Mailbag: Readers split on 100-year domain name registrations

Readers of the ISP News Report are split on whether 100-year domain name registrations are a good idea or not.

In a recent newsletter (link below), I wrote about a new offering from Network Solutions that allowed companies to purchase 100-year registrations to protect important .com or .net names from accidentally expiring. Network Solutions is selling the service for $9.99 per year.

The offering prompted me to wonder about how many Web sites, brand names or companies would last for 100 years or even whether the Internet or the .com domain would be as important in the year 2104.

Half of the readers who e-mailed their opinions said securing an important company or brand name for 100 years was worth $999.

“I would not hesitate to protect my mission-critical domain for $999,” wrote one technology manager. “What a way to leave a legacy.”

But the other half of our readers weren’t so sure it was a good idea.

“I think it’s pathetic because only a few names in the world will last 100-plus years,” another reader wrote. “This not useful for everyone having a domain.”

Odds are, none of the readers of the ISP News Report will be around long enough to see if the 100-year registrations were useful or not.