New service DomainTheft.org, founded by domain name investor Morgan Linton, aims to curb domain theft, one of the Internet's most serious cybercrimes.
DomainTheft.org is a centralized database of stolen domains which are verified by a proprietary algorithm called DTVS or the Domain Theft Verification System. DTVS does an initial check to ensure that the theft being committed is valid (by looking at when the last Whois change took place) and then sends it along to a member of DomainTheft.org's task force for investigation. No thefts are added to the database as Verified Stolen unless they are verified manually by a member of the investigative task force.
Registrars and domain name marketplaces have tended to avoid the situation in the past and law enforcement has taken the same approach. Whether there is a valid need for such a service is anyone's guess but even if it stops one crime from happening it will be worth it for some.
"If every marketplace checks our database before listing a domain for sale it will not only dramatically reduce the number of stolen domains, but also improve the chance of recovery," says Linton.