On 28-Mar-15 12:00, Kathy Kleiman wrote: > <html> > <head> > <meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> > </head> > <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> > <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 -------------------------- This communication may not represent the ACM or my employer's views, if any, on the matters discussed.