Where do you draw the line between registering a domain name to mourn or honor an individual, vs profit from their death?
Since MJ died, there have been 3,459 .com domain names registered with the word “michael” in them. Don’t believe me? Well, here is the list I compiled (please give me credit if you use it) and a few extracts of interest:
michaelisstillalive.com
michaeljackson-conspiracy.com
michaeljackson911tape.com
michaeljacksonautopsy.com
michaeljacksonconcertrefund.com
michaeljacksonisfaking.com
michaeljacksontributetour.com
michaeljacksonwasmurdered.com
whopoisonedmichaeljackson.com
In light of this registration frenzy, I’d ask the media, not to “tar and feather” the entire domain name industry with the actions of a few people who lack morals / ethics in this area.
Having said that, newspapers, TV and other sources “profit” from this as well. What do you think? Have you registered a MJ domain?
If you look at the House of Reps grilling of ICANN, there was an underlying theme of “security”, so this appointment doesn’t exactly come as a shock.
Beckstrom spent less than 12 months in the Department of Homeland Security, where he was the Director of the National Cybersecurity Centre. Now ICANN is plugging him as an Internet Security expert! Oh, give me a break!
I don’t believe that less than 12 months in a bureaucratic job puts you in the “expert category”, particularly when you resign after “after learning that orders were canceled for computers, network equipment, furniture and office space in Arlington slated for his group.”
Beckstrom is touting himself as this honest, straight talking guy, so lets see if he does the right thing and cancels these proposed gTLD’s. Action speaks louder than words.
Its been reported that Former Green Bay Packers lineman, Tony Mandarich, allegedly posted up a website under his ex-fiancée’s name. The site apparently features lewd content including sexually explicit videos and pictures of the woman.
The unintended star of the site, Sharra Ferbrache, brought her case to court in Maricopa County, claiming the content shared between Mandarich and herself should have remained private.
Ferbrache is apparently seeking to have the sight shut down in addition to damages for invasion of privacy, emotional distress and other charges.
Bill passed by congress this week leaves car dealers and auto makers laying plans to capitalize on “the cash for clunkers” provision. Analysts, however, are unconvinced the program will boost the new vehicle sales as expected.
The plan allows owners of vehicles getting less than 18 miles per gallon to receive a voucher worth up to $4,500 when they ditch their cars and opt for newer, higher–mileage vehicles. The program endeavors to raise overall efficiency of the nation’s vehicles.
While the government and auto makers are looking for ways to clear up customer skepticism about the plan, NHTSA planned to launch a website called cars.gov that would explain eligibility requirements.
In addition, Ford Motor Co. anticipates launching a site next week. According to a spokesman, the site would advertise qualifying Ford vehicles while outlining the program.
Sonic Automotive Inc., which operates 159 dealerships around the country, purchased the domain name cashforclunkers.com earlier this year. Their site, which is set to launch next week, will feature a frog becoming a prince. Lovely!
Kentucky lawyers filed briefs with the state Supreme Court regarding the online gambling forfeiture case, where 141 online casinos were allegedly “attacked” in the initial order.
Questions by the court arose when attorneys representing the Commonwealth of Kentucky filed a late response to the Internet Casino case. The Motion for Enlargement which would allow the late filing failed to give a reasonable excuse, implying the reason was the state thought it was due the day after. In addition, the large number of parties involved may have caused the delay. According to the motion, they had “calculated a due date for the filing of a Reply Brief in this action on Thursday, June 18th.”
The next step involves the court reviewing the briefs to decide whether the case merits further judicial review. If the verdict stands, however, the order will be dismissed.
According to Viviane Reding, commissioner for Information Society and Media, ICANN is approaching a historic point in its development, posing the question of whether to become a fully independent organization, accountable to the global internet community. “Europeans would expect so, and this is what we will push for. I call on the US to work together with the EU to achieve this,” Reding said.
September 30 will be a decisive day, as the agreement between ICANN and the US Department of Commerce will expire. The result may result in a more open and independent governance of the internet – or not.
I’d note this ICANN “Return for organisation exempt from income tax” which lists “Paul Twomey (CEO), $691,610 ($255,649 contribution to employee benefit plans)”. Like many people, I think that’s a bit too much for a not for profit. However, the theory goes, that if you want to attract the best talent, then you have to pay the big $$$. I did say theory didn’t I?
The U.S. House Of Representatives Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet recently met to examine issues related to ICANN, including the expiring JPA (Joint Project Agreement) between the Department of Commerce and ICANN, as well as ICANN’s proposed introduction of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs).
What Happened?
It was quite entertaining. See for yourself; we have preserved this historical grilling session here:
Testimony of Fiona Alexander, Associate Administrator, Office of International Affairs, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
I was reading this article around TheInternetCompany, selling the domain name ‘wealth.com’ at a private auction run by Sedo. They want 2.9M and the VP was quoted as saying “we believe that now is the right time to monetize this asset and that an auction, rather than a traditional sale, is the best strategy“.
For the record, I disagree that “now is the right time”. Of course, I don’t know if there are financial issues/reasons behind the sale. However, if there were no issues, I’d hold onto it given the environment.
For those people who are “strapped for cash” and need to sell, feel free to get in contact and I’ll take those little gems off your hands. In a strange coincidence…. while typing this post I was sent a portfolio of 400+ domains looking for a new home.
What do you think about wealth.com? Should they auction it off?
All these names are available at assetize.com, a site for buying and selling accounts including Facebook, Twitter, GMail and Wordpress. People seem to be buying accounts; one recent sale for a Twitter account called m*r with 7,851 followers apparently sold for US$1,250.00.
What do you think about this practice? Is it “socialsquatting”, the result of a free and open market? Is there really any value to having that niche keyword on a social media site?
Mashable is reporting that 500,000 usernames were registered in 15 mins. Well I happened to be watching the clock tick down, and acquired the keyword “domainer”. Feel free to get in contact.
To be honest, I really didn’t think this would be as big as it was. Within minutes I had people sending me friend invites…. some were people I’d known on forums and others were fellow bloggers.
I’d be interested to know your views on this. Did you register a name? Are you even on facebook?
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Where do you draw the line between registering a domain name to mourn or honor an individual, vs profit from their death?
As we suspected, 
In a strange coincidence…. while typing this post I was sent a portfolio of 400+ domains looking for a new home.
Just 24 hours after the launch of the facebook vanity URL, we are seeing people starting to sell.