GoDaddy’s Bob Parsons on BusinessWeek.com
Bob Parson is taking his fight against abuse of the 5-day domain registration grace period beyond his blog.
Bob Parsons has written a couple blog entries regarding abuse of the 5-day domain registration grace period. He has named the abuse “domain kiting”, which basically allows people to try domain names for 5 days without paying for them (or longer, by simply re-trying domains in successive 5-day periods.)
Now Parsons is taking his fight beyond his blog. A June 5, 2006 Viewpoint article at BusinessWeek.com rehashes the complaints he’s made on his blog.
Parsons is an interested party in this debate. In GoDaddy’s recent S-1 filing, one of the risks cited by the firm is that domain kiting leads to fewer domains available for registration, which means GoDaddy clients will be able to register fewer domains. (Read more regarding this in my previous analysis of GoDaddy’s IPO filings).
But is it wise for Parsons to raise a stink regarding this issue? GoDaddy doesn’t participate in Domain Kiting, but his firm may be guilty of other questionable practices, counting cybersquatting on popular brand names. The firm also has a draconian 60 day lockup period on transferring out names with registrant changes.
Just the prior week Dotster was sued for its alleged part in a domain kiting scheme. The lawsuit had little to do with domain kiting and more to do with registering typos of trademarked names. Still, some registrars really are taking advantage of domain kiting. These registrars are smart and may use Parson’s attacks as an opportunity to dig into some of GoDaddy’s questionable practices.
GoDaddy wants domain kiting to stop for the good of its business. But attacking this issue right ahead of its IPO might draw some unwanted attention to the firm and its practices.
