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It
never fails.
Whenever disaster strikes, vultures
apparently missing a conscience,
come out of the woodwork to register domain
names related to the tragedy. As Michael
Berkens detailed at TheDomains
today, dozens of such domains were registered immediately after the news of a
terrorist bombing at the Boston
Marathon broke. Michael identified
who some of those registrants are and many more
names are likely to be registered in the next 24
hours and beyond (with less than a handful
likely meant to be used for something other than
trying to make a few bucks at someone else's
expense).
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If
you look at the WhoIs record on these
domains (assuming they were not registered
under WhoIs privacy) you will see names
that you most likely have never heard
of before. That is because the
professional domain investors known
throughout this industry don't register these kinds of domains and they
would take a dim view of those who
would register such domains with the idea
of making money from
them, either through PPC or - considerably
worse - by setting up a fraudulent
website to collect money they say will
go to victims
(the latter group will hopefully wind up
in jail and I would be happy to
help put them there). |
Image
from Bigstock |
Though
domain professionals have nothing in common with
such people, they are often tarred with the
same brush these miscreants are deservedly
tarred with - a situation that rightfully raised
Michael's ire. As a result we need to do
everything we can to combat this kind of
abhorrent behavior.
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Internet
fraud image from Bigstock |
Toward
that end, I liked an idea that
industry veteran Scott Ross posted
on his Facebook page today (and expanded
on in a private message to me). While
registering these domains is offensive to
many it is not illegal -
however if any are used for fraudulent
purposes that is a different story of
course. Scott suggested volunteers from
the industry, using Michael's
list as a good starting
point, could monitor these
domains to see how they are used - and
if an unauthorized fundraising site pops
up the authorities could be alerted, the
owner publicly outed and, with any luck,
penalized to the full extent of the law. |
Scott,
who is also a public relations professional,
also suggested formulating a public service
announcement asking mainstream media outlets
to advise readers and viewers to make sure any
site asking for money on behalf of the Boston
Marathon victims is legitimate and fully
vetted by the proper authorities and
agencies. You will hear about legitimate and
well established fundraising sites in the days
ahead and you will hear about them through
respected media channels - something that will
not be the case with the fly-by-nighters
who are not just a stain on domain
investor/developers, but a stain on humanity
itself.
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