[HarveyJ]

Dunno how many people here are into speculating on Domains (sitting on them until someone wants to buy them), but if Senator Olympia Snowe, in the USA, gets her way .coms and .nets will soon be worthless for investing in.

She's putting forward what's been dubbed the "Snowe Bill".
It's basically meant to be an anti-phishing, anti-scamming, anti-domain squatting bill, in that it allows companies that own trademarks to simply register with ICANN and take away a domain that is, or is similar, to their registered trademark without any form of comepnsation... even if you own the same trademark in a different class, country, or both.
Even if you don't own the trademark, there's still a (weak) argument to be made for commercial interest in buying up generic or entirely made up domains as a form of investing in the futures market (Domains that aren't in use are just like coffee futures if you think about it).

Why? Well, theoretically to protect legit businesses.
Realistically, because American Senators think that the US owns and regulates all the internet, not just the .us TLDs.

There's a lot of chatter on the Domainer forums about it lately.
I just figured that anyone here that's not already up with it ought to know.

Here's a link to more info on what's going on: » Snowe Bill threatens Domain Name Registrants Domain Name News, The Domain Industry News, ICANN News, Registry News, Domainer News, Domain
And here's a link to a petition against it:
Care2 : The Petition Site : Snowe Bill Threatens

Just remember, .com and .net legislation will affect people the world over, not just American citizens... And god help you if you happen to live in a country that has an extradition treaty to the States.