Some time ago I posted about a new emerging trend in the domain name industry. The process of registering domain names and deleting them within a 5 day window. Most of the companies are looking to do one of or both of the following: Make money from parked pages or selling the domain name at a premium. This is definitely a grey area. I do think there are ways to do this that are ethically right, bit far more ways to do it that are not.

Well it seems another registrar has found itself in a mess. Apparently Network Solutions has gotten into the practice of domain tasting. They also seem to have done so in a way that is not so much grey area, its just wrong. It seems that Network Solutions has been keeping an eye out on domains people are searching for in their WHOIS utility. If available they are snatching the name up themselves and holding on to them for 5 days in hopes of selling the name to someone. It is not known at the moment if they are doing so at a premium price. If they are that is really dirty, but even if it is at their normal retail costs it is still a bad thing that they are forcing you to register through them.

I came across this story on DomainNameNews.com, the entire story is available here.