[WEB4LIB] Re: Lapsed domain names--beware

[Daniel Messer]

    See right there is where I disagree. It's only blackmail if the former owner (Make
note of that word: "former") decides to pay the money to get the site back. There's
been many instances where, after a site was taken over, the previous owners just
registered a new domain name and put the word out along listservs such as this one
detailing what happened and how you can get to their new site. They don't HAVE to pay
the money to get their old site back. And if you don't have to pay, it isn't blackmail.

    Additionally, I would remind everyone that this new-fangled Internet thingy with
it's whacky World Wide Web comes with absolutely no guarantees, either written nor
implied. In other words, there's no guarantee that the site you like so much is going
to be there tomorrow. That's just how it works. On September 11, I could not get to
CNN.com for the latest news. I was frustrated, but I totally understood why. A
favourite website of mine was closed down because the webmaster got a full time job and
no longer had time to maintain the site.
    The fact remains that snagging an expired TLD because someone hasn't paid their
bill is 100% legal. Attempting to sell it back to them at a premium is also 100% legal.
Folks, that's hardcore capitalism in action, Horatio Alger on cocaine. Is it moral?
Well that's up to debate. Is it ethical? Probably not. But is it legal? Yes,
absolutely. They're simply using the old law of supply and demand. They have something
that the former owner wants, and they're willing to part with it for a price.
    As for victimizing people who use the web, I don't think that porn sites are any
more guilty of that than X-10 and their blasted pop-under ads. Do I want to see porn
while I'm working with a patron at a public desk? No, of course I don't. But do I want
to see an X-10 camera ad, or any other pop up/under ad for that matter? I think blaming
solely the porn sites who snag TLDs to generate money and saying they're victimizing
people using the web is painting the canvas with a really broad brush. If we're going
to blame people for that, we'd have to start with browser manufacturers who allow
pop-up/under ads to work with their browser, Sun and Netscape for inventing the Java to
do it, ISPs who allow such activity to be hosted on their sites... the list goes on and
on.
    Before helping any patron with the Internet or have them look over my shoulder
while I assist them, I'll casually go into how the web works. Specifically I'll make an
off handed comment like "I hope the IMDB hasn't been jacked by a porn site today..." or
something like that. Usually that provokes a response, and then you can explain to them
how TLD snatching works and how there's really nothing one can do about it. Then you
have what some Reference Librarians refer to as "a teaching moment." Then the patron
walks out with a little more knowledge than they originally expected to gain.
    And given what I just said, the reason that whacko moralistic crusaders like Family
Friendly Libraries and American Family Association and Dr. Laura Schelssinger don't go
after TLD snatchers is because there's laws in place to protect the TLD snatchers. What
they're doing is perfectly legal. Sadly, no such laws are in place to protect
libraries, so they'll hit wherever they think is the weakest point. Kind of like a pack
hyenas.
    No offense intended and I'm not jumping on your opinion. Really, I'm not. I
especially like the "horrible, purient children" remark. :) Good stuff there because
you're right. These are the children that grow up thinking the world is full of people
like Mr. Rogers because they've never heard of Charles Manson. But a lot of people are
pitying the webmasters of these sites because they're being "blackmailed" and because
their TLD was "stolen" from them. Neither is the case. And a good nine times out of
ten, the former owner of the TLD is to blame for the entire incident. Poor management
and not paying bills gets all of us into trouble, online and off.

Dan

"JENNIFER A. HEISE" wrote:

> If all they were doing was victimizing the web site owners, I'm not sure
> I would care. But the truth is, because of their intent to blackmail,
> they are victimizing the people who use the web. Any time I am trying to
> help a patron use the web, I need to live with the fact that any inquiry
> can be hijacked to a porn site, with the intention of obtaining money
> from the former owner of that name by sexally harrassing people going to
> the site.
>
> The people who aren't bothered by this, I suspect, have never been
> working with a female patron and had the site(s) come up.
>
> With all the hoo-ha about porn and sexual harrassment, it's a pity the
> Family-Friendly Libraries and the American so-called Family Association
> doesn't put their effort into attacking these people instead of making
> us responsible for their horrible purient children.
>
> -- Jenne Heise

--
Mondai wa
The subject in question...
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Daniel Messer, Technologies Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
102 N 3rd St Yakima, WA 98901
(509) 452-8541 x712
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                     -Hunter S. Thompson