Google Propping Up Typosquatting Biz?

An anonymous reader writes "Google is making oodles of cash placing ads on a vast sea of otherwise vacant Web sites that do little more than capitalize on misspelled domain name names, according to a story in today's Washington Post. From the story: 'Google Inc., which runs the largest ad network on the Internet, is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads. In many instances, these ad-filled pages appear when users mistype an Internet address, such as BistBuy.com. This new form of advertising is turning into a booming business that some say is cluttering the Internet and could be violating trademark rules.'"

In other news...

Typosquatter site BistBuy.com reports record profits and an all-time high hit count.

Re:no it will not

it's down

Must be the slashdor [slashdor.org] effect.

Hoo sed yoo need ejucashun too mayk munny

Huh?

I don't blame Google for enabling typosquatting

I blame DNS.

We should have stuck with numbers. In hex. Would have kept out all the lamers, nannies, and governments.

Heck we should go back to uucp over dial-up connections.

I have an even better idea

I have an even better idea... let the marketplace provide services for location of commercial websites: say maybe, have a list of words ("key words") that the internet browser could type in at a website, and then that website would facilitate finding the desired website, based on a huge database of known websites.

Re:I don't blame Google for enabling typosquatting

I don't blame Google either, considering that the ads aren't placed on the typo-squatting sites BY Google, they're placed by the typo-squatters themselves! What is Google supposed to do, weed out any advertisers that seem like they might be using the ads in a non-standard way?

Are we calling it something else now?

Back in the olden days of 2004, we used to call it "cybersquatting." Kids these days and their crazy terminology. And their music.

Re:Are we calling it something else now?

Back in the olden days of 2004, we used to call it "cybersquatting." Kids these days and their crazy terminology. And their music.

Actually, I always thought cybersquatting was more like registering a bunch of potentially valuable domain names and doing nothing with them, until whoever would be rightfully interested in registering a name realizes it's taken and offers money to buy it back. It's a form of racket of course. Typosquatting is rather different.

Re:Are we calling it something else now?

Actually, I always thought cybersquatting was more like registering a bunch of potentially valuable domain names and doing nothing with them, until whoever would be rightfully interested in registering a name realizes it's taken and offers money to buy it back. It's a form of racket of course. Typosquatting is rather different.

But that was back in 1999, years before 2004 was ever imagined.

Re:Are we calling it something else now?

Cybersquatting is buying a real a domain with resell value; typosquatting is buying a domain that is spelled similar to a real domain and lapping up typo-induced hits.

Dodgy Business

Google is defending its business practices, saying that it removes participating sites from its ad network if a trademark owner complains that those sites are confusingly similar -- even though close misspellings don't necessarily prove that a legal infringement has occurred.

"Unless it is confusing to somebody, trademark law doesn't apply," said Rose Hagan, Google's chief trademark lawyer.

Wouldn't it be in Google's best interest to hold the position that these parked domains are NOT confused with some registered trademark?

I imagine very few businesses can legitimately claim that the ads on bistbuy.com would confuse anyone looking for bestbuy.com.

OMGLOL!!!! bistbuy was slashdotted!!!

Safari can't find the server.
Safari can't open the page "http://www.bistbuy.com/" because it can't find the server "www.bistbuy.com".

This is a non story. I really don't understand how anyone would hold Google culpable for this.

Re:OMGLOL!!!! bistbuy was slashdotted!!!

The Post claims, "Google Inc., which runs the largest ad network on the Internet, is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads. In many instances, these ad-filled pages appear when users mistype an Internet address, such as 'BistBuy.com.'"

I also couldn't open bistbuy.com --

Here's what searching whois for bistbuy.com gave me

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net/ [internic.net]
for detailed information.

      Domain Name: BISTBUY.COM
      Registrar: DOMAINDOORMAN, LLC
      Whois Server: whois.domaindoorman.com
      Referral URL: http://www.domaindoorman.com/ [domaindoorman.com]
      Name Server: NS1.12GF6.COM
      Name Server: NS2.12GF6.COM
      Name Server: NS3.12GF6.COM
      Status: REDEMPTIONPERIOD
      Updated Date: 29-apr-2006
      Creation Date: 22-nov-2005
      Expiration Date: 22-nov-2006

Nothing appears to link bistbuy.com (if it ever was a valid destination) to Google.

I'm not convinced yet that this story is a smear job, but very little of their story appears to check out.

Re:OMGLOL!!!! bistbuy was slashdotted!!!

Updated Date: 29-apr-2006
 
The date of the story was what, the 30th? Cut them some slack.

Two points:

#1: They used bistbuy.com as a hypothetical example, so the millions of slashdotters trying to go there wouldn't make google revenue.

#2: Thanks to you posting on /. to inform everyone about this, some troll will have registered the site to go to goatse.

Re:OMGLOL!!!! bistbuy was slashdotted!!!

You've misread/notread the article. Google provides a specialised scheme for parking domains with ads.

http://www.google.com/domainpark/ [google.com]

which would *seem* like they're encouraging cybersquatting. Personally I don't can't think of what content-based website

It *was* there

This is all from GoDaddy's website

Registry Status: REDEMPTIONPERIOD
Registry Status: redemptionPeriod

Domain Name: BISTBUY.COM
Registrar: DOMAINDOORMAN, LLC
Whois Server: whois.domaindoorman.com
Referral URL: http://www.domaindoorman.com/ [domaindoorman.com]
Name Server: NS3.12GF6.

Re:OMGLOL!!!! bistbuy was slashdotted!!!

Whats _really_ funny is this;
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies [google.com]

Especially this:
# No Google ad or Google search box may be displayed on any domain parking websites, pop-ups, pop-unders, or in any email.

Do no evil, do not put adsense on parked domains.. err, no, wait.

salshdot.org

Just tried some misspellings of slashdot.org...

• salshdot [salshdot.org] has a frame redirect to slashdot. Does not seem to be affiliated.
• .com [slashdot.com] redirects to .org.
• slsahdot [slsahdot.org] is a misspelling counter. :-)
• lsashdot.org, slashodt.org, slashdto.org, slashdot.net, slashdot.info, slshdot.org slshdot.org, slahdot.org, slasdot.org, slashot.org, slashdt.org, slashdo.org, salshdot.com - these are all typosquatters.
• slashdot.biz - is registered but hasn't even a domain parking site
• Typosquatters pay attention: slashdot.eu is not yet taken!

Re:salshdot.org

My most common mispelling is slashdot.rog. I have that in my hosts file.

Obligatory

* Typosquatters pay attention: slashdot.eu is not yet taken!

In the European Union, typosquatter slashdot.eu.

Wasting people's time

I think the biggest problem with typo-sqauatting and the nastier problem(for web developers) of domain-squatting is that it wastes people's time. It's like traffic when you're on the highway. Wouldn't it be great if you could just make traffic illegal one day? I understand the problem...how can you tell if someone is typo-squatting or doing an original website?

It's actually quite easy. It should be based on content. If all you see is a list of search categories and lots of ads, it's typo-squatting. If you see original articles and compelling content, it's legit.

Re:Wasting people's time

> It should be based on content. If all you see is a list of search categories and lots of ads, it's typo-squatting.

Zonk [slashdot.org] would beg to differ with you.

BistBuy.com?

Hmm... bistbuy.com doesnt resolve. Also, the only reference on archive.org from bistbuy.com was in Apr 06, 2004: http://web.archive.org/web/20040406094329/http://w ww.bistbuy.com/ [archive.org] ... Not sure where they are getting their information from... Their two other examples, rearthlink.net and dearthlink.net, also don't resolve. At least their pages at archive.org offer a little more evidence: http://web.archive.org/web/20040331061435/http://w ww.dearthlink.net/ [archive.org]

Possible motivation

This could be an instance of "if you can't beat them, join them." There's going to be typosquatting no matter what. Since it's not going away Google might as well a) make some money off of it, and b) know where all these fake sites are to remove them from their listings.

Not saying it's the right thing to do, just an idea.

Confusion between "evil" and profit

I feel that people are confusing "evil" with profit. Google went public. Google is a business. Google now aims (moreso at least) to generate profit for its owners. But doing something that makes money for a company does not make it evil? Who does this hurt?

Re:Confusion between "evil" and profit

I feel that people are confusing "evil" with profit. Google went public. Google is a business. Google now aims (moreso at least) to generate profit for its owners. But doing something that makes money for a company does not make it evil? Who does this hurt?

Answer me that question once you go to a drugstore on Sunday morning, and you're tying to get rid of that hangover before doing your Sunday church appearance. With a splitting headache, then go to the pain relief isle, but B4Y3R aspirin, that looks just like BAYER aspirin minus the chemicals that relieve pain. But, you forgive the company because its now owned by Google and they owe it to their stockholders to put such products on the shelf.

Why is it that common sense and reality go out the window when a computer is involved (patent pending)?

Things with direct analogies to life like email forwarding vs snail mail forwarding don't make sense to people, but things like popup/under advertisements and typosquating makes sense. In the future, will businesses open on 212 Madison Ave when a known company is at 212 Madison St just in case someone gets lost?

Reminds me of when the only people that really profited off of the gold rush were shovel salesmen and prostitutes.

Missing link

This link should have been in the article: http://www.google.com/domainpark/ [google.com]

Millions?

The article claims a vague "millions" of dollars at stake, but I'd be interested to know the actual numbers: I know that when I find myself at one of these pages, I am least likely to click on an ad.

Reporter needs more research

I think the reporter needs to do a little more research. If your a company who advertises on google, you have control over what kinds of searches match your add. If you find that a certain search term brings up your company more then you'd like, you can

This is like real estate

If they don't do anything illegal with their site, it should be their right to whatever name they want. Are you going to tell me that no one can open a restaurant near a McDonalds? It's the same deal. It may feel shady. Some may be shady, but it is only fair as long as they are not stealing or commiting other crime with it.

It's a logical progression of this thought that allows corporations to force people off their legal sites because they have the same name. You don't like EToy suing etoy? Deal with the "typosquatters."

Re:This is like real estate

It's not like opening a restaurant near McDonald's, it's like opening a restaurant near McDonald's and naming it MacDonald's and hoping people won't know the difference.

Another idiocy of DNS

First, there was the highly enlightening 404, if there was a resolution at all. Then there was the typosquatters. My fav was Micros0ft.com.

But all of those are better than intercepts, which are surprisingly common these days in 'walled gardens'. I'll take a squatter, and if google can make some $$ on them, so much the better.

DNS is primitive, insecure, rife for diddling, and as goofy as SMTP. Yes, these were all good in their day. And yes, they were made out of brittle plastic, not visionary armor. So, google makes a few bucks. Ho fracking hum. More power to them. If I get a wrong phone #, does someone give me a list of alternatives? No, but they're often helpful as in "oh, that's a 6 not a 9" or something. With DNS you get a squat, not found, or a typosquat. How droll.

Fat Fingers

Someone must have some big fat fingers if they hit the "i" when going for the "e"...

nit pick :)

Now you know...

Now you know why Microsoft is working hard on a set of tools that prevent typosquatting.

However in this case, Google is pretty obviously doing *evil* by the very definition of the word, and that definitely speaks bad of it.

Google specifically has tools and offers for filling vacant domains with ads... WHO would use that except domains of generic words and typosquatters? No excuses this time, Google.

Re:Now you know...

New Google Motto: "Do no Evli !!"

Maybe a software solution?

Has anybody thought to add a feature to firefox (or maybe an extension) whereby if a user misspells a domain name, it gives the option to correct the spelling?

Re:Maybe a software solution?

How do you define "misspelled"? It may be obvious to you that "bistbuy.com" is phony, but to a browser it's just another — valid — domain name.

Re:Maybe a software solution?

How do you determine what's a mistake and what's a legitimate domain? I don't want my browser to go to flicker.com when I typed flickr.com, and I don't want my browser to go to dig.com when I typed digg.com.

Trademark confusion

One of the biggest problems with the internet and legal issues like this is that lack of ability for people to use analogy to see how inconsistant the laws and regulations can be. Imagine if everytime a new book came out, somebody put out a crappy one with an almost identical name. Go to the book store to get a present for your mother and you come back with "The DiVinco Code". Such there are lots of weasels who would clain they are not the same, but clearly this is a NO value added knockoff. If somebody wants to create sites that show advertisements, they should either pay advertising for other web sites, or add value in a way that brings people in and spreads the word. Not only is the networking traffic created by this a loss, there is also the loss in time for those people who have to evaluate the squatter and determine if it is the desired site. Trademarks allow organizations to be referenced to, and develop a reputation. Think of companies like NewEgg, benchmarks like Anandtech, articles like Slashdot. If you tell people to visit slashdot for news on technology(like I have many times) it hurts Slashdot AND the viewer when they mistakingly go to slushdot, or sashdot and this devalues the ability of organizations to build a name based upon their trademarks. If my friends go to Neweg(by mistake) and gets faulty video card from a lousy organization, this hurts my friends, Newegg, and everybody else who is duped into making a purchase from an undeserving company. I realize that money will be a driving factor in this chaos, but I think it would be interesting if there was a project(maybe firefox or DNS based) where people could register all of the squatter scam sites and keep an updated database so that when such mistakes were made, the correction was made before any harm could be done. Anybody up for it?

Perspectives

Google Inc., which runs the largest ad network on the Internet, is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads.

Google [google.com] made 2.253 billion USD in one quarter. While the article was vague how many millions it really is, "millions" instead of "tens of millions" or "hundreds of millions" still seems like a drop in the bucket. It goes on to imply that it's quite a bit by quoting Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google:

Google won't disclose how much revenue it is earning from ads on these types of sites, but chief executive Eric Schmidt said in an interview last week, "It's a lot of money."

Did he mean that Google makes a lot of money from ads in general or from ads on typo sites? I can't tell because the article doesn't give me the source of that quote. However, I find it doubtful that Schmidt would be so explicit about Google making money off of typos, even if they did.

In any case, the issue is not as clean-cut as the article implies. Whose responsibility is it to police trademark infringements? Hasn't it always been the holder of the trademark? Google making money off of it does suggest some kind of responsbility on their part as well though. However, Google does provide an avenue for these people to complain and have the affliates delisted from their ad program.

Bistbuy?

I'm sorry, but "Bistbuy" is not a "typo," it's a horrible and awful misspelling that a 3 year old wouldn't make.

Damn diagonal kids!

In further news, mathematicians allege The Count is cluttering up the domain of natural numbers.

"It's a travesty, I tell you! One? Two? Three? Where does it all stop? Pretty soon there'll be none left at all!"

The Count recently purchased 9111 and 4040 - "numosquatting" two popular numbers. Numosquatting is a technique of buying numbers near or around more famous numbers, so that people who mistype the intended number get the "numosquatted" number instead.

When asked for comment, The Count said "There are a lot of numbers out there. So many I cannot even count them! Me! Oh, but let me try: one! two! three! four!"

Several hours later, The Count was reached again for comment. "Anyways, the point is that there are a lot of numbers out there. These whiny people wouldn't be happy even if we went over to the Real numbers. I mean, let's say I buy 405, right? They'll say it's 'too close to 404!' - look, there's a whole lot of numbers in between! But no, that's their special number and they can't have anything even infinitely far away from it."

"Look, if they want to make it to where no one can have any number near their special number, they should buy those numbers up too - they're asking for their single-number purchase to be equal to ten, a hundred, a million of mine!" continued The Count, "A hundred million! A billion! Ten billion! One hundred billion!" At which point this reporter's cell phone died.

When asked for rebuttal, the owner of 404 stated "that just, like, your opinion, man."

Nothing wrong with "typosquatters"

As long as typesquatters do not have an really simialr page to the original, or a porn site, I don't see anything wrong with typesquatting at all. How can you call it "cluttering the internet" when no-one sees it except by mistake? Let these typosquatters spend money registering a doamin that almost no-one will see...

I have to believe typosquatting has got less profitable since browsers started trying to complete what you type.

Squatters

Personally, I've been wondering why Google hasn't taken a bite out of squatters that sit on the obvious name of it's own services. Take a wander over to googlenews.com or googlecalendar.com.

Re:WOw that's confusing

This quote from the article might help:

This form of online advertising relies on "type-in traffic," the users who type the information they're looking for directly into the address bar of the Web browser instead of using a search engine to scour the Web. Industry analysts estimate that roughly 15 percent of all Web traffic originates this way.

Actually I don't see the big deal. This is nothing new.

Re:WOw that's confusing

Actually I don't see the big deal. This is nothing new.

Just the same, I'm going to register a complaint with the Netter Nusiness Nureau [nnn.com].

Re:Whoa! Breaking News

No, it's not news it's a Microsoft plant. Google was the last one to get into this game and nowhere near the leader. Nice try, asshats.

Re:new??

Well, it's at least older than shitting while sitting down with a wifi enabled laptop.

Ironic

http://www.typosquatting.com/ [typosquatting.com]