The administrator of India's .IN country code top level domain,  the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), has built up a track record of ill conceived ideas over the years, as noted by Domain Incite, Domain Name Wire and others today when NIXI hatched their latest head-scratching initiative - a rule change that would ban domain investors from owning .IN domains. The overwhelmingly negative ramifications of such a plan will be obvious to pretty much any sentient observer - not the least of which would be NIXI blowing off both of their own feet by losing a huge percentage of their income when suddenly unsellable .IN domains get dropped en masse.

That's just one of many issues (including the idea likely being illegal) that the Internet Commerce Association (the non-profit organization that fights to protect domain registrant's rights) 

quickly brought to NIXI's attention in a letter ICA General Counsel Zak Muscovitch sent to NIXI CEO Mr. Shri Anil Kumar Jain today. I highly recommend reading it because it provides a comprehensive point by point breakdown of everything that is wrong with this monumentally misguided idea in one convenient, well written document. 

While no one has a monopoly on bad ideas, NIXI is starting to look like the perennial league leader in that department. Fortunately, most blunders of this kind are quickly backed away from when their potential for disaster is delineated (as Zak has so masterfully done in his letter). Still, until this idea is thrown on the scrap heap where it belongs, it is a threat that no one in the industry can afford to ignore.

(Posted July 11, 2023)  

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