Call to the techies/geeks on pro gun control web site harvesting

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everallm

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As we all know, the Internet, email and web sites are now one of the first ways many people now reach to for information.

Organizations such as Brady etc would have a great deal of difficulty in passing on their viewpoints without them.

May I suggest that the more techie of our brethren look to monitor and attempt to assume ownership of the various domain names as they become available?

For example, one of my least favourite sites is www.gunguys.com "Where everyone is a straight shooter"......:barf:

As you can see from the attached name registration, their domain name ownership expires Mar 16 2009

Domain Name: GUNGUYS.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Name Server: NS.RACKSPACE.COM
Name Server: NS2.RACKSPACE.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 16-mar-2008
Creation Date: 16-mar-2001
Expiration Date: 16-mar-2009

I have paid a little cash to the registrar (Godaddy.com) and if The Gun Guys are ever late on their renewal I will automatically and immediately become the owner.

May I suggest that others such as Bradycampaign.org (expires 11 Dec 08) etc might be equally worthwhile....:evil:

So long as you do not attempt to pass yourself off as the original owner, legal, legitimate and dare I say enjoyable........:D
 
Basically Godaddy, and some other companies, have a dealie that for a few bucks extra over the price of the domain name, watches for something to become available, then it grabs it and transfers it to you.

This has been done in the past, and I'm sure the folks know about it - I think that someone got the violence policy center a while back...
 
Some of the additional things to be smug about.

You could set the web site request to automatically redirect to ooooooh The High Road.....:evil:

You could exercise your First Amendment rights and set up a "parody" site of the original......:D

Being socially responsible you would want to ensure all emails to the domain for the previous owner are automatically replied to with an "update".....:evil:

I could not of course condone harvesting said email lists for targeted emails, that would be spam and bad.......:rolleyes:
 
Someone has to point out the obvious, so I'll say it - the same technique can be used against us too, so those of you who own pro-gun domains... ;)
 
It can be used against us, and that is why we need to be vigilant as well. It can't hurt setting up the first attack. It would be hilarious if all the good Brady domains were already taken, then they'd have to change their name.
 
It seems to me that something similar happened and the ISRA ended up with either the corporate name or the web site of an Illinois anti-gun group.

The anti-gun group ended up with a good sized chunk of the ISRA's money.
 
Umm...before you do I highly suggest you read the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.

Especially if their name is trademarked...

It can be used against us, and that is why we need to be vigilant as well. It can't hurt setting up the first attack. It would be hilarious if all the good Brady domains were already taken, then they'd have to change their name.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's not how it works. How it works is that the Brady Campaign would sue anyone dumb enough to do this into oblivion.

We'll just file this whole idea under "Good initiative, bad judgement".
 
XDKingslayer,

Actually not quite correct,

The legislations intent is to prevent passing of with intent and for commercial gain or profit and is mainly for example where someone has acquired a domain name to pass off as the original owner.

For example registering www.famousbrandname.us when said famous brand hasn't snatched the US domain name AND is doing this for profit, minimum guidelines below

The plaintiff must prove the following elements:

1.

The Defendant has a bad faith intent to profit from that mark, including a defendant name which is protected as a mark;
2. registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name that--

(I) in the case of a mark that is distinctive at the time of registration of the domain name, is identical or confusingly similar to that mark;

(II) in the case of a famous mark that is famous at the time of registration of the domain name, is identical or confusingly similar to or dilutive of that mark; or

(III) is a trademark, word, or name protected by reason of 18 U.S.C. § 706 (the Red Cross, the American National Red Cross or the Geneva cross) or 36 U.S.C. § 220506

For example The Gun Guys is not a trademark etc and if the new owner can demonstrate that they have assumed the domain name legally as it has lapsed and with legitimate purpose then there limited grounds for redress.

The Brady Campaign whilst well known is not necessarily a brand name, trademark etc and whilst they would have a slightly stronger case, however, if there is

No defined financial motive
No commercial financial loss
No brand name dilution
No intent to pass off as the original owner
No intent to divert consumers
No attempt to hold the name to attempt to gain, extort ot force payment from the oriignal owner or a third party

Then there are limited avenues for redress

If in addition the new site is used for purposes that fall within the free speech remit of the 1st Amendment.........:evil:
 
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it wont work. i cant recall the name of the foundation/company involved but they can reassign domain names if they feel that one company has more need for the name than someone else.
 
GlowinPontiac

Your thinking of the ICANN UDRP arbitration process.

Once again this speciically talks to commercial and financial or "bad faith" none of which are directly applicable here,

Example below

What Must a Trademark Owner Prove to Win a UDRP Arbitration?

A complainant must prove each of the following elements to win a UDRP arbitration:

1.

The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights;
2.

The domain name owner does not have any rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
3.

The domain name owner registered the domain name and is using it in "bad faith."

What is Bad Faith?

The UDRP lists the following nonexclusive circumstances as evidence of bad faith in the registration and use of a domain name:

1.

Circumstances indicating that the domain name owner registered the domain name or acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or
2.

The domain name owner registered the domain name to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that the domain name owner has engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or
3.

The domain name owner registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or
4.

By using the domain name, the domain name owner has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, internet users to the domain name owner's web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the domain name owner's web site or location or of a product or service on the domain name owner's web site or location.

The process can take sometime.....I've been at the end of this sort of fun before where the company I worked for actually had a legitimate fraudulent passing off case I had to fight.
 
Oh,

If you really want to create short term havoc, you file a DMCA restraint against the offending web site on copyright infringement, all it takes is a letter to the ISP........Almost all have a take action first, look second process.

All thats necessary is to show the site has ANY piece of information on it that you hold. So for example if there is a deep link on their site to an article you have written or a link to you as an individual that can be grounds.

This is a perfect example of how badly screwed up politically inspired electronic copyright law is.........
 
I can't see it working for something like bradycampaign.org because of the name. (trademarks typically tump ownership... look at the etoy.com dispute) However, gunguys.com is fairly generic and would be a very cool domain name to have. There's no trademark that I'm aware of for gun guys... and actually if a few guys setup a store or some other organization, called themselved the gun guys they might have a lawsuit to get the domain from the Brady campaign. (Again, search on etoy.com dispute)

If someone were to do this, I couldn't help pay for the lawsuit but I would be willing to volunteer some time to designing a website and offer any pointers. Of course if you do grab the domain I wouldn't suggest a link farm or even just redirecting to thehighroad.org because you probably need to show you are actually using it, not just getting the name to spite the original owners. Even if it was just a few static pages with some gun facts.
 
IIRC the Illinois state rifle assn. did this and it cost them a bunch of money in the end. If I can find the details I will post a link. John Birch did a big piece on it when it happened.

Len
 
I don't think this is such a hot idea... probably not the high road either.
 
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