The main purpose of a domain name “yourname.com” is to provide symbolic representations, i.e., recognizable names, to mostly numerically addressed Internet resources.

The challenge is to find the name you want and hope it’s not already registered. Unfortunately, there are so many domains that are registered especially the dot com variety as this is the most popular domain extension.

These domains are usually parked, this means they are not being used for a fully functional web site, instead they’re parked at the registrar company. This is known as Domain Squatting. A registrar is a company authorized to register Internet domain names. You will also find many domains that only include a splash page that provides away to purchase the domain.

What needs to change?

ICANN needs to create rules that specify what the holder of the domain name must follow in order to obtain registration. Some rules would imply the following;

  • Domain names must be associated with an active web site
  • Domain names must not be associated with a splash page or listed for sale
  • Domain names can’t be sold on any site and only by authorized registrars
  • Domain names must not be parked for more than 90 days

I strongly believe that these rules can make a difference, and will make more dot com names available for registration.

About ICANN: ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. They’re responsible for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions.