Over 250,000 .us domain names have been snapped up since their launch last week but registrars have been criticised for their poor control over allocation.
The U.S. Center for Democracy and Technology has written to U.S. Congress claiming that thousands of names were sold off "based on flawed policies" and that Neulevel Inc., the registrar responsible for selling the domain names, had not acted in the "public's interest."
But in the U.K. there is no requirement that registrars act in the public's interest and apart from ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, www.ICANN.org), which is based in the U.S. and has adopted a hands-off approach to name allocation, there is no body governing who is entitled to buy which name.
"There's no code of conduct here as there is in the U.S.," said Ken Sorrie director of ICANN-approved registrar Internetters. "Registrars have to follow strict guidelines laid down by ICANN but there are no such rules for registrants. There is no policing at all."
News source: ITWorld - www.goinglikehotcakes.us
