NSI threatens to bypass resellers

Top level domain registry Network Solutions Inc (NSI) is threatening to bypass its resellers if they refuse to offer the new .biz and .info domains, saying it will go direct to resellers' customers itself.

In an email seen by vnunet.com, the company warns resellers that "if you do not sign the contract allowing you to sell .biz and .info registration-related services, we may be contacting your customers that have domain names with NSI, and may be interested in the new generic Top Level Domains [gTLDs]".

The warning came in the small print of an email from NSI to its resellers regarding contracts to sell the .biz and .org domain names from September onwards.

The approach by the Verisign-owned company has been described as "heavy-handed". One recipient of the email said that he felt threatened that if he "did not sign a contract with them to sell .biz and .info registration-related services they would go around me and contact my customers directly".

But a spokeswoman for NSI said that the tone of the email was not meant to be threatening.

"We are just being up front about the situation," she said, adding that if resellers did not want to sell .info and .biz then NSI would. "And we can either do it with them or we can go ahead on our own," she explained.

Back in November the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) approved the seven new gTLDs. These new domains - .biz, .info, .pro, .name, .aero, .coop, and .museum - will work just like the familiar .com, .net and .org, although only .info and .name are for general public use.

To date, Icann has only approved proceedings with .biz and .info domains, but delays mean they could still not appear until next year.