[ga] defining a problem...

[Karl Peters - TLDA <tlda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All here,
        In all the effort to define and re-define the problems faced here, I 
would like a qualified interpretation of what I experienced and described some 
time back, as I believe it is an example of the most profitable and least risky 
form of abuse of this policy that would be slowed, but certainly not stopped 
through any recommendation I have seen here thus far.

        You may recall my initial input:

        I registered tldainc.org about a year ago and chose not to register the 
.com for it because I really only need one address and those who want to find 
us certainly can with a ,org. I did check once or twice during the year and 
found that the .com had not been registered and thus no-one was trying to 
confuse things with us. About a month ago, I got an e-mail suggesting theu 
would help me out by selling me the "completing" tldainc.com for ONLY $295. I 
checked and sure enough, it was indeed registered. I wrote back in protest and 
now wish I had kept those messages as evidence. I heard nothing more and one 
week later checked, out of curiosity, to find the .com was available again. 
Someone, no matter what you want to call this program, was making short term 
registrations and trying to make a fast dollar off of unsuspecting potential 
registrants. (Having been around the internet for a while, I trust very little 
I see!) Other than the currently discussed AGP, what could allow this attempted 
fraud to exist? What could be done to prosecute such people? 
        You may also remember that protiability was at a very low threshold, 
even with a 20 cent fee to return the un-used (unsold) names. if someone 
registered 500 names in this manner, sought to sell them for $295 and sold only 
one of the 500 (let's say for a "discounted" $250) before returning the other 
499 at 20 cents each, their profit outlook would be as follows:  
                $250.00         Registration of one discounted SLD
                -$99.80         $.20 fee for each returned of 499 SLDs
__________________________
                $150.20         Clear profit

        Tell me how that is not a good return for an unethical person abusing 
the system! Tell me any other way they could do it without the AGP?

-Karl E. Peters