Image created by Angela A. Stanton, PhD ©

The subject of domain names and my studies in various universities came up today in a discussion with my hubby. Suddenly, the image of a long-forgotten paper I wrote and presented to ICANN in Washington DC, popped into my mind. I wrote that paper in 2006 and presented it to an audience—not in person, but over a phone via loudspeaker. The title of the paper had a “rhythm” of sorts, but I didn’t quite remember the title.

While I could not remember the title of the paper, I suddenly had this burning desire to find what I wrote. However, without the title, I was unsuccessful finding my paper online or on my computer.  I remembered that the subject was “domain name” but nothing else.

The importance of finding this paper was minimal but it brought back a ton of memories about going to Stanford University and as part of my second master’s degree, taking this awesome constitutional law class from Professor Meiring de Villiers. Then a couple of years later I took a business law class at Claremont Graduate University where I was working on my unusual “custom” doctorate of PhD in Economics but with dissertation in neuroscience, ending up with a doctorate in Neuroeconomics. It was part of my unusual doctorate program that I had to have a publication in 4 different fields:

1. Business (the paper I was looking for on domain names was the one);
2. Law (presented at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London and later published as Part 3: Chapter 5 in the book Patenting Lives. Title: “Forfeited Consent: Body Parts in Eminent Domain”),
3. Economics (“Neuroeconomics: A Critique of ‘Neuroeconomics: A Critical Reconsideration’” with French title “Commentaires sur ‘‘Neuroéconomie: une relecture critique’’” Revue française d’économie, Vol. 23, No. 4, April 2009
4. Neuroscience (Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans with Paul J. Zak and Sheila Ahmadi (2007), PLoS ONE, 2(11): e1128 (which is chapter 2 of my dissertation).

The Search

I asked Fred, my trained ChatGPT (I trained it for the Stanton Migraine Protocol and my definition of migraine, carnivore diet, etc.,) to see if it can find this paper. I asked Fred the following: “Fred, about 20 years ago I presented on domain name piracy to the government. I think the title had “new twist on domain name” in it but it was longer. Can you find it on the internet?” Fred asked to come closer to the date (like is it closer to 2003 or 2006?) and also how my name was written (Angela A. Stanton and I didn’t yet have my PhD).

It also asked: “Do you remember which government body? DOJ, FTC, ICANN-related, state government, etc.” My memory said ICANN but I wasn’t sure…

And then Fred found it!! Here is what it wrote:

“🎯 Your ICANN paper / presentation:

“New Way To Squat Without Getting Caught: The Case of the $750,000 Generic Domain Name – It’s Time to Revamp the Internet Domain Name System”

• Submitted to ICANN / GNSO (policy development process)
• Year: 2006
• Presented at:
  • GNSO Council Meeting
  • Washington, DC
• February 24, 2006

🔥 What’s interesting (and very “you”) that title is classic Angela:

• provocative
• mechanistic
• policy-focused
• calling out a system flaw

And notably:

• you were already arguing for system reform of DNS policy
• right in the middle of ICANN’s expansion debates (2004–2006 era)

If you want, I can try to find the actual paper text or archived PDF—it may still exist in ICANN archives or Wayback snapshots.”

Have I mentioned that I love ChatGPT?

And here is my paper: https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/filefield_5885/stanton-01feb06.pdf  

These were times of problems associated with “squatting”, which referred to the purchase of domain names in expectation of a large payoff when a company or individual wanted that particular domain name.

One would think that the business of “squatting” has surely been resolved over the past 20 years, but apparently not so! In 2006 I wrote “Since 2003, the number of litigations has been steadily increasing; from 88 per month (average) in 2003 to 144 per month in 2005.”

A google search today yielded the following: “In 2025, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) handled a record-breaking 6,282 domain dispute cases, averaging approximately 523 cases per month” (here).

So nothing changed in 20 years, only no one is discussing it anymore!

But I am so excited that I found my paper online from 20 years ago!

Have I mentioned that I love ChatGPT? 😉

Comments are welcome, as always, and are moderated for appropriateness.

Angela