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LifestreamNewScientist: Web name wait lists will hurt the little guy
Verisign says WLS is necessary to allow it to deal with the enormous volume of requests it receives about these names. But some technologists and lawyers argue that WLS simply allows Verisign to make more money from its monopoly on the domain names.
“The real problem with WLS is that you can pay the money but not get the name. Most of the alternatives only make you pay once you secure the name,” says Milton Mueller, a communications professor at Syracuse University in New York, who follows ICANN’s work closely.
It figures of course. Recent changes has made it a lot harder to individuals to purchase and maintain a domain name. It’s hard to get a domain name as it is. And easy to lose in case some bigwig decides he “owns” the name or that it infringes on his narrow little world.
It’s just another step towards sanitizing the net from “illegitimate” players who are not following corporate conduct. Like myself for example. Some people are still very much pissed that the Net was built on the shoulders of tech savvy pioneers and average users and not by “legitimate” and traditional businesses. That has got to hurt. Step by step they attempt to wrangle back control over what they consider to be rightfully theirs. The truth is they missed their windows of opportunity because most businesses dismissed the Net as a mere plaything.
