3 ms·

This is definitely unscrupulous. It would be illegal if domains were a regulated market. This seems basically like the definition of frontrunning: > purchasin

by ratorx 4y ago

This is definitely unscrupulous. It would be illegal if domains were a regulated market. This seems basically like the definition of frontrunning: > purchasing a security based on advance non-public information regarding an expected large transaction that will affect the price of a security Domain searches are not public info. Domain expiry maybe, depending on how the expiry is handled (open auction where registrar bids vs registrar getting a unfair advantage and buying the domain before it becomes accessible to anyone else).

gist 4y ago
> This is definitely unscrupulous. However it is not unscrupulous. Business and making money in this way is not unscrupulous. There is nothing to guarantee also that if the domain were not taken by a registrar it would be available to purchase at a nominal registration cost. It might not be for sale at any price. > It would be illegal if domains were a regulated market. Why does that matter. It's not a regulated market. That's like saying 'if it was illegal it would be illegal'. > Domain searches are not public info. There is nothing to indicate other than someone says something on reddit that the registrar front runned (what is being implied) even happened. As typical someone says something and everyone assumes all the facts are correct (ie someone searches and registrar says 'oh I will now grab that domain someone wants it!'.) > Domain expiry maybe, depending on how the expiry is handled (open auction where registrar bids vs registrar getting a unfair advantage and buying the domain before it becomes accessible to anyone else Except we don't know that is what happened here.
- ratorx 4y ago
  > It might not be for sale at any price Sure, the domain could be unavailable because someone else wanted it. However with front running, the registrar does not want the domain in isolation. They want to domain purely because you are likely to want it based on the fact that you searched for it. The primary difference is using non-public data (your search) to make the decision to buy (which is part of the front running definition). > Why does it matter If the law was perfect at all times, it would never change. It is not a tautology because there are things that WOULDN’T be illegal even if the market was regulated as heavily as other ones. Pointing out that this is behaviour that is penalised in other situations is not useless. Precedent is the fundamental basis of many legal arguments. The rest of your comment is about the truthfulness of the OP. For the argument I was making, it doesn’t matter. I was disagreeing with your original comment (which was that this general behaviour is not wrong). The morality of the general behaviour and whether Namecheap actually does it are two completely separate points.

by ratorx 4y ago

gist 4y ago

> This is definitely unscrupulous. However it is not unscrupulous. Business and making money in this way is not unscrupulous. There is nothing to guarantee also that if the domain were not taken by a registrar it would be available to purchase at a nominal registration cost. It might not be for sale at any price. > It would be illegal if domains were a regulated market. Why does that matter. It's not a regulated market. That's like saying 'if it was illegal it would be illegal'. > Domain searches are not public info. There is nothing to indicate other than someone says something on reddit that the registrar front runned (what is being implied) even happened. As typical someone says something and everyone assumes all the facts are correct (ie someone searches and registrar says 'oh I will now grab that domain someone wants it!'.) > Domain expiry maybe, depending on how the expiry is handled (open auction where registrar bids vs registrar getting a unfair advantage and buying the domain before it becomes accessible to anyone else Except we don't know that is what happened here.

ratorx 4y ago
> It might not be for sale at any price Sure, the domain could be unavailable because someone else wanted it. However with front running, the registrar does not want the domain in isolation. They want to domain purely because you are likely to want it based on the fact that you searched for it. The primary difference is using non-public data (your search) to make the decision to buy (which is part of the front running definition). > Why does it matter If the law was perfect at all times, it would never change. It is not a tautology because there are things that WOULDN’T be illegal even if the market was regulated as heavily as other ones. Pointing out that this is behaviour that is penalised in other situations is not useless. Precedent is the fundamental basis of many legal arguments. The rest of your comment is about the truthfulness of the OP. For the argument I was making, it doesn’t matter. I was disagreeing with your original comment (which was that this general behaviour is not wrong). The morality of the general behaviour and whether Namecheap actually does it are two completely separate points.