It looks like it has a name. There appears to be some mechanism where if 
I look up a non-existent domain that lookup is somehow exposed to people 
who then register the domain if I don't register it immediately.

The town of Gilroy is starting a farmers market. A few weeks ago I 
looked up GilroyFarmersMarket.com and it was available. I come back two 
weeks later and it's taken.

Who is tracking this? How do third parties know that I looked up that 
domain?