I am a Cybersquatter” — “Dear Press

Here’s one of the reasons the mainstream press doesn’t characterize legitimate domainers fairly.

The prior week there was quite a media frenzy regarding a firm that sold GeorgeWBushLibrary.com back to the previous owner who let it expire. Michael Berkens pointed out that it’s stories like this that get people interested in cybersquatting* themselves.

Berkins may be right. Did the recent media frenzy prompt another cybersquatter to disclosed a celebrity name s(he) has for sale?

Just minutes ago I received the following email:

Rebacca Adlington, double Olympic gold medallist,The third in BBC Sports Personality

RebaccaAdlington.com is on sale, now! The domain name is for ï¿¡25000 !

http://www.rebeccaadlington.com/rebecca_adlington.html

OK, so that’s stupid. But the problem is that I wasn’t the only person on the e-mail distribution list. It was sent to over a hundred members of the press, counting:

ABC News
60 Minutes
CBS
LA Times
Newsweek
Fox News
US News
USA Today
Fresh York Times

The reporters that received the e-mail will file it in the back of their memory. “Another one of those cybersquatters.” Next time when they talk to someone who invests in domain names, they’ll think of this sort of nefarious activity rather than a legitimate business.

*Incidentally, ownership of a politician’s name is not always cybersquatting. It can be protected under free speech if the web site is not profiting from the name, such as a site critical of the politician.