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I think the way to fix domain squatting is just to enforce a larger annual ICANN* fee. I would set it just above what someone can likely make a year via a link

I think the way to fix domain squatting is just to enforce a larger annual ICANN* fee. I would set it just above what someone can likely make a year via a link farm. Say for instance $500. If you really want a domain for your business, etc. that isn't an unreasonable amount. If you want it as a link farm, you are de-incentivized. If you have the next twitter.com, then speculate if you'll get your $100K or more. I would then take this extra money would get used to support research and development for internet related things like protocols, exploits, etc. so it is a net win for everyone. Also, we then have less companies with names made up of bad spellings.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago
That would wipe out any chance I could buy a domain without being guaranteed to make money on it - like the domain I use for my blog. I'm probably relatively well off compared to internet users as a whole. It seems anti-democratic to do this to me, it may solve the problem but the cost being that ordinary users can't afford domains is too high IMO.
- pdelbarba 9y ago
  I don't think you need a $500 buy in. Most register for less than a dollar, so maybe a fee in the $20-50 range? You won't discourage everyone but the number of domains squatted will be a fraction of the current number (something like 80% of the new TLD domains registered are for squatting) The amount people can pay to get a business domain off of a squatter won't increase (since this is all artificial anyway) but you cut into the profit margin of maintaining millions of registrations pretty quickly.
- snarf21 9y ago
  Yeah, I don't know what the right amount is but it could also be by suffix. Maybe make .com more expensive like $1K and .blog cheaper like $50 a year or something. This might be a better mapping to real life. Most people can't afford ocean front property (.com) but can afford a house in the suburbs (.blog or .info) and you could also make .org even cheaper (but maybe require tax exemption status documents to buy). I'd just like to see there be a higher barrier to entry to squatting. The cost is so low right now that there is no reason not too. It is already hard to find "word1"+"word2"+".com" for any pair of words and this will only get worse.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago

That would wipe out any chance I could buy a domain without being guaranteed to make money on it - like the domain I use for my blog. I'm probably relatively well off compared to internet users as a whole. It seems anti-democratic to do this to me, it may solve the problem but the cost being that ordinary users can't afford domains is too high IMO.

pdelbarba 9y ago
I don't think you need a $500 buy in. Most register for less than a dollar, so maybe a fee in the $20-50 range? You won't discourage everyone but the number of domains squatted will be a fraction of the current number (something like 80% of the new TLD domains registered are for squatting) The amount people can pay to get a business domain off of a squatter won't increase (since this is all artificial anyway) but you cut into the profit margin of maintaining millions of registrations pretty quickly.
snarf21 9y ago
Yeah, I don't know what the right amount is but it could also be by suffix. Maybe make .com more expensive like $1K and .blog cheaper like $50 a year or something. This might be a better mapping to real life. Most people can't afford ocean front property (.com) but can afford a house in the suburbs (.blog or .info) and you could also make .org even cheaper (but maybe require tax exemption status documents to buy). I'd just like to see there be a higher barrier to entry to squatting. The cost is so low right now that there is no reason not too. It is already hard to find "word1"+"word2"+".com" for any pair of words and this will only get worse.