no has hit the fan as RJB Telcom hired Real Assets to direct traffic to teensteam.com on their shit.com domain. Network Solutions Inc. (NSI), the only distributor of top-level domain names, supposedly bars the use of offensive words from being used as domain names. Also disallowed are the seven words banned from usage by the major television networks, as well as racial and religious epithets.
Now, not only is the usage of shit.com subject to question, but the ownership rights as well. NSI had granted the domain name to iNames' Mail.com but then placed it on hold last year. Evidently, in the past several weeks NSI had taken the domain name off hold, allowing Real Assets to bag the domain name. Mail.com is up in arms and has begun a dispute with NSI. Jodi Fontana, domain manager for Mail.com explains, "It's a great name, a very valuable name. We used to own it, but InterNIC put it on hold, maybe a year ago. I don't know how it escaped."
Fontana says NSI explained to her that they had been having difficulties accommodating Japanese domains which utilize the s-h-i-t character string. To facilitate domain names such as shitakemushrooms.com, the word was removed from NSI's screening system.
NSI, however, denies this is what happened, saying the ban on the word is still in force. Sounds like doo-doo to us. A recent search run on DomainSurfer found more than 500 top-level domain names containing the s-word had been registered between February 20 and 23.
