Is there a remote possibility here that Verisign might say "yeah, we're gonna glue this domain down to 0.0.0.0 and not allow registration"? Is there any precedent for this? Would seem like a game of whack-a-mole that anyone would want to avoid.
Really that would seem like the only way to ratchet up the "internet death penalty" even further at this point, barring any major ISPs coming out and saying they'll block it from transiting their networks. Again, more whack-a-mole, and arguably a more serious precedent to set as Verisign isn't the only TLD registrar.
-Matt