Leosghost - 10:39 am on Jul 27, 2011 (gmt 0)

Considering where the likes of Maltusi et al are actually based for fiscal reasons, and those like myself ( all mine are private anonymous registrations ) who though far far far smaller in the number of domains they hold register their dotcoms through US registrars ( because they are cheaper, or have been so in the the past compared to non US registrars ), I think it is highly likely that the figures are based on the address of the registrar.( ie; who you buy them from )..some holding companies own hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of domains.

Which skews the figures enormously ..as for years the only dot com registrar was USA based,( monopoly with high prices ) and thus all dot com domains were done through them ..even now the biggest are all US based, and the US based ones also offer almost all of the other country TLDs even those whose registration requires special conditions such as residency, citizenship or registered businesses in the country of the TLD..eg Godaddy ( USA) sells dot Frs ( special conditions apply ) ..I doubt if all the owners of dot co domains actually have addresses there..

And if all the dot TK owners actually lived there they would outnumber the indigenous population.

btw..I discovered yesterday that "privacy" as offered by the major french registrar Gandi, when applied to dot coms ..( first and last dotcom I've registered with them ) actually means, one's name is made public and one's address is private, they will see no more of my business..ever...dot Frs are automatically fully private ( by law )..but the difference in what they consider "privacy" to mean when ticked and applied to dot coms.. is not mentioned by them anywhere, before one runs a whois check after purchase..a little warning for those of you who thought privacy meant just that everywhere.