Do You Protect Your Domain Names?

Your domain name is rapidly becoming synonymous with your brand--or at least it should be. People turn to the Internet for information and to actually buy products and services more and more often, and that trend will continue. If you do not protect your domain name and proactively prevent others from registering it or its variants, your customers may suddenly be unable to find you--or worse, they may find your competitors instead. Imagine driving down the street intending to arrive at a particular business and finding the building gone, only to be replaced by an "adult store" or a competitor's business! This is analogous to what happens when you do not monitor, protect, and enforce your domain names. Another example: guess who owns the domain name "Microsoftsucks.com"? If you guessed Bill Gates, you guessed wrong. Look it up and see for yourself--post a comment with the name of the registrant and your opinion as to why Microsoft does not own this domain. If Bill Gates can lose control over a domain that involves his flagship trademark, so can you. Be vigilant and protect this important web "real estate!"

Sony Files Rootkit Lawsuit

Remember all the hubbub about Sony BMG and rootkits two years ago? For those of you who do not remember, rootkits are software tools that hide running processes from a computer's operating system. In 2005, Sony BMG surreptitiously placed digital rights management ("DRM") software on certain music CDs it distributed in order to defeat efforts to copy the CDs. The software was hidden from the Windows operating system, and thus hidden from the user. The DRM software, however, opened security holes into the user's system, allowing hackers to have access. Sony BMG has spent much of the last two years and millions of dollars trying to fix the problem it created.

In a recent turn of events, it appears Sony BMG has filed a $12 million dollar lawsuit in New York state court against Arizona-based Amergence Group, the maker of one of the DRM titles installed by Sony. Litigation related to the Sony rootkit debacle will likely go on for years.