Internet Investing Internet Technology Internet Lists Windows Internet Tech.
Domain names are a funny thing.
For the longest time, they were simply human-readable identifiers that let users access the resources of a box on the network without having to remember the counterpart IP address. Then the network turned into the World-Wide Web, and things haven't been quite the same since. As the Web's popularity began to grow, domain names rapidly gained importance because they served as memorable resource locators for Web-based content. The Internet IPO feeding frenzy touched off by Netscape in 1995 served to further fuel the demand for domain names, as marketing folk quickly realized that they were a quick and easy way to brand the new breed of virtual companies. Thus, the cybersquatters entered the picture.