This is rather freaky...
I woke up before anyone else this morning, and so I took to my computer. The gentleman filling in for my AP physics classes this trimester, Mr. Chat Hull, had sent out a Decemberween email referencing his blog at chathull.wordpress.com. I thought about how I named my blog, my window to the universe, after my theme name rather than my actual name. This was a deliberate choice, but an admittedly strange choice.
Now, I know from google that there are several notable Greg Jacobses out there, including a country singer, a minor league baseball player, and the author of Hell on Wheels: A Tour Stories Compilation. So I wouldn’t have been surprised had my trip to gregjacobs.com turned up albums for sale, batting statistics, or links to tattoo parlors(?).
Instead, I got a cybersquatter site. Someone unrelated to any of us “real” Greg Jacobses acquired the domain name and put up an ad site. How do I know he’s just a squatter? Aside from the vacuous ads, try clicking at the bottom where it says “why am I seeing this site?” You will get a form with which to email the site owner with subject line “inquiring about the domain gregjacobs.com.” In other words, the site author knows dang well that he’s squatting.
I have two questions for my readers (yes, both of you):
1. Just out of interest, have any of you ever been cybersquatted? Check it out! Post a comment if you have!
2. Not that I have much desire to own gregjacobs.com, but it’s the principle of the thing… anyone know how to evict a squatter, other than hiring the A-team?
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3 comments:
I've not been cybersquatted personally, but from what I've read....unless you are willing to spend a few grand you are sol....and since greg jacobs isn't trademarked that makes it even tougher...
So I guess I'll hire the A-Team.
No clue how much that will cost... but in all the episodes, do you ever remember the A-Team actually collecting money for their services?
You can also try similar names--use your middle initial, or go with www.GERG.com or something.
This is why it's helpful to have an unusual name; the squatters simply never considered mine a worthwhile claim to stake.
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