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There are now over 30,000 .me.uk registrations and new ones are being added at the rate of 2,000 a month. Following various comments from users, Nominet is looking to see whether there needs to be a tightening of the rules over who can register what domain and how disputes can be settled.

The SLD was set up as a way of allowing people to register personal domain names. However, within days it became clear that the system was being abused with early birds registering common first names and then offering them on auction sites for thousands of pounds. Also people began

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to register non-`name` domains like text.me.uk, marry.me.uk and ahem...blow.me.uk.

The new review also wants to address the kind of problem that was thrown up in the recent dispute over the johnniewalker.me.uk domain name where a 'John Walker' who had registered the name was found to an `abusive registrant` and the registration was suspended.

Whether Nominet likes it or not the SLD is currently open to exploitation for commercial gain. Therefore, the review asks whether the disputes procedure should offer greater protection for individuals against predators with deep pockets than it would, for example in .co.uk disputes.

The full consultation paper is available at The Nominet web site. If you have any comments to make, contact the Nominet Policy Advisory Board. Feedback needs to be received by 27 March 2003.