Many people in the Internet game (myself included) have long suspected that when you use a  domain registrar to do a domain look-up to see if a particular domain is registered, the registrar uses that information to either register the domain for themselves or sell that data to third-parties.

Imagine a situation in which you think up (somedomain.com) and type it in to your registrar to see if it’s available. To your surprise it is available, but you decide to purchase it from another registrar. Immediately you click over to the other registrar and attempt to buy the domain only to discover that it’s no longer available. Weird huh?

I don’t know about weird, but it’s certainly scandalous. It’s called “domain front running” and it’s a very real thing. According to domainnamenews.com, domain registrar Network Solutions appears to have been caught with it’s hand in the proverbial “cookie jar” with regards to domain front running.

A story is developing regarding domain name registrar Network Solutions front running domains. According to multiple sources on DomainState.com, it appears that domains searched via NSI are being purchased by the registrar thereby preventing a registrant from purchasing it at any other registrar other than NSI. As an example (at the time of this writing), a random domain which DNN searches such as HowDoesThisDomainTasteTaste.com can be seen  in this whois search to now be unavailable to register at other registrars but at NSI it can be purchasedThe whois contact now says :

Registrant: Make this info private
This Domain is available at NetworkSolutions.com
13681 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 300
HERNDON, VA 20171
US

The domains are likely being purchased and held in NSI ownership until the potential registrant comes back to purchase the name through NSI. If the purchase is not made at NSI within 5 days, NSI uses the same 5 day grace period that domain tasting operations use and they delete the domain. Once a search for a domain is conducted at NSI the domain name is registered and only available to be purchased by a registrant at NSI. It is not clear if NSI has increased prices on domains that have received multiple whois searches and that they are front running.

NSI also apparently has no problem taking over control of trademark domains using this practice as well. Searches for names such as microsoft-dell.com and ibm-microsoft-dell.com all appear as registered now by NSI and only available for purchase at NSI.

This so-called “front running” while not illegal, represents a major breach of trust with customers who have long suspected companies of employing this practice.

For their part, Network Solutions has responded to the controversy by promising to improve customer protection measures.

-Chris Jones