Icann claims victory in domain tasting fight

Registration rule changes have led to a 99.7 per cent fall in domain tasting

Icann has said that rule changes on the registration of domains have led to a 99.7 per cent fall in "domain tasting", where domains are bought for short periods to see if they are popular.

The practice of domain tasting had reached epic proportions, with barely one per cent of domains initially bought not being returned. After a consultation period with users, Icann has instituted a non-refundable fee for mass registrations.

Rod Beckstrom, president of Icann, said: “This shows the power of the internet community working together.

“The problem was identified and then a solution produced that has effectively seen the death of domain tasting in less than a year. In this case the study into tasting was prompted by representatives of the user community in Icann known as the At-Large community."

The full status report shows that once these changes were introduced, the amount of domains registered and then returned dropped sharply. Beckstrom said it had greatly reduced the amount of sites featuring only adverts, something he described as internet graffiti.