From that I see this: Wow. It's like we are reading two different articles. If Verisign isn't doing typical rent-seeking, then we might as well delete the Wiki

From that I see this: Wow. It's like we are reading two different articles. If Verisign isn't doing typical rent-seeking, then we might as well delete the Wiki entry, because the concept doesn't exist. Just from paragraph 1: seeking to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth. Exactly what Verisign is doing. They are supplying infrastructure to the Internet. They're not creating anything, they're simply charging everyone an excessive fee for using the existing Internet. They're inserting themselves into every single .com and .net domain purchase or renewal. From paragraph 2: capture of regulatory agencies to gain a coercive monopoly can result in advantages for the rent seeker in the market Regulatory capture. This is exactly what happened when ICANN awarded no-bid contracts to Verisign, under the pretense that no other firm would have the capacity to do it.[1] [1] http://timothyblee.com/2010/01/22/verisign-angling-for-no-bid-contract-renewal/ http://timothyblee.com/2010/01/22/verisign-angling-for-no-bi...