October 1, 2007 - Don't Let Domain Thieves Steal Your Domain!
Ever searched for a domain, thought that you would wait a while before registering it. Then when you do want to register it is has already been taken. Sure, it could just be a coincidence that somebody else wanted the same domain and just got to the punch before you did. This can be the case in certain situations, but just recently when a client of mine wanted the dot com for their domain which was their full name (not a really common name either) - but it was taken before they made their final choice a couple weeks later. The owner of the domain could not be found because it was registered through a proxy service. I have seen this happen more popular domains and just brushed it off as coincidence and my own fault for taking so long, but this time it was personal.

I did some research on this subject and learned that "domain monitoring" is a growing problem on the Internet. There are numerous accounts of this happening over and over again. My recommendation is when you decide to search your domain is to register it immediately, don't wait a day - especially with domain fees so low today. When you are searching for domains, try using a reputable whois service that isn't monitoring your searches. I can't even tell you who would be reputable these days, even the companies that I thought would be legitimate cannot be trusted.

This problem is also related to the "domain-kiting" problem where large companies will register thousands domains and cancel them within the five day refund period if they are not generating any advertising revenues. This alllows them to find the domains that receive the most traffic and place their ads on them.

These are quite unfortunate problems and really make it hard for the small company or individual to find a domain. So far from what I've seen, neither of these scenarios have affected the dot ca registry and hopefully never will.

Here are some related links:
Article from SwingNote.com
Article from DailyDomainer.com