Network Solutions Sued For Domain Frontrunning

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Domain name registrar Network Solutions and ICANN are named as defendants in a lawsuit alleging the former is guilty of domain frontrunning, a practice that relies on monitoring what domain names have been searched for and registering those domain names only to raise the price and resell them for a profit. The practice is frowned upon by ICANN, but the plaintiff in the lawsuit, Chris McElroy, says that ICANN has done nothing to stop the practice.

Attorneys for McElroy, Kabateck Brown Kellner, are seeking to make the case a class action lawsuit and will bring anyone who has had this experience with Network Solutions in on the lawsuit. KBN is bringing ICANN into the lawsuit to dispute whether or not the agency is a government entity and has the authority to curb the practice. KBN says the agency is not a government entity and does not have such authority.

While this is an interesting lawsuit and there are plenty of people who will be glad to see Network Solutions be called into account over the practice of domain frontrunning, it will be a long time before anything is done about it. The lawsuit could take years to settle.

Read the legal complaint