URL Theft

Sleepy

I have a problem on a site I designed for a friend some time ago. The site was hosted on eircom and had an easydns stealth forwarding url. The url now links to a porn site.

What I assume happened is that the friend never received/noticed an email that his url was going to expire. He's since been contacted by the local Gardai over this so it's quiet embaressing for him. Anyone know if there's any recourse to this? Is there any way of reclaiming the url? Will a simple cease and desist from a solicitor take care of this? Has anyone else had similar experiences?


A whois on the site reveals:

Domain Name: MCKENNAPROPERTIES.COM
Registrar: TUCOWS INC.
Whois Server: whois.opensrs.net
Referral URL: http://domainhelp.tucows.com
Name Server: NS1.EGLODE.COM
Name Server: NS2.EGLODE.COM
Name Server: NS1.CROSSWINDS-FARM.COM
Name Server: NS2.CROSSWINDS-FARM.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 14-jan-2004
Creation Date: 04-jan-2004
Expiration Date: 04-jan-2005

seamus

Afaik, all he can do is attempt to get the name back on 4th Jan next year.
I'm not sure if there may be any kind of appeal procedure for .coms. I doubt it though.

All he can do is stop saying his website address is mckennaproperties.com, and inform the Gardai that he is no longer the owner of that site.

Seth Brundle

goes to uchase.com now.

jmcc

Originally posted by Sleepy
What I assume happened is that the friend never received/noticed an email that his url was going to expire. He's since been contacted by the local Gardai over this so it's quiet embaressing for him. Anyone know if there's any recourse to this? Is there any way of reclaiming the url? Will a simple cease and desist from a solicitor take care of this?

No. Solicitors letters tend to be ignored.

The big question relates to who registered the domain and who was the admin/billing contact for the domain. From the way you described it, it was set up with forwarding to an ISP account webspace Eircom. The web archive has a snapshot of the website as it appeared in June 2003.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030623175031/http://www.mckennaproperties.com/

Recovering the domain could be difficult especially if the domain was heavily linked before it lapsed.

Regards...jmcc

Webmonkey

and it will take several months after the expiry date before you will be able to renew,

its hosted here by the way

http://jupiterhosting.com/

Sleepy

Originally posted by jmcc
Recovering the domain could be difficult especially if the domain was heavily linked before it lapsed.

Regards...jmcc

That's the problem, it had a lovely google page rank due to a few hours worth of tweaking...:mad:

Seth Brundle

seems to be (but not necessarily) registered to an individual

INDIVIDUAL
AM WEGESRAD
7 BERLIN,
B 10772
DE
Domain name: MCKENNAPROPERTIES.COM
Administrative Contact:
LOVE, JENNY MARIE
JENNY@EGLODE.COM
AM WEGESRAD 7 BERLIN,
B 10772 DE
1.49823878374

FreeHost

The bottom line is, once the domain name went back on the open market it was available for anybody to purchase.

If he purchased the domain name from domaindirect.com, (I’m guessing from your post) they send reminders every 60, 30, 10 and five days before the domain is due for renewal, they also send a reminder 10 days after it expires (kinda last chance). So “theft” would be hard to prove.

There is a domain name dispute policy operated by ICANN, have a read of this http://www.ketec.ie/icann_files/icann.html

As John said it would be difficult to recover, if not impossible.

Some companies and individuals purchase expired domain names purely for their page rank

seamus

Originally posted by Sleepy
That's the problem, it had a lovely google page rank due to a few hours worth of tweaking...:mad:

No doubt why it was targetted. Live and learn I guess.
Perhaps he would be wise to invest in the same domain name @ .ie. It's more expensive, but essentially hijack-proof (from hijacks of this nature anyway), and with some clever tweaking, google searches for the previous domain name could bring up the new one.

Seth Brundle

have you tried contacting the current registrant? What did they say? Presumable they may sell it back for a 'small fee'

jmcc

Originally posted by seamus
No doubt why it was targetted. Live and learn I guess.
Perhaps he would be wise to invest in the same domain name @ .ie.

Not exactly. It would be best to go for a scorched earth policy with the old domain and register a clean, distinctive domain name. The reason for this is that there is still an automatic response to add a .com to the end of a domain if you are uncertain as to whether it is a .ie or .com. And by using scorched earth tactics you destroy the linking pattern that gave the previous domain its high PR. The problem here, apart from the obvious confusion over the porn site, is brand recognition. The client's brand has to be protected and the best way is to make it distinctive and different to the old one. If going for the .ie, and I would not recommend it on its own, get the .com as well.

Regards...jmcc

damnyanks

If hte Gardai have contacted him wouldnt that suggest there is something dodgya bout the site now? If thats the case would there not be some sort of legal ground for damage to his business / character?

If that was the case then perhaps threaten legal action they might return the domain then

Seth Brundle

Originally posted by kbannon
goes to uchase.com now.

oops hadn't noticed that my pop up killer was working away there.
Porn? I think that is an extreme term for that pop-up. What did the plod say about it?

RainyDay

Originally posted by Sleepy
What I assume happened is that the friend never received/noticed an email that his url was going to expire. He's since been contacted by the local Gardai over this so it's quiet embaressing for him. Anyone know if there's any recourse to this? Is there any way of reclaiming the url? Will a simple cease and desist from a solicitor take care of this? Has anyone else had similar experiences?

I don't get the Garda connection - Are you saying that someone has reported him to the Gardai over a porn site? And that the Gardai have contacted him about it? I can't see the Gardai getting involved unless there is kiddie porn or similar involved.

Sleepy

Someone in the town went to go to his site, it brought up a porn site, they complained to Plod, plod gave the friend a visit.

Thanks for the help guys but it looks like there isn't much we can do...

the Guru

I opened MCKENNAPROPERTIES.COM andnow my pc is acting strange and i have a Browser window named INBOX that I cant get rid off

Please do not open this address

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Sleepy
Someone in the town went to go to his site, it brought up a porn site, they complained to Plod, plod gave the friend a visit.

Thanks for the help guys but it looks like there isn't much we can do...

Why has it got anything to do with the police?

seamus

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Why has it got anything to do with the police?

Cos in a small town, anything mildly offensive gets reported to the local plod, and anything seriously offensive gets reported to the parish priest

"He's running a hookars ring oura his shed shure!"