If you're someone who's in the market for a domain name and think you'd like to test out a few ideas over mega-registrar Network Solutions, think again unless you're ready to buy, immediately, and only from them.

According to reports at Tucows and DomainTools Blog and DotSauce and DomainState, if you search on a possible domain over at NetSol, that service will almost instantly lock up the domain (if it's not already sold) and demand $35 from you to register it with them -- and won't allow you to register it with some other, cheaper registrar for four days. Meanwhile, anyone else can grab it for that $35 fee.

When ordinary entities do something similar to this, it's call "front running" and is considered sleazy, phisher-type behavior. What do you call it when it's done by a big company with a sweetheart deal with ICANN, I wonder? Especially when that very company has a history of complaining about the very same practice when done by others?