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(or, The Diary of a Confessed Caffeine Abuser)
Save Your Domain!
This might be the tip of a scary iceberg
By David "Spam Me and Die" Fiedler
Yikes.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
You know how, aside from the country codes, there are a limited number of top-level domains: .com, .net, .edu, .gov, and .org? The idea was originally that .net would be reserved for organizations who had something to do with the network infrastructure (such as ISPs), non-profit organizations would use .org, governments would be using .gov, and only certified educational institutions would be using .edu.
Everyone else wants a .com address, because there's still little else to choose from.
What's happened is that some people and companies bought .org and .net addresses for their Web sites, perhaps because they liked the "different" community feeling or because the .com name they wanted wasn't available. OK, so far. But now I've become aware of a frightening new idea: companies using .com addresses who believe that -- since they've invested money into developing their online presence at the .com address -- feel they're entitled to the use of the same name with the .net or .org suffix as well.
So here's my advice, without me getting into too much of a rant over how wrong and stupid this is (after all, if you've been advertising something.com, that isn't the same as something.org, just as it isn't the same as nothing.com): if you have a .org or .net domain, attempt to register your trademark as well as the .com version of your name if it's available. If you have a .com address, buy the .org and .net versions of the same name if they're available.
But don't sic your lawyers on an innocent party because you want their marbles too.
-- D. Fiedler
David Fiedler is Editor-in-Chief of WebDeveloper.com®, and his opinions are definitely his own.
Last modified: Thu Jun 15 06:18:35 EDT 2000
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