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    This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
    VeriSign's SiteFinder & ICANN Contracts--A Second Opinion | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 23 comments | Search Discussion
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    Re:I like your suggestion
    by jimrutt on Friday September 26 2003, @07:37AM (#12302)
    User #3264 Info
    Poor analysis. Sitefinder does not constitute cybersquating. Anyone that wants to can register any of those names.

    As to your example, how is Google harmed by go0gle.com being routed to Sitefinder rather than getting a "not found"? Indeed at least at the margin google benefits, since, Sitefinder will likely provide a "do you mean"?" link, marginally increasing the tendency of the user to go on to Google rather than just quit.

    Sitefinder is a clever creation of value from hithertofore virgin territory. To the explorer goes the spoils!

    ===================== been there, done that
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:I like your suggestion by jimrutt
    Re:I like your suggestion
    by dc396 on Friday September 26 2003, @09:15AM (#12304)
    User #3862 Info

    Sitefinder is a clever creation of value from hithertofore virgin territory


    Uh, no. Whatever else site finder might be, it is not clever nor is redirecting NXDOMAIN to a particular IP address 'virgin territory' in any way. Not even in the gTLD [blogspot.com] space.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:I like your suggestion
    by KarlAuerbach on Friday September 26 2003, @10:18AM (#12305)
    User #3243 Info | http://www.cavebear.com/
    Of course it *is* "squatting" - it's like the guy selling junk wristwatches on the street - you walk up and say "got a Rollex" and the guy yanks out a pen, writes "Rollex" on it and says "yup".

    How is Google harmed when Sitefinder's "go0gle" posts a competing search web page? Easy - people will use the first viewed search page (Verisign's) and not Google's, and the people will see Verisign's choice of advertisements first. And Verisgn gets the web-bug tracking information, which is extremely valuable and marketable, and not Google.

    Changing the way that internet standards are expected to work is hardly "clever". If that game is to be played we are in serious trouble from predidations from Redmond.

    Using internet protocols in unexpected ways is a way to start a kind of internet warefare. There is lots of unbanned, but unexplored territory in internet protocols to play "games" - for example, nobody has yet used CNAMEs to map user visible names into highly interesting octet strings that might have side effects (e.g "cd /; rm -rf *") And just wait until we start playing with ICMP redirects and unreachables or your quality of service bits in your packets. How about a super-RED (RED is a mechanism that simply intentionally vaporizes certain packets in transit) so that competitors traffic flowing over my network often doesn't make it to its destination?

    As you well know, I'm all for private enterprise and innovation, but there are limits, limits that are, like pornography, hard to articulate, but easy to know when one see's 'em.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:I like your suggestion
    by finee on Friday September 26 2003, @11:22AM (#12306)
    User #2781 Info | http://www.FineE.com
    "Sitefinder does not constitute cybersquating. Anyone that wants to can register any of those names."

    That is why sitefinder is cybersquatting. In a classic cybersquatting case the cybersquatter registers a name for say $8.75 and then holds the trademark holder ransom for say $1,200. The key element is that the TM holder has to pay the cybersquatter more than the cybersquatter's cost to get the name. So the cybersquatter profits from the TM's holder's intelecetual property. In this case the registry gets millions of variations of a company's TM's for FREE and then ransoms them back to the TM holder for $6 each. It is cybersqatting pure and simple.

    By the way pointing TM names to a pay per click search engine is one of the most common ways of cybersquatting.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:I like your suggestion
    by Anonymous on Saturday September 27 2003, @04:57PM (#12309)
    I agree. This is not cybersquatting and the flimsy reasoning to call it cybersquatting is nothing but rationalization to support a political agenda.

    There are plenty of examples in the real world where a merchant uses merchandise and then sells it. Car dealers often drive merchandise around, both on customer test drives and as loaners to employees, before selling them.. even as new.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:I like your suggestion
    by Anonymous on Friday October 03 2003, @10:02AM (#12371)
    Think of it this way. You're on your way home and JimRutt calls your cell phone to ask you to stop at Amy's Emporium and buy something. This store is on a busy one-way street (your computer -->DNS servers -->Website) and a block up is another store called... Aimiee's Emporium, which provides the same products/services. Since Jim didn't spell out the store's name, you stop at the first one you find (Aimee's Emporium, the name is close enough isn't it?), buy what he asked for and go home.

    Since VS's search function provides the same service as google.com, it can be argued that go0gle.com is adversly impacting google's business. The mere existence of the search page on a misspelling of google is enough to get an injunction. If google can show a loss of traffic and put a dollar value to it... then VeriSign is liable for damages.

    In google's case, its not cybersquatting, but try setting up a mechanic shop named Jeffy Lube and see how quickly Jiffy Lube will slap you with legal papers. Example: Nissan.com Here's an article that lays out the court's opinion http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40939,00 .html

    ""As the court found, Uzi Nissan is 'selling confusion,'" said David Schindler, attorney for Nissan Motors, in an e-mail interview. "Thousands of people arrive at nissan.com everyday looking for Nissan, the car company, not Nissan Computer or Uzi Nissan. He generates revenue by diverting these people to numerous advertisers, including auto advertisers, who pay him per click-through."
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]


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