There are 25 to 30 firms that are the most active practitioners of domain tasting, experts say. Executives at these firms point out that what they’re doing is legal and, in some cases, they can even provide a service. For example, if a Web surfer mistypes a Web address and lands on one of their sites, they can have an ad that redirects the surfer to the proper site. T. Salonen, manager of Mountain View (Calif.)-based Maltuzi, says his company is a “bulk registrant” of domain names, but says there’s nothing wrong with that. “We are actively buying domain names based on a variety of criteria,” he writes in an e-mail interview. “We…purchase those domain names which have certain traffic levels or pay-per-click viability and return those which do not meet those and other criteria.”

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