[policy] When Tech Meets Policy...

Tue Aug 14 01:42:38 UTC 2007

> That doesn't make anything criminal or fraud any more than free
> samples.  If a
> registrar wants to give a refund, I don't see anything wrong with that.

It is certainly fraud to take an entire pile of free samples. Domain tasting
is more like buying a plasma TV to watch the big game and then returning it
to the store on Monday.

However, when it's as blatant and obvious as it is now (more tasted domains
than legitimate registrations), and no policies are made to stop it despite
it being so easy to do so (simply limit the number of refunded domains to
10% of registrations or charge a 20 cent fee for refunded domains), you can
argue that it's now an understood and accepted practice.

It's not fraud if both parties know it's going to happen, can easily act to
stop it, and neither one chooses to.

DS