I thought Network Solutions/Internic was the only authorized registrar for Domain Names. Since when are other companies allowed to?
Until 1999, Network Solutions was the only company authorized to be a registrar of gTLDs, but its monopoly was broken up by the U.S. government and the competition was opened to the world. ICANN, a non-profit oversight body, was formed to help with the breaking up of the monopoly and the management of the Domain Name system. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is the group that now sets the standards for businesses that want to become registrars. Entities must apply to ICANN and meet certain basic criteria before they are accredited to become registrars of gTLDs – this includes Network Solutions, which agreed to separate its registrar service from the management of the global registry database.
