If anyone does manage to register one of the domains before the team does, the team will investigate its owner.

This is a good step, and one I'd sure like to see taken further. This team should stick around after Conficker and continue to work to deny the bad guy's use of domain names, hosting providers and other infrastructure required by the malware black market.

I do wonder, though, why Microsoft didn't set up a phone number or other central point of contact for collecting information about Conficker. The company says that "individuals with information about the Conficker worm should contact their international law enforcement agencies."