3 ms·

Well, tell that to your landlord, &c. I'm sure they'd have a different point of view.

• quesera 6y ago
  I "own" a few real properties, some of which I lease to tenants under fairly traditional terms for real property. I have the option of changing those terms to give my tenants effectively all ownership privileges except responsibility for some official correspondence with the city, e.g. property taxes. If I fail to pay quarterly property taxes, the city will have a different opinion about who "owns" the property. They will divest me of all ownership and operating privileges, and I will not be free to offer them to others. My feelings on the matter are irrelevant, because they have guns and prisons. I "own" several domain names. In fact, I also lease one domain name to a lessor under fairly traditional terms for domain names. I have given the lessor basically full operating rights to the domain, except responsibility for official interactions with the registrar. If I fail to pay annual domain registration fees, the registrar/foodchain will have a different opinion about who "owns" the domain name. They will divest ... etc, see above. My feelings on the matter are irrelevant, since they have control of the administration of the .com TLD. Your point, I think, is that you do not "own" a domain name. Because registrar agreements, ICANN oversight, court decisions, obligatory lease payments, etc. I agree. But you seem to misunderstand how real estate property "ownership" works (in the US). It's not meaningfully different. I might even have more ownership privileges over domain names (I can serve autoplaying videos with loud audio all day long) than I have privileges over my real property (I cannot play loud music without being financially and legally censured).