Delinquent sites lose domain names

The government contractor that manages domain names on the Internet has canceled the names of 9,272 individuals, organizations, and corporations for failing to pay their annual maintenance fees.

As CNET reported earlier this week, Network Solutions announced that starting today it would restrict access to sites whose domain name fees had not been paid. Site owners who paid their fees by last Sunday at 5 p.m. avoided the shutdown.

But those looking to pick up one of those canceled names for themselves will have to wait. According to Leslie Hunter, SAIC Network Solutions director of marketing and public relations, the names will not be issued to anyone else for 60 days from today to give site owners an opportunity to reclaim them.

The company charges $100 for an initial two-year domain name registration. The annual maintenance fee is $50.