The Internet frenzy that has Microsoft, Taylor Swift and others buying the rights to domains like “.porn” and “.adult,” now has a new battle in the fray over “.sucks.”
As reported by the Washington Post, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is now “asking the U.S. and Canadian governments to determine whether the private company that manages .sucks is breaking the law by jacking up the prices brand owners must pay for their own .sucks sites.”
According to WaPo, the company, Vox Populi, is reportedly increasing prices, up to 250 times, for corporations to buy their “.sucks” domains. In the ICANN letter, the org stated that it “may seek remedies against Vox Populi if the registry’s actions are determined to be illegal,” but “ICANN’s ability to act against Vox Populi is limited,” officials told WaPo. “Because ICANN is not a regulatory agency and its agreement with Vox Populi does not address its pricing or business model.”
And while critics are calling it “predatory” pricing, Vox Populi is turning it into a free speech issue, and even made a video with multiple scenes of Martin Luther King Jr. and getting Ralph Nader to comment: “The word ‘sucks’ is now a protest word,” Nader says in the video. “And it’s up to the people to give it more meaning.”
What do you think? Should big corporations pay more for their .sucks domains?
Watch the video below:
