The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) has released a white paper this week on the practice of “Drop-catching,” which refers to the process whereby a domain name has expired, is released again into the pool of available names, and immediately is registered by another individual.

dc.jpgHere are some really interesting facts, as reported on Website Magazine:

  • CADNA tracked 17,000 randomly selected Dot-ORG, Dot-COM, and Dot-NET domain names after their scheduled expiration on September 18th, 2007, and found that 100% of the Dot-COM and Dot-NET domains were instantly registered after they were released.
  • 39.8% of Dot-COMs and 32.2% of Dot-NETs were added and dropped again throughout the study via a practice known as kiting. The initial registration of all expiring domains and the subsequent domain tasting and kiting that occurred points to a willingness on the part of drop-catchers to continuously register domain names since they can be repeatedly tested and easily returned with no monetary penalty.
  • The results also show that 87% of Dot-COM drop-catchers use the domain names for pay-per-click (PPC) sites. They have no interest in these domain names other than leveraging them to post PPC ads and turn a profit…

You can view the full report here. (pdf)

If anything, let this be a gentle reminder to be diligent when it comes to renewing your company’s domain name. You don’t want your domain snatched due to your forgetfulness!