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ICANN has been asked by its formal advisory body, the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), to investigate Vox Populi Registry Inc. for alleged wrongdoing in regards to the ".sucks" gTLD.
According to the BBC:
Specialist online website Domain Incite reports that actor "Kevin Spacey, Microsoft, Google and Apple have already bought up '.sucks' sites in a bid to protect their reputations". This practice is known as "defensive registering".
Icann granted Vox Populi permission to sell the ".sucks" names but is now concerned at the price levels the Canadian company has set. Kevin Murphy, from Domain Incite, told the BBC two key elements of the way Vox Populi was handling the sale were causing concern.
"They are charging a $2,000 'sunrise' premium to those wishing to register '.sucks' addresses early, before the addresses go on sale to the general public [next month]," he said. "Also they are using a list of words or names that have been defensively registered in the past, for which they are charging the top amount."
Mr Murphy said the company was working from a list of keywords that had been part of web addresses bought up early on in similar new domain web address sales and using that to decide which ".sucks" addresses to charge more for.
Although ICANN has been urged to end the shakedown by the likes of US Senator Jay Rockefeller, the CEO of Vox Populi has defended .sucks, claiming that the pricing strategy was intended to strike a balance between the rights of trademark holders and the ability of critics to lampoon people and brands, as originally intended by Ralph Nader when his group Consumer Project for Technology proposed the TLD back in 2000.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @12:29PM
So how much does it cost to register vox-populi-registry.sucks?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday April 14 2015, @12:41PM
We have already loaded up with a list of domains to register! ;-)
ebait.sucks
riaa.sucks
mpaa.sucks
icann.sucks
comcast.sucks
veryslimed.sucks
thelegalbay.sucks
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Kromagv0 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @12:57PM
But I want to know if someone will register one these:
monica.sucks
lewinsky.sucks
I miss the days when the biggest scandal in DC was about someone polishing the President's knob.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 4, Insightful) by kaszz on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:22PM
Those scandals are mostly about distracting people from the real issues.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:47PM
What was the real issue that we were being distracted from? Record growth, financial prosperity, no wars, and a democratic party that was worth a damn? Yeah I see your point, must've been the last one.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:59PM
You are right, it was about distracting from the success of democrats.
That sounds flippant, but its no joke. It was a lull so they had to manufacture controversy to keep the base engaged - give the republicans something to rally around.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday April 14 2015, @03:07PM
I miss the days when the biggest scandal in DC was fishy activities with campaign cash, and nobody cared who polished the President' knob. (Nowadays, of course, fishy activities with campaign cash are not even newsworthy.)
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday April 14 2015, @05:34PM
I miss the days when the biggest scandal in DC...actually happened?
Say what you will but knob polishing and Whitewater were real things.
These days we get the Benghazi "Coverup" and No-Go Zones.... (neither of which actually occured in case you haven't been paying attention)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:03PM
Where, exactly, is the controversy in somebody getting their dick sucked, for anyone who isn't constantly trying to use the force of law to force their religious values on 300 million people?
(Score: 1) by Fauxlosopher on Wednesday April 15 2015, @12:59AM
The dust-up over Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky wasn't a scandal about sex with underlings - the scandalous part was that the sitting President of the United States was found out to be a liar.