en_GB http://tobyinkster.co.uk/tag/netsol/ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/blog/2008/01/10/netsol-cybersquatting/ <p>Over the last couple of days I&#8217;ve read a few stories about <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/">Network Solutions</a> pulling a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site_Finder">Site Finder</a> by stealing unregistered domain names on which people have run a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whois">whois</a> query.</p> <p>They wait for people to whois query a domain (commonly done as a first step to registering a domain&nbsp;&#8212; to check that nobody already owns it), and if nobody owns it, they temporarily register it for five days (after which they&#8217;d have to pay for it themselves!) and thus prevent anyone from registering the domain name using a competing registrar. <a href="http://commandline.org.uk/more/squat-for-the-win-2008-01-09-03-36">More details here</a>.</p> <p>According to <span class="caps">CNET, </span>they&#8217;ve <a href="http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9847684-7.html?tag=nefd.blgs">already started backpeddling</a> on this.</p>