Editing Domain name speculation (section)

==Domain name speculation and the rise of Pay per click websites==
Cybersquatting has a clear legal definition, but this definition tends to be lost when people open a webpage with only [[pay per click]] ('PPC') advertising. It is often assumed that such a domain is "cybersquatted", especially when the person is searching for the domain in order to register it.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

The ease with which [[Pay per click|PPC]] revenue could be derived from parked domains effectively created a situation where domains were being registered purely for their [[type-in traffic]]. Many of exact phrases that people were searching for in search engines were being registered for the sole purpose of serving PPC advertising. The [[.com|COM]] TLD grew from 23,662,001 registered domains 1 January 2003 to 80,759,835 registered domains as of 1 January 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forms.icann.org//idashboard/public/ |title=ICANN Registry Statistics (.aero to .mobi) |publisher=Forms.icann.org |date=19 January 2011 |access-date=15 November 2011}}</ref> While part of that increase in the number of registered domain names is due to the increase in ecommerce and business conducted online, some of the increase is due to the ease of generating revenue from PPC and [[type-in traffic]]. [[Domain tasting]], a practice by which millions of domains would be registered for a limited period (the five-day Add Grace Period during which a domain could be deleted without the registrar effectively having to pay a registration fee to ICANN) and only those generating sufficient revenue from PPC advertising would be retained, also served to increase the number of domains registered. This practice involved [[domain name registrar]]s being created purely for the purpose of domain tasting. The situation became so bad in 2007 that [[ICANN]] was forced to take action.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gnso.icann.org/issues/domain-tasting/domain-tasting-board-report-gnso-council-25apr08.pdf |title=GNSO Council Report to the ICANN Board Recommendation for Domain Tasting.|access-date=15 November 2011}}</ref> In June 2008 ICANN added a provision to its Fiscal Year 2009 budget to limit the number of domains that a registrar could delete using the Add Grace Period before having to pay the ICANN fee. The effect of this was to massively curtail the number of domains deleted in .com and .net during the Add Grace Period. From June 2008 to April 2009, AGP deletions fell by 99.7%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agp-status-report-12aug09-en.pdf |title=The End Of Domain Tasting. ICANN Report on AGP Measures 12 August 2009|access-date=15 November 2011}}</ref>

The March 2006 Verisign Domain Brief<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.verisign.com/domain-name-services/domain-information-center/domain-name-resources/domain-name-report-aug06.pdf |title=Verisign Domain Brief August 2006 Page 5 |publisher=Verisign.com |access-date=15 November 2011}}</ref> stated that out of approximately 57.37 million [[.com|COM]] and [[.net|NET]] websites spidered, 26% were single page websites, 60% were multipage websites and 14% had no associated websites. Numerically, the number of single page websites was approximately 14.91 million. The single page websites include under-construction, [[Brochureware|brochure-ware]] and parked pages in addition to online advertising revenue generating ([[Pay per click|PPC]]) parked pages.

The latest statistics for domain name usage quoted in the Verisign Domain Brief for June 2009 states that of the 92 million [[.com|COM]] and [[.net|NET]] domain names, 24% of these domains have one page websites, 64% have multipage websites and 12% have no associated websites.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.verisign.com/domain-name-services/domain-information-center/domain-name-resources/domain-name-report-june09.pdf |title=Verisign Domain Brief June 2009 Page 5 |publisher=Verisign.com |access-date=15 November 2011}}</ref> In purely numerical terms, those single page websites would account for approximately 22 million [[.com|COM]] and [[.net|NET]] websites. The survey quoted in the Verisign Domain Brief does not explain the methodology or provide anything other than a summary of the results. However this is effectively a rise in single page websites of just over 7 million websites.

Some hosters such as [[Godaddy]] have their own [[domain parking]] systems and allow unused domains to be parked with the registrant receiving a share of the PPC revenue earned. Other hosters have similar systems.