ICANN Puts an End to 'Domain Tasting'

LOS ANGELES — ICANN is starting to see the positive effects of a new penalty fee designed to stop a certain breed of spamming.

The breed of spamming is known as "domain tasting," and it works like this: if a user registers a domain name but makes a typo while choosing it, ICANN used to let users withdraw that incorrect domain name with no penalty during a certain grace period.

Spammers and domain squatters abused this grace period by registering hundreds of domain names — usually ones that were one or two letters away from a popular domain — and putting up pages of sponsored links and banners. They would then profit from all of the typo-traffic these pages would attract, then withdraw the domain before they had to actually pay for them.

ICANN responded by charging users a penalty fee if they registered and withdrew too many domains. Users could withdraw as many as 10 percent of their registrations before activating the penalty. ICANN started out with a 20-cent penalty, but last month, they increased it to $6.75 for each infraction.

It worked.

According to ICANN, domain tasting has dropped to 16 percent of what it was before the penalties were added.

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Trump Administration Issues Executive Order Against 'Debanking'

The White House on Thursday issued an executive order limiting financial institutions’ ability to restrict access to financial services for people or groups involved in lawful industries, a longtime goal of adult industry advocates and stakeholders.

Go.cam Launches Free Age Verification Solution, Anti-Fraud Features

Go.cam has announced that its age verification solution is now free with updated anti-fraud and identity protection features.

Florida AG Sues EU-Based Adult Companies for Failing to Age-Verify Users

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit Monday with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida against five EU-based adult companies for allegedly failing to require age verification before allowing access to adult content.

SkyPrivate Launches 'Telegram Pay-Per-Minute' Feature

SkyPrivate has launched a new pay-per-minute (PPM) private show option on Telegram.

Pineapple Support to Host 'Money and Mental Health' Online Event

Pineapple Support is hosting a free, online event to help performers balance financial wellbeing with mental health, Aug. 18-19.

Arcom Warns 5 Adult Sites Over Age Verification

French media regulator Arcom has sent enforcement notices to the operators of five adult websites that the agency says have failed to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

MojoHost Debuts NVIDIA Blackwell-Powered Hosting

MojoHost has announced the launch of NVIDIA Blackwell-powered hosting featuring RTX 6000 Pro MaxQ GPUs.

FSC: Identity Theft Targeting Adult Performers

The Free Speech Coalition has put out an alert warning of an individual found to be targeting adult performers for identity theft.

Assylum.com Implements New Age Verification System

Assylum.com has introduced an age verification system across its member sites.

European Commission to Assess Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX Compliance With Digital Services Act

The European Commission plans to conduct a study to determine how well adult sites Pornhub, XVideos and XNXX are addressing illegal content and other potential harms under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Show More