued this week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers outlined key issues for a committee to study further and craft recommendations. A final report is due after a public comment period closes Jan. 28.

Don’t expect any immediate relief. The committee, the Generic Names Supporting Organization, could take months or years to review the matter, after which ICANN’s board still would have to vote on any changes.

Study: Half of Americans
use video-sharing sites

NEW YORK — Nearly half of Americans who use the Internet have used a video-sharing site such as YouTube, and daily traffic to watch or post video doubled last year, a new survey finds.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 48 percent of Internet users have visited such a video-sharing site at least once to watch or post video, a growth from 33 percent in December 2006. On a typical day, 15 percent of users watch or post a video, up from 8 percent a year ago.

Lee Rainie, the Pew project’s director, attributed the growth to a rising number of people making more video clips available and telling more friends about them. Whole new groups are posting video for sharing, such as professors who post footage of themselves teaching or conducting experiments.

Rainie was surprised usage wasn’t higher.

Associated Press