EU Domain Dream in Disarray

News Type: Event — Seeded on Wed Aug 9, 2006 6:07 PM EDT

Article Source: Wired News

Europe must reboot its fledgling domain name to avoid a system crash, critics say, after alleged missteps allowed cybersquatters to stockpile trademarks for auction.
The .eu suffix became the web's eighth most popular when it went online last year as part of a European Union effort to promote a pan-continental online identity across the 25-nation bloc.
But many who tried and failed to grab their company or trade name say a suspect rollout procedure left them domainless and out of pocket, while the agency regulating .eu has been forced to suspend tens of thousands of domains after discovering 400 of its authorized resellers were phantom companies, created on paper by a handful of registrars to harvest the best names for profit.