Domain Name Front Running

[Andrew A. Adams]

> Hi,
>
> Domain name front running does not require knowing anything about the identity of the person searching on the name, only that the name was searched.
>
> Unlike stock front running I do not believe there are laws against it.  I also do not believe there are any policies explicitly related to it at this point, though the GNSO did study it at one point and seemed unable to prove that it occurred:
>
> http://gnso.icann.org/issues/rap/rap-wg-final-report-29may10-en.pdf  page 34
>
> > It is unclear to what extent front-running happens, and the RAPWG does not recommend policy development at this time. The RAPWG suggests that the Council monitor the issue and consider next steps if conditions warrant.

It's interesting that this came up at exactly the same time as a non-profit
service mark question came up elsewhere in my activities. <name>2011.org is
turns out is being used by an unrelated group. The proposal has been made to
pre-register <name>201X.org for X=2, 3, 4, 5 as they are all currently
unregistered. Obviously people in the group have checked <name>2012.org etc
for registrations. I'll keep an eye on whether these end up taken by someone
else (stolen is the wrong word IMHO and I wish people would not use the word
"steal" for such things).



--
Professor Andrew A Adams                      aaa at meiji.ac.jp
Professor at Graduate School of Business Administration,  and
Deputy Director of the Centre for Business Information Ethics
Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan       http://www.a-cubed.info/