Domain names are big business and an entire industry has developed around the buying and selling of names for websites. Fortunes are continuing to be made in the virtual real estate world of domain owners. There are industry conferences, associations, online newsletters, and online magazines dedicated to all things domain. The DNJournal is a comprehensive industry news magazine that covers everything from news articles to legal information to classified ads to this target group of business people. Recently they covered the "Anti-Phishing Consumer Act of 2008-APCPA, Senate Bill S.2661" being sponsored by Senator Olympia Snowe (R.Maine), Senator Bill Nelson (D.FL), and Senator Ted Stevens (R.AK) and DNJournal does not like what it reads.
They aren't the only ones concerned. The Internet Commerce Association was set up to fight this bill but not enough domain owners are joining and supporting the association. Those in the ICA are concerned that if the domain owners don't provide a united front against this bill that many legitimate domain owners and small businesses will find their valuable domain assets taken away from them by large corporations that want the language in the bill interpreted to expand their trademark rights to include brand names and business names that heretofore would not have been considered trademarks. Companies owning the trademarks could claim that the domain owners were cybersquatters and claim the domain names without having to pay the owners. An entirely fictional example would be if a domain owner had mouse.com and Disney claimed that this domain name violated their trademark rights.
Another concern of the ICA is that phishing is already illegal and the current bill would do nothing to actually eliminate phishing. Phishing is using criminal and fraudulent means to get sensitive personal information by posing as a legitimate online business such as online banks or eBay or PayPal.
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