Virginia Tech Domains News Item

[localexperts]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/ap_on_hi_te/virginia_tech_domain_names

 

[DotSauce]

Interesting article.

He also plans to give away his memorial domain names to Virginia Tech students, and has donated one so far. He hopes to sell others, such as VaTechTheMovie.com, to companies. So far, he hasn't sold any.

That sounds reasonable to me, some people who registered these names are taking quite the bashing.

 

[lpstong]

Yeah I just read this.

Sometimes I feel that some domainers, even having the right to buy such domains, are equivalent to the Paprazzi. Swearing they have a right to chase down anyone and anything because of free speech. The free speech part also has a fine line.

When or where is anything private. Those who swear its all due to free speech, aren't really saying it for their freedoms. But for a quick buck and construe a constitutional right to do what they think is "right" and within the bounds of the law. Many paparazzi=domainers are in the same boat. No respect to life or privacy, wanting a load of money and masking it under the 1st ammendment rights.

Name of one of the Virginia Tech victims JarrettLane.com. Really it is their son and have to pay a slew of money for their dead sons name so they can memoralize him. Just utterly wrong. It is their right to buy the domain prior. But come on have some respect. To me its borderline extortion of the dead.

Especially troubling to some is the registration of domain names related to those killed in the tragedy. On the same day the victims' names were released, people began registering domains named after the dead, such as JarrettLane.com. Victims' friends and family members seeking to create a memorial site under the same Internet address would then have to purchase it from the domain name owner — for whatever price the owner wants.

 

[labrocca]

The free speech part also has a fine line.

Umm...no it doesn't. Free Speech certainly has it's limitations but certainly it's not a fine line. Freedom of expression and speech are constitutional guarantees.

vatech domains infringe on no ones privacy. I see zero problems with it. The jarrettlane.com domain I would agree is an invasion of privacy.

The yahoo article imho is a propoganda piece to make domainers look bad. Their use of the word "they" I find particularly offensive...who is "they"?

"Any time there's a big news event, people go register the domain names," said Christine Jones, general counsel for GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain registration service. "Nine-eleven they did it, Katrina they did it, the tsunami in southeast Asia they did it."

And it's not suprising at all that it was a GoDaddy rep that made the comment. I really hate GoDaddy. Now they make this type of statement! As if registration of domains names in a world news event is wrong.

 

[Spade]

And it's not suprising at all that it was a GoDaddy rep that made the comment. I really hate GoDaddy. Now they make this type of statement! As if registration of domains names in a world news event is wrong.

Christine Jones is actually a Lawyer for GoDaddy, I believe she is head of the legal department. Met her on a couple of occasions when I worked for the company.

However, the issue legally is non-existant. The issue only exists on moral grounds and this is where I believe registering the names of victims and selling it to the families is exceptionally low.

Justin

 

[goodkarmaco]

Hey,

without Paparazza we would not have had such great photos such as those of Britney Spears showing off the new non panties look, lol.

As a professional photograher, ( not in business today,) I have ran model studios etc, I do not like to see Paparazzi portrayed as all scum. Some are merely doing a job for the public and filling pages for magazines, such as Cosmo, Star Etc, It would be a pretty boring world if those guys and gals were not out in the field snapping pics.

I do agree that the pushy attitude is not professional or is causing situations where they may cause harm by chasing celebs, but the public wants these photos so a big price is paid for them.

 

[companyone]

Check out my post to this one-sided story (streamline)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/4788946.html

Peace,
Dan
_______

BTW: Feel free to "copy and paste" my response at any of the sites that publish this article and allow you to "comment"...my writing has a lot to be desired, so feel free to change it a bit if need be.

 

[labrocca]

Christine Jones is actually a Lawyer for GoDaddy, I believe she is head of the legal department. Met her on a couple of occasions when I worked for the company.

However, the issue legally is non-existant. The issue only exists on moral grounds and this is where I believe registering the names of victims and selling it to the families is exceptionally low.

Justin

Yes I agree that's it is reprehesible but as you say...not illegal. I don't know why Godaddy has to speak on the matter in such a way. They are such an attention whoring company.

 

[lpstong]

Yes I agree that's it is reprehesible but as you say...not illegal. I don't know why Godaddy has to speak on the matter in such a way. They are such an attention whoring company.

Yet you blurted Godaddy in your post. Enough for the spiders and bots to crawl NP and find your keyword and pick it up to give them more attention.

Umm...no it doesn't. Free Speech certainly has it's limitations but certainly it's not a fine line. Freedom of expression and speech are constitutional guarantees.

It may be a legal right to buy such domains. But in essence, those who take up the practice of buying domains of such incidences are just to capitalize, and are whores themselves. Predators to say the least. And give genuine domainers a bad name/rap.

 

[labrocca]

Are you suggestion when she spoke she wasn't representing Godaddy and that the only reason they contacted her was to get information from a Godaddy rep? They obviously use her only as a reference because she is the Godaddy general counsel.

said Christine Jones, general counsel for GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain registration service.

Just because you met her a couple times doesn't mean you have to protect her. I am in no way saying anything about her personally. I make reference to GODADDY in general and she just so happened to be quoted in that article. What's your beef?

 

[zachary0611]

i think if you reg a name and develope it testfully it can be a good resource for people but regging a victims name is crossing the line

 

[mirrorcube]

I have two thoughts about this:
1) Free Speech should always be protected, even if you don't like what is said.
2) Sometimes even if something is legal, its good to a human being once and awhile.

 

[john's TLD Domain]

It’s no surprise that when things happen the domain names are registered right away. Imagine the person that bought 911.com I sure he sold it for a pretty penny. The fact is that anybody in the domain name business is looking to do something like that. That just happens to be the nature of the business.

 

[lpstong]

That just happens to be the nature of the business.

True and it shows many who have:
1. No business ethics
2. No Compassion
3. Greed

All in the name of "nature of the business" and "freedom of speech"

 

[pluto459]

WOW, this kinda proves my point about the polluters just buying names for profit only and caring less about what is on the site, but rather they just make money from it.

 

[movingconcierge]

My position hasn't changed since the katrina chasers...they are all turds...every last one of them. Also, the people who defend the turds have the same very same stink. :imho:

 

[companyone]

Hi,

I found a little news hangout were the AP writer KRISTEN GELINEAU who wrote this article has posted some of her news articles. I "commented" on this article...I hope she reads it.

http://ap-263.newsvine.com/

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/05/09/709167-url-buyers-hope-to-cash-in-on-tragedy


Peace,
Dan

 

[Nathan]

Morals or Money.

A battle that has been going on since the beginning of time in one way or another. I would say that this is pretty low. But there are plenty of people out there who do these types of things all the time. Not a whole lot we can do about it, except hold ourselves to a higher standard.

 

[kwan]

If you register a VT name without having any connection with the victims, to me you are scum. And the lame excuse about wanting to set up a memorial website doesn't fly with me either. There are enough official websites already.

Yes it's the nature of the business, because the domain business is full of scum :imho:

 

[goodkarmaco]

Good thing each domain person has their own agenda, as some here would like you not to have a choice what you register.