The leading registrar has a key role in the Internet infrastructure, but has been repeatedly accused of being only interested in the bottom line. With their latest announcement that registrants may now list addresses for resale on its site, NSI is not proving critics wrong. The secondary market caters to cybersquatters and NSI's move potentially opens another highly trafficked channel for speculators to hawk their properties. Since it is difficult to distinguish between legitimate sales and cybersquatters, NSI's new listing does nothing to help prevent illegal transactions. NSI is offering a service that already exists with other sites, but as a company with influence over domain name policies and issues, there seems to be an obvious conflict of interest.
Most registrars have a first come first serve registration process.
Its first come first serve registration process eventually lead to legal disputes and the inevitable predicament of cybersquatters. Although more domain policies and ACPA have been introduced over the past year, domain name disputes continue to be a major problem. The introduction of competition in the domain registration business last year has not guaranteed better customer service or greater accountability either. But monitoring registrations more closely would mean less money for registrars, so it won't happen. It's about the bottom line.