However, competitors have found that the company was also retaining several older names such as CentralControl.com and Fineline.com, the rights to which are listed as having expired. Although Regan said that NSI had no plans to resell those names, she could not explain why they are still unavailable.

While NSI was once a monopoly, there are now dozens of ICANN accredited registrars offering great prices and excellent service, such as submerged-ideas.com via its partner domainpeople.com. Thus, NSI unavoidably faces a shrinking customer base. If NSI releases an expired name back into the unregistered pool, odds are the name will be bought via a different registrar. NSI loses 100 percent. However, if NSI holds the name in limbo, it doesn't exactly lose, and it prevents a competitor from winning. This is wrong.

At some point, NSI reportedly plans to auction off all these names. This behavior raises serious questions about whether a registrar somehow owns or controls the names that are registered through it. The situation is cloudy, because in at least some cases, NSI isn't holding a domain name forever, just for an extremely long time. For example, we monitored a domain name registration that expired on June 9, 2000. The former registrant had clearly abandoned the domain. In fact, the former ISP has terminated DNS (one of NSI's requirements for anyone who registers a domain name). However, NSI did not kick this domain back into the unregistered pool until roughly September 25, about 3-1/2 months after it expired. Why?

Check back here often for the latest updates on this fascinating aspect of domain name hoarding.