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Then the industry decided to increase the number of TLDs, so now we have .eu, .biz and a host of alternatives. A vendor like Register.com offers me .com, .net, .org, .biz, .us, .cn, .com.cn, .net.cn, .org.cn, .mobi, .info, .tv, .cc, .eu, and the list goes on and on. Just how many of these are we expected to buy?

No, a domain name really isn't a big deal any more. It's like a phone number - we have Yellow Pages to look up a phone number, and we have internet searches to look up domain names. It's only if you're a global brand like Tesco or Harrods or Aston Martin that you might want to collect the set, and presumably you can afford the annual fees. And bear in mind, when you get that cold call, that if someone's going to set up a parallel site to yours, they'll do so and it's already happened.

What's outrageous is that parts of this industry feel it's just fine to cold call a small business user and extort £300. This has to stop.