
Kevin Ham - "the man who owns the internet" (long) - yubrew
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/06/01/100050989/index.htm?postversion=2007052205
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staunch
I don't really agree with the vitriolic hatred of domainers. They're bottom
feeders, but I don't think fair to say it is inherently evil. I've chosen not
to do it myself for the same reason I'm not an SEO guy. It's unpredictable, a
time sink, and it'd be hard for me to be proud of the result of my effort. I
think it's easier to just create something of value. If you do that your
domain name is mostly unimportant.

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schmoe
What a great example of Hannah Arendt's "the banality of evil". Since the
domain market is unregulated why not take advantage of that for your own
personal gain, regardless of who it harms? After all everyone else is too
right? Buy up all the names you can and fill them with worthless advertising
instead of useful content. How disgusting!

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byrneseyeview
How disgusting, indeed?

It's for sale, nobody owns it, and it's eventually going to be controlled by
whoever can use it best. I suspect that you aren't hurting for content, given
that there's already more than anyone could possibly absorb.

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BrandonM
The thing that bothers me about the article is that CNN makes the practice
seem like something that is not even morally questionable at all. I understand
remaining neutral or whatever, but they could have at least mentioned new
businesses that are trying to get a presence on the web, businesses that have
to pay far more than they should just to get a name from someone who is
providing no content at all.

The real problem is the idiots out there who actually click on the links on
these sites. If not for them, this practice would not be possible.

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lupin_sansei
This guy is providing everybody with a useful service! Bare with me!...

All non-registered domain names are currently sold for the same price,
regardless of much value they have to potential buyers. By thinking of and
buying say "weddings-central.com" for $10 and then reselling it for $10,000
he's creating valuable domain names that won't be wasted by being sold for
less than they are worth.

He's basically a speculator. If he bets wrong he loses money, and he bets
right he makes money and provides a useful service.

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BrandonM
This makes no sense to me. He's only doing a service for himself and those
that advertise through him.

If I want to start my own online radio station (I know, it's been done),
onlineradio.com seems like a good place to start. Except of course that it's
being squatted on, so I can't pay the "public domain" price that I should be
able to, but instead I have to pay one of these bosos whatever they think it's
worth. The fact that he bought it didn't help me come up with the name... it's
an obvious name, and that's why he bought it in the first place.

So where's the service again?

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lupin_sansei
The service is that he's making onlineradio.com available to you, for a price
you both agree on. If he didn't, and someone else took it who wasn't a
squatter then you would have no chance of getting it.

He's selling you a second chance to get the domain name, and a service of
preserving the good domain names.

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tx
Hm... but do you really "own" a domain name? My understanding that legally all
domain names are public property and you can only "lease it" for a period of
time.

However, if you can prove that a certain domain name is the name of your
business (and you have a legit, valid business running) and a scumbag like
this fucker "owns" but does not use your name, you can claim that domain in
court. I heard google did this with google.ru in russia: the asshole-domainer
who "owned" it got nothing.

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brianmckenzie
My long-standing opinion of domain speculators notwithstanding, I feel bad for
the future web developers of Cameroon, and all those other African countries
whose domains this guy is going to squat on.

I could draw a bunch of other fun implications from this article, but they
mostly fall in the "What you Can't Say" category.

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motoko
This smells wrong... like "how to get rich playing poker"

