Network Solutions, LLC, formerly Web.com, is an American-based technology company and a subsidiary of Web.com, the 4th-largest .com domain name registrar, with over 6.7 million registrations as of August 2018.

Network Solutions started as a technology consulting company incorporated by Emmit McHenry with Ty Grigsby, Gary Desler and Ed Peters in Washington, D.C., in 1979.

[3] In 1992, NSI was the sole bidder on a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further develop the domain name registration service for the Internet.

Network Solutions' automated screening system blocked the registration "because it contains four letters they consider obscene", though the domain name 'shit.com' had been successfully registered.

[13] Network Solutions argued that it was within its First Amendment rights to block words it found offensive, even though it was operating pursuant to contract with a Federal agency.

[4][14] Network Solutions' $100 charge and its monopoly position in the market were contributing pressures that resulted in the creation of the International Ad Hoc Committee and a failed attempt to take control of the domain name system, and to the U.S. Department of Commerce and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) releasing a white paper and ultimately contracting with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to administer the DNS.

[19][20][clarification needed] In January 2006, Network Solutions acquired MonsterCommerce, an e-commerce company in the Greater St. Louis area.

[32] Network Solutions offers a search engine that permits users to find out if a domain name is available for purchase.

[33] This "reservation" can be removed by anyone immediately by contacting Network Solutions customer service hotline, or it will automatically unreserve within four days, allowing the domain to be freely registered anywhere.

"[33] Circle ID reported on January 8, 2008, that Jonathon Nevett, Vice President of Policy at Network Solutions and one of the seven members of the ICANN community who was consulted by the ICANN committee looking at registrar abuse of domain "tasting", as the availability search practice is called,[34] had offered a response to the news story stating Network Solutions' policy.

[36] "It is a deplorable action that Network Solutions would announce potential domain names to the entire world", Westerdal added.

al and James Lee Finseth v. Network Solutions LLC, against the company for front running, which was settled in favor of the plaintiffs, in 2009.

[39] In August 2009, Network Solutions notified customers that its servers were breached, and led to the exposure of names, address, and credit card numbers of more than 573,000 people who made purchases on Web sites hosted by the company.

One year later in August 2010, Network Solutions discovered that one of their widgets offered to their domain registration and hosting customers was capable of distributing malware by sites displaying it.

"[43] In September, 2009, Network Solutions began publishing a list of domain name WHOIS searches performed by customers and other service users in the past day.

[citation needed] Network Solutions also came under criticism because although they refused to host Wilders' website, they had provided registration services for the Hezbollah domain hizbollah.org.

[citation needed] Due to heavy media coverage, many people were aware of the film's existence and the controversy surrounding its domain name.

Freedom of speech protestors created videos commenting on the situation, and some uploaded Wilders' film to social networking sites such as YouTube shortly after its release.

In April 2008, reports indicated that in addition to the aforementioned front-running practices, Network Solutions had begun exploiting an obscure provision of its end-user license agreement that permits it to use and advertise on its users' unassigned subdomains, even despite the registration and private ownership of the top-level domain itself.

[citation needed][53] According to a Wired.com article, in 1999 Network Solutions bungled the transfer of "races.com", accidentally placing it back into the pool of available domain names.

[54] In April 2015, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Network Solutions had agreed to settle charges that it misled consumers who bought web hosting services by promising a full refund if they canceled within 30 days.