Journal: Is domain name kiting ruining the internet?

Out of 35 million domain names registered in May 2006, less than 3 million were legitimate! The remaining 92% were dropped within five days without incurring registration fees. A loophole in the ICANN regulations permits domain registrars to delete a registration within five days a receive a full refund. This has led to a growing practice dubbed Domain Name Kiting.

As decribed by Larry Setzler from eWeek.com, unscrupulous registrars are utilizing this loophole in a massive "tasting" or "kiting" scheme where names are temporarily registered and ad-filled parking pages created. If the domain names receive enough hits on their temporary sites, the names are kept, the remainder are dropped under the Add Grace Period and any registration fees are refunded.

Leading registrars, such as GoDaddy have spoken out about the issue, including offering proposed solutions, yet ICANN and Verisign refuse to do anything. More details can be found at Domain Kiting 101.