You are right, domains are essentially a "public resource" whose value was created by U.S. tax dollars in the initial stage. However, after that creation rather than being properly allocated via an auction on the names, the names were treated as though all names have the same value.
Clearly they do not.
So, like when radio spectrum was just given away rather than auctioned many many many domainers and companies got great deals at the expense of the general public.
Verisign being the most egregious case -- they have gotten fat over the past 12? years with providing a commodity at ridiculously high prices with zero competition.
Anyway, you are right, domains should be auctioned (as they are in most new gtlds / cctlds that open), dropped domains should NOT be the property of the registrar they drop with, but go back to a transparent open auction system -- with the revenue used to sustain ICAN rather than taxes on names or subsidies from governments.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Libertine
No, what sucks is that an extremely limited commodity that is essential to doing business online was given out to people for a negligible payment, in unlimited amounts, on a first-come-first-served basis.
Someone who registers them in bulk and only sells at high prices only has to sell 1 in every 100 or so to turn a small profit. And therein lies the problem: it's simple and inexpensive to keep hundreds or even thousands of domains occupied but undeveloped.
I've profited from the system myself, and probably own more domains than most people in this thread. But that doesn't make it a good system.
You could compare the internet to a city in that regard: if land allocation works in such a way that a majority of worthwhile land is taken but undeveloped, the system is broken.
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