It appears that Network Solutions are immediately registering all domains searched for. In what I consider a highly shady move, Network Solutions have started immediately registering domain names when customers search for them via the Network Solutions website, and holding them for 4 days - effectively meaning that if you checked whether it was available using their domain search tools, you now have no choice but to buy it from them, locking out all other registrars.
I tested it by searching for network-solutions-stole-my-domain.com which was previously untaken, and within minutes, they’d registered it - see a whois lookup for confirmation.
The net community has naturally responded strongly to this, with calls to boycott Network Solutions.
I’m shocked that they could have morals as low as this, no matter what excuses they try to offer they’re holding their customers to ransom, pure and simple.
It appears that Network Solutions are using the same loophole as "domain tasting" (the practice of registrants using the five-day “grace period” at the beginning of a domain registration for ICANN-regulated generic top-level domains to test the marketability of a domain name).