| ISMagazine.com | Crime and Justice |
February, 2000 |
"Cybersquatter" Takes High Road!
Asks for help in returning domain names to rightful owners
JACKSON, MS -- 01/14/00 -- One of the internet's most prolific domain name creators has publicly promised to surrender 132 domain names to their rightful corporate owners. A domain name is the "dot-com", "dot-net" or "dot-org" in an internet address.
"I need help 'cause time is running out!"
"Some of these names are about to go back into the pool of available names", warns Zehr. Once that happens, a "cyber-pirate" can come along and snap it up and hold the rightful owner hostage. Although there's a move afoot to keep people from registering trademarked names, it will still be a major hassle with litigation expenses for everyone involved.
"I'm asking the public to pass this information along to friends and family who might be affiliated with any of these companies. That's the only way I know to get the word out to these folks that they're at risk.
Seeks "amnesty" for other registrants
Domain speculator John Zehr has "come clean" and wants to transfer the ownership of 132 domain names to their rightful owners. "I got in this business some time ago because I could see that internet "real estate" was becoming quite valuable", said Zehr.
Some domain name buyers register a name that looks or sounds like a well-known corporation, hoping that the legitimate owner will pay a premium price for it. These so-called "squatters" have come under fire in recently months. Lawsuits to block the unapproved use of a well-known brand name or trade name are becoming commonplace.
"What I wasn't prepared for was that I had caught major corporations unawares. I registered names that ABC, CBS, NBC, the NFL, Intel, Novell, NASCAR and even the United States Post Office should have registered LONG ago. Someone was asleep at the wheel and, being a devout opportunist, I jumped at the chance to snap 'em up, thinking I'd stumbled into a goldmine!
"I've had a change of heart about profiteering from someone else's intellectual property. These companies have millions of dollars invested in their brand names. They belong to them. I have over 1000 other names for sale that I think are just as valuable. I don't need to be a copy-cat.
"I don't want to sound self-righteous, but I'm calling on domain name speculators everywhere to follow suit and thereby enhance the level of integrity, professionalism and creativity of this business. There are PLENTY of great names still available. In the past few days, I registered audiorecordings.com, bestsecretaries.com, goldforecast.com and madiera.com."
SUNBELT SOFTWARE: E-MAIL SERVERS COULD PUT YOU BEHIND BARS; PROTECT YOURSELF WITH FILESCREEN 2000
CLEARWATER, Fla., Dec 6, 1999 -- Sunbelt Software Distribution, the world's first and largest provider of Windows NT System Management Utilities, brings FileScreen 2000 to NT administrators for real-time rejection of unwanted files.
In a recent survey of a site running Windows NT, 30% of a company's on-line storage contained questionable and/or duplicated materials. These unwanted files can jeopardize a company by infringing upon copyright, sexual harassment or software piracy laws. In April of 1999 the Supreme Court upheld a federal law that makes it crime to send e-mails that are obscene or lewd.