Bill Hartzer wrote an article about a report issued by a group called Digital Citizens Alliance that was critical of domain investing. This is not the first time this organization took domain investing to task. In fact, Andrew Allemann wrote an article about it in 2020.
When looking at the report and the organization’s website, I noticed the Executive Director of this organization is Tom Galvin. The website notes that “Prior to founding 463 Communications, Tom served as Vice President of Government Relations and Communications at VeriSign, where he was responsible for driving strategy with policy makers regarding homeland security, Internet security and telecommunications policy.”
This caught my attention because of a recent NTIA release that alluded to prices charged by domain investors and domain registrars. “We also recognize that prices at both the wholesale level and downstream, including prices charged by resellers and substantial markups by warehousers, need to be addressed,” the release stated.
My opinion is that VeriSign is unhappy when a discussion about competition to manage the .com registry comes up, and the company would prefer to have the focus be on (unregulated) domain investor and domain registrar pricing.
With that being said, I want to highlight a post on X from Rick Schwartz, who responded to the Digital Citizens Alliance report. Rick is one of the original and unarguably one of the most successful domain investors of all time.
Response to Tom Galvin & the Digital Citizens Alliance: permission to copy granted.
Tom Galvin and his Digital Karens Alliance just released a masterpiece of misinformation, fear-mongering, and lazy assumptions masquerading as a “report.” Let’s be clear: this isn’t research, it’s a hit job on domain investors, small entrepreneurs, and digital pioneers who built the internet’s real estate from the ground up.
They lump domains in with ticket scalpers and slumlords, seriously? That’s like comparing owning Manhattan penthouses to selling fake Rolexes out of a trunk.
Galvin claims that domain investors “hoard” domains and create “scarcity.” Here’s a dose of reality: domains are not scarce. There are over 1,500 extensions (TLDs) available, with INFINITE variations. Anyone who wants a domain can register one for $10. But if you want premium beachfront property—like Hotels .com or BestOdds .com—you’re going to pay a premium. That’s called capitalism, Tom!
They cite junk “survey data” and inflate numbers like a used car lot balloon. Let’s unpack that:
They estimate domainers hold 15 to 25 million names. And? That’s out of over 350-400 million registered domains. That’s not hoarding, it’s investing.
Their supposed “63% of Americans” want to ban domain investing? That’s funny, since the same public just dropped billions buying digital JPEGs and crypto tokens. Spare us the outrage.
And let me tell you, I’ve done my own survey over 30 years. When I tell people what I do, there is not one regular person that didn’t love the idea and think it was brilliant. Not one!! they all say the exact same thing. “I wish I would’ve thought of that.”
And of the same 30 years, the only ones that felt differently were usually SEO and techies! The Tom’s of the world that missed the boat. Meaningless guys that didn’t have the vision and now they’re all sour about it. Maybe they’re just cheap bastards, that sounds like a bigger possibility!
Then there’s the hilarious example of someone registering a papal name like PopeLeoIV .com as if it’s some sort of Internet war crime. Newsflash: that’s how you stay ahead of the curve. It’s not unethical—it’s visionary. It’s called being early.
And yes, I’m proudly quoted in the report. They mention that I sold BestOdds .com for $1 million and pulled $12 million in one week. You’re damn right I did. Why? Because I had the foresight, the balls, and the patience to wait 30 years for the right moment. You don’t like it? That’s your problem Tommy boy, not mine.
Galvin’s beef isn’t about consumer protection, it’s about control. He and his cronies want gatekeepers who decide what’s “fair” based on bureaucratic fiat, not market forces. That’s not the internet I helped build.
So, Tom, take your fake numbers, your anti-capitalist screed, and your tech illiteracy and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. Domain investors aren’t the problem. We’re the reason the digital economy exists.
And we’re just getting started.
This is a fight I relish. They want to make our assets even more important and more valuable and accelerate their understanding.
Let’s go for it Tommy! You’re my new best friend and I’m going to eat you alive and in the process, thank you for allowing us to have this rumble.
Coke needs Pepsi. McDonald’s needs Burger King. Ali needed Frazier. And Tommy, I need you! You are MY digital piñata.
– Rick Schwartz
The Domain King
http://DomainKing.com
Domain King hits the bullseye again. Digital Insiders Alliance is just another de facto lobbyist group for Verisign.
This isn’t 1999.
Verisign’s facist dream of absolute control of of the dotcom market must be defeated.
Love Rick.
Rick is spot on .He hit the bullseye.
Wow that was a masterpiece. That digital piñata part at me busting up!!! Great job Rick!
Rick is Dead on correct and accurate in his response! Since my first investment in this industry in 1994, I’ve seen it all and heard it all and this just helps the industry grow even bigger and better!! Kudos to Rick and everyone else like him and me who has stood our ground through adversity, constantly pushing forward through bullshit like this, and defending/correcting the misunderstanding of what our industry is about!
A masterpiece that deserves to be at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Louvre and The National Archives.
Impossible to be said better.
I was blessed and lucky to have learned from the best, Thanks Rick!
By definition, Communists do not believe in private property or free markets, but in order to achieve that, they have to maintain police states, which is where this Digital Citizens Alliance (sic) is heading.
Clearly brilliant own by Rick. Even more enjoyable than when Mindy Robinson kicks dumb stupid lying @ss on X when she’s on a roll.
This guy Givens is obviously just another duplicitous agenda serving liar.
I’m a failed “domainer” after more than two decades. Totally failed, big time. No longer a domainer at all, except perhaps .2%, i.e. I have a few listings and would love to sell a few if it happens.
And I don’t mind saying it.
I’m now and for a long time an end user and buyer instead, like at least 99.8%. I’ve spent a fortune on domains for my commercial use in recent years, at least a fortune to me. A number of them are recognized among end users to be great, and not surprisingly someone tried to buy me out for a certain niche recently.
Guys like Givens are obvious liars for an obvious agenda.
The spin in recent years about domain pricing is only that, fallacious spin.
So f**k that lying spin perspective.
I have perhaps in the neighborhood of 800 domains. Would have to tally up to be sure. Virtually every single one of them is used as an end user. If I’m not publishing a website, then a lot of good ones are being used to forward potentially valuable traffic to the ones that do have that.
I’m a real truth seeker. Much more so than most domainers themselves. Recently I was surprised to discover Andrew Rosen is apparently a real truth seeker too. And with that he and his buds may be able to tell who I am over on another platform, lol, but I’m anonymous there too.
A little more about me:
Not to brag, but there is a time and place in this life: my highest IQ is in the 170’s.
I’m a former federal officer of the US government. Not for long and not as a career, but a valued and unusual chapter in my varied life.
“They” know all about it, i.e. the ptb. There is no real privacy. So call my anonymous bluff and one will see.
All that’s going on with the spin about wholesale vs. “domain hoarders” is exactly what people say it is. Same as with virtually every other area of society and life, from politics to economics to war and more besides and in-between.
Speaking as an end user/buyer – domain names should be affordable. Not just another blank check kleptocracy for the profit and power of the rich and powerful who can afford to buy policy and politicians. Not just another opportunity kept from normal people because of the usual evil and greed.
I could say more, but you get the idea. “Safe and effective.” “Unprovoked.” “For democracy and rights.” “For national security and your benefit and protection.”
Go f*** yourself, all you rapacious predatory oligarchic plutocratic hypocritical pretextual kleptocratic liars. All you do is lie, cheat, steal, and spread misery, murder, suffering and death.
I’m also a Christian, and yes there is a time and place to speak that way. God will judge, the game will one day be up, no matter how much you think or it looks like you got away with anything at all.
PS:
Sometimes I even make the DNJ sales listing (as the buyer) or mention in some of the blogs for my end user buying, though without any indication that I’m involved, just the info about the sale for which I was the buyer, i.e. my biz. That’s always interesting given my origins before becoming an end user.
PPS:
Correction – Andrew Rosener, not Andrew Rosen.
Great post – Rick Schwartz being Rick Schwartz as always.
In all the years I have followed Rick, there has always been one certainty: he never shies away from addressing the nonsense people spout.
We are lucky enough to live in the free world, where capitalism is our natural way of life.
Nobody forces a company to buy a domain name at any price; they find a name that they hope will catapult them into success.
Everyone can make their own free choices as it should be.