Probably you folks are right that this is a bad bill, too sweeping.
But I have to say that it is very annoying to search for something and have such a large proportion of the results turn out to be nothing but pages of ads and links. People are making money at the expense of my ability to efficiently find information on the internet.
I wish sites were required to contain actual information on whatever subject the domain name and/or tags imply.
Still never got any emails from RJ. I guess RJ and the folks at NP don' think this is important like the folks at that other forum do.
At any rate, looks like the goal was lowered from 2000 to 1400 and was reached but there are way too many foreign and anonymous signers that will be invalid for this petition. Anonymous signers are usually thrown out for obvious reasons and foreigners will be thrown out since this is a USA bill.
Oh well, we'll see what happens.
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Last edited by EbookLover : 03-11-2008 at 07:08 AM.
In case some of you are not aware, Sedo sent around an email concerning this very issue. Some of you may have received it, but for those who haven't, we want to make sure everyone knows where Sedo stands on the issue of the Snowe Bill. Without ado, the email message is below:
"As a founding member of the Internet Commerce Association, Sedo believes that it is important to invest our resources in ensuring the long term health and viability of the domain name market and the business of traffic monetization. Whether you buy and sell domains for your business, maintain a portfolio of domain properties, or simply enjoy the use of domain names for personal websites or blogs, a threat has emerged to domain ownership and it is time for interested individuals and businesses to protect our rights.
As you may have already read in the news or on a forum, a bill was recently introduced in the United States Senate by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) that aims to drastically and needlessly expand the scope of rights associated with a trademark outside the realm of traditional trademark law. The Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008, or the Snowe bill as it is referred to, appears on its face to be directed to fighting the practice of “phishing”, which is a worthwhile cause, but contains many elements completely unrelated to this purpose, such as creating a cause of action for displaying advertising on a generic or descriptive domain name simply because another company has registered rights to a similar word or phrase.
If this bill is passed by Congress and signed by the President, it would immediately arm large businesses and government agencies with the ability to claim countless valuable and legitimate domains from their current owners. Supported by the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), a coalition of companies that include Verizon, AIG, Dell, and several large hotel chains, the Snowe bill is attempting to confuse the issue of malicious phishing scams with the lawful and legitimate business of buying, selling and monetizing domain names.
By removing many of the intended checks and balances of traditional trademark law, designed to ensure that trademark rights are limited by geography and class of goods and services, the Snowe bill is attempting to eliminate many of the roadblocks large companies have faced in their attempt to gain de facto monopoly rights on words that rightfully belong to the public domain. Furthermore, the absence of due process principles make it likely that valuable domain properties could be taken from their rightful owner due only to a vague resemblance to another’s mark.
I encourage all Sedo users and domain owners anywhere to help fight the Snowe bill by joining the Internet Commerce Association, a non-profit industry organization founded to help represent domain name investors and developers and the direct search industry. The Internet Commerce Association is comprised of responsible businesses and individuals who have joined together to improve public confidence in internet commerce. Based in Washington D.C., their mission is to promote and share best practices among participants in the domain name industry and to educate consumers, policy makers, law makers and the media about the value and benefits of direct navigation traffic and the domain name industry.
Please visit www.internetcommerce.org to learn more about the Snowe bill and how you can support the ICA in our effort to fight its passage."
Take a moment to check out this little bit of proposed legislation, see how it affects you and/or the industry as a whole, and keep the discussion going.
Imagine if for 48 hours a bunch of domainers got together and redirected all traffic to a page explaining this situation...
It would be good if Sedo and others had an option on each page with a link to explaining this situation to the public. A good percentage of internet traffic is a potential source for someone that owns a domains and could be threatened by Snowe and Co.
It's funny because in July '07 RJ sent out a PM to all Namepros members inviting them to join Bodis, but nothing was sent out informing members of a bill that could threaten the entire domain industry. There's still a lot of people who are clueless about the situation. People who could donate money to the ICA. People who could write to their Senators. People who could educate others of the contents of this bill. I've received email from Sedo, ICA, and other forums regarding this issue so I'm just a bit disappointed that the #1 domain forum hasn't taken the extra step to inform it's members. Having 1 thread tucked away in the "Industry News" section isn't enough.
I love Namepros but I had to get that off my chest.. anyways on to some good news:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a non-profit organization that fights bad legislation relating to the internet. Today they voiced their opposition to the Snowe Bill in this article . Hopefully more groups like the EFF will join the domain industry to fight this bill.
Until then it's extremely important to:
Donate to the ICA (better yet join). They are the only association that fights specifically for the rights of domain owners. They are currently working hard to fight this bill but they need your support!
I'm rather disappointed at your apparent need to take a swipe. Sending out a fear mongering mass e-mail without a clear plan of action would be nothing but a useless gesture. I'm on top of the issue and will do what I feel is best to get the word out on a bigger scale when I'm good and ready.
Darn right I'm taking my time. Considering this thing probably won't even be discussed in its current Senate committee UNTIL JUNE or later, I am taking some time TO DO IT RIGHT. Every single day we have better understanding of this bill's possible implications and are one step closer to putting together a better plan for opposing it.
The EFF just posted their public opinion on the bill today. DomainTools (who has the largest userbase of domainers in the entire industry) made their first mention of it only yesterday. The ICA just made a sample letter available a couple days ago. I don't think I'm out of line in requesting you give me a break.
It is important to me. I am working on it and keeping up with the latest developments. I believe the NamePros community and DNOA will play a central role in the effort to fix this flawed piece of legislation. So let's work together and come up with the best plan for doing so.
While I don't speak for RJ, he will decide on his own what those actions will be
and if/when he'll reveal such in the future. No one has to wait for RJ on this.
You may go ahead and tell other people on your own.
Thanks for pointing the obvious out. It was a question directed to him, and only a question. He is also the ones with connections and power. With that in mind he also is running a large community that is seeking his input on this bill. So I figured I would just ask, what some people are thinking about already.
I have drafted a NamePros Member Plan-of-Action. Please review and comment, with suggestions on ways to improve upon it. I hope to send this out to the entire membership within the next few days.
RJ, that looks good from the surface here on my end... will have to dig deeper to really look into it though.
One thing that could definitely aid us - if the bill was passed, perhaps with modifications or something - is that some sort of certified or accredited organizations would have exempt status or leniency from some requirements of this bill. The DNOA, as you mention in your P-o-A is great for doing this... now I don't know if the gov't has anything in mind to do something like that (if they must)... but the DNOA website would have to be maintained actively, for sure. More actively than it is now I think.
Sedo: Protect Your Domain Rights! 
