The new law outlawing “cyberpiracy” (who coined that stupid term anyway?) is a bust from the start. While some people may feel that it’s unethical to speculate on domain names, I honestly don’t see how it can be illegal. If I signed up for the telephone number 1-800-786-5282, which could be read as 1-800-SUN-JAVA, does Sun have a right to sue me? If I purchase the land where Microsoft is planning on expanding their corporate campus, can Microsoft sue me? What’s the difference in doing that and registering a domain name that happens to match another company’s name? Domain names are a valuable commodity. To give people exclusive rights to particular domain names based on the fact that they use that name elsewhere seems like yet another example of the rampant corporatism that seems to rule our lousy government and legal system.
The new law outlawing “cyberpiracy” (who coined that stupid term anyway?) is a bust from the start. While some people may feel that it’s unethical to speculate on domain names, I honestly don’t see how it can be illegal. If I signed up for the telephone number 1-800-786-5282, which could be read as 1-800-SUN-JAVA, does Sun have a right to sue me? If I purchase the land where Microsoft is planning on expanding their corporate campus, can Microsoft sue me? What’s the difference in doing that and registering a domain name that happens to match another company’s name? Domain names are a valuable commodity. To give people exclusive rights to particular domain names based on the fact that they use that name elsewhere seems like yet another example of the rampant corporatism that seems to rule our lousy government and legal system.
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