In deciding the name for this blog I briefly played with the idea of titling it arieladams.com. In doing so, I had to make sure that I could register the name domain name "arieladams.com." Therefore, you go to Network Solution, or any of the other registers and check the availability of the domain name. I did so, and to my surprise, the domain was taken! Who could have used my domain name?!
Checking out the WHOIS section, I found out that arieladams.com was registered by MetaPredict or otherwise known as UltraRPM. From my limited research online, this company utilized various types of bots or spyware to determine search terms that people are looking for. If a term shows up enough, and the domain is available. They register the domain. The lowest form of speculative investments.
Obviously, the practices are not universally loved, and the registration of personal domain names is annoying to say the least. Well good thing I recalled a piece of Federal legislation which guards against this type of conduct. I went ahead and e-mailed UltraRPM with a nasty cease and desist letter citing the Antcybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). This law was intended to many things, among them is protect against the bad faith registration of people's personal name domains. This is exactly what occurred with me. UltraRPM registered arieladams.com with no good reason or legitimate purpose, exactly one of the things the ACPA prohibits.
Not surprisingly, the cease and desist e-mail did the trick, and less that 24 hours later UltraRPM responded saying that the registration was a "mistake," that they would transfer the domain to my registrar of choice, and that they specifically do not admit any wrong doing. Sounds a lot like they have been through this before.
So the next thing one has to do is find a registrar to transfer the name to. I personally chose BlueHost for their price, 24/7 customer support, and storage/bandwith capacity. Also their control panel works relatively well for a website novice such as myself. I didn't have to pay for the transfer, but you will have to pay for hosting fees if you want the host to provide you service beyond a short period of time. Overall, it was a relatively painful experience, but I am convinced it was knowing the law that allow for the ease of interaction with UltraRPM. It is a good lesson that even though there are Federal laws on all sorts of conduct, it is very difficult to enforce on the internet, and it is up to us to use the existing laws for self help. Don't expect people to always know or obey applicable laws.
The next step is that I am going to attempt to have arieladams.com redirect to ablogtoread.com
Ariel,
Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you were going to start blogging. Nice work!
Someone had newspapergirl.com and a kind friend and fellow blogger acquired it for me. I made up the name so I knew it was just a squatter.
I have secured janetmeiners.com now and need to redirect it. Or, you can set it up as a directory to everything you do online (like your MySpace page, your other businesses, etc). Then you just include your blog.
I need to add you to my Bloglines so I won’t miss a post.
Blog on!
Janet
Wow, I wish I had read this before I paid someone $900 to get my domain…