On 28-Mar-15 12:00, Kathy Kleiman wrote:
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> <div class="moz-cite-prefix">+1 to Milton. I remember the old days
> when there was no way in a domain name to criticize a trademark
> owner without losing your domain name. Newspapers could criticize
> and critique large companies for practices they did not like even
> in headlines (such as abuse of migrant workers); Saturday Night
> Live (a popular US TV show) could parody; but not in domain
> names.<br>
> <br>
> For years we posited a ".SUCKS" domain name where you could
> register a trademark and make it very clear that the domain name
> was going to be used for legal expression - to criticize, critique
> and parody. I remember talking about how much I wanted it years
> ago - long before the New gTLD program. How it would make life
> clearer online and provide clear protections for speakers. <br>
> <br>
> $2500 is a lot of money, but not out of line with what is being
> asked by other New gTLD Registries. I heard that one new registry
> is demanding the absurd price of $30,000 for its "landrush" domain
> names -- and that's truly extortion. But $2500 while high is
> ballpark - that chance to pull your (your company's) trademark out
> of .SUCKS and not be part of the free speech and discussion to
> come. <br>
> <br>
> Best,<br>
> Kathy<br>
> <br>
I guess I'm opaque. I don't see how this advances any cause. This neither
advances free speech, nor provides any real protection to reputations.
The people with trademarks and money will try to control criticism by
buying these names.
They will use trademark law, landrush and any other rules to prevent
others from
acquiring/using them in ways that offend/hurt their organizations.
Many can afford to
try hard. Those who can't - remember, there are also small businesses,
not just
megaacorps - will be disadvantaged. For them, $2,500 is not small
change. Think of the
coffee shop where an employee is incited to do something rude, just
once, but it goes viral with
people piling on and using language that I won't cite here. Criticism
isn't always justified.
This doesn't help free speech or protect organizations' reputations.
On the other hand, the critics will try alternate names to get around
these efforts.
corp.sucks. Corp.really.sucks. Corp.reallyreallyreally.sucks.
howcorp.sucks.
harvardcourses.sucks. harvardprofs.sucks. harvarddoesnt.sucks... So the
game of whack-a-mole won't actually protect the organizations, as has
been pointed out.
But the critics, who often have shallow pockets, will pay for domain
names and attorneys.
This also doesn't help free speech.
The only people who benefit are the domain name holders and the
attorneys. (Sorry
Kathy - I don't mean that ALL attorneys are evil :-)
In fact, there are dozens of sites that post criticism/customer
complaints with names unrelated
to the object of their criticism. E.g. without endorsement: I did a
quick search on one large
company and turned up: www.comsumeraffairs.com, pissedconsumer.com,
customerservicesscoreboard.com, ripoffreport.com, complaintslist.com -
and I got bored as
the list continued for many more pages. You don't need a specific
domain name to
criticize. Frankly, I have some empathy for the targets of these sites,
as they are universally
negative. Good experiences are very, very rarely reported.
So take a deep breath, and remember: "It's just a name." Yes, there
need to be rules
for some kind of fairness in acquisition and retention. No, the DNS can
not be the
vehicle for advancing every cause. It's just a dictionary of names.
And, remember when I posited ".tfz", as in 'trademark-free zone'.? As
in, for individual
domain name holders to be free of harassment. I'd still like the
l'Orange family to have
the ability to use their name in some TLD without fear of the French
telecomm company
claiming ownership. But non-corporate domain name holders still have
virtually no rights.
Ultimately, this is a tempest in a teapot. You can't effectively
protect anything by
acquiring domain names. For critics and targets alike, there's always
another forum.
For registrars and scam artists, there are always more people willing to
pay.
And around here, there is always the temptation to rise to the bait &
try to map
anything related to name allocation onto our favorite causes...
Timothe Litt
ACM Distinguished Engineer
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This communication may not represent the ACM or my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed.
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