I’ve been trying to help a friend setup a blog, so I told him to pick a domain. I pointed him to netsol.com (Network Solutions) to find a domain to use, because I find their domain search tool to be very useful. My friend did some searching and found a domain that he liked. I pointed him to WingSix, which is the registrar that I prefer to use. He did a search on WingSix with plans to purchase and got a message saying that the domain was taken. We returned to Network Solutions to see if the domain was still available there, and it was. We then did a whois lookup to see if someone did own it, and someone does.

It turns out that Network Solutions registers every domain that you search for. That means that if you do a search on Network Solutions for a domain, then they’ll exclusively own the domain. You now have two options: purchase the domain through Network Solutions or choose another domain and search for the domain elsewhere. So what’s the catch? Network Solutions adds a fee to your bill when registering a domain that they own, so instead of costing $9 / year, your domain will cost $40 / year (at least for the first year).

In the extreme case that the whole internet used Network Solutions for searching, Network Solutions would own all new domains, turning themselves into a monopoly.

Update: pledge this if you disagree with their practices or sign the online petition! Digg this posts and that article as well!

Update 2: Apparently Network Solutions is going to get rid of this policy!  CNet has more.