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Stop Cyber-Squatting of Domain Names Petition Sign it Today!
Written by wolfepk1 on Jun-16-07 10:51pm
Linked from Stop Cyber-Squatting Petition

Information
What is Cybersquatting?
According to the U.S. federal law known as the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, cybersquatting is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad-faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. But this can go further.
Aquiring a domain name is easy and can be completed with any domain registry company for under $10/year. The low cost and "First come, first served" processing is the reason individuals and companies have applied for and reserved domain names, either new or expired, that they think someone else will want.
Many cybersquatters reserve common English words, expired domain names, and well-known company names, sport and celebrity and political names in hopes that they will profit on the sale in the future. In 2005 and invidivual two weeks prior to they announced who was to be the next Pope purchased the domain name BenedictXVI.com. Once the announcement was made, he started getting about 100 hits each minute and directed them to his blog. He took advertising money and in numorous interviews promoting his site he said he was "considering options..." What this meant was a stay at the Vatican hotel, a hat and a few other things.
Since the cost is cheap and the rewards can be high, some cybersquatters reserve a long list of names and defer paying for them until forced to - preempting their use by others at no cost to themselves.
The registry companies are working on this problem. Meanwhile, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which licenses the domain name registrars, is working on a process for resolving domain name disagreements outside of the regular court system.
Who is ICANN?
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.
ICANN is also responsible for accrediting the domain name registrars. "Accredit" means to identify and set minimum standards for the performance of registration functions, to recognize persons or entities meeting those standards, and to enter into an accreditation agreement that sets forth the rules and procedures applicable to the provision of Registrar Services.
Cybersquatting continues even after major changes were put into effect in 1999 and 2000.

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