Cameroon Typo-Squats all of .com 402
wayne writes "As reported on CircleID, the nation of Cameroon, which controls the .cm top level domain, has typo-squatted all of the .com domain space. They have placed a wildcard DNS record to redirect all traffic to an ad-based search page. Unlike the earlier case of Verisign putting a wildcard in the real .com domain, ICANN has very little direct control over what a nation can do with their own TLD. Will the owners of .co and .om follow?"
Easy Solution. (Score:1, Interesting)
Persistent attacks on the page might help as well, since it would interfere with their cash flow from it.
Re:Not an issue. (Score:5, Interesting)
Same reasons that Verisign's wildcard service was decried, among other things this will cause every name.cm to resolve so it's going to at least screw with some spam blocking methods. If other countries follow suit then it gets even messier.
You're right that it belongs to them but there is such a thing as playing nicely. Also it's a bit of a spammy trick, so it's already making me associate Cameroon with spammers and their ilk. Was that their intention? Will they be happy with that? If you lived in Cameroon would you like the fact that your government (since the government assigns who runs the ccTLD) is making your country look like that?
This story is complete bullshit (Score:4, Interesting)
Cameroon is not typo-squatting anything. If you type in a domain name ending in .cm that hasn't been specifically assigned to someone, you get a fairly innocuous default page with links to ads. So what?
correct solution (that will never fly)... (Score:5, Interesting)
I.e., migrate all of .com, .net, etc to .com.us, .net.us (or whatever).
That way, typoing the .com or .net suffix won't take you to a different country unintentionally :D
Sure, the internet was originally created in the US, but it's bigger than that now, and having one country that just doesn't use country suffixes is non-standard. :)
Of course, typo-ing the country suffix will still either not work, or take you to a different country, but what can you do...
As a side-effect, this would no doubt deter other country's businesses etc from simply registering .com, .org or .net domains because the domain rego is cheaper and it's "country-ambiguous"... (yes, I own .net and .org domains and i'm in australia. if it was going to have to be .com.us or whateever, I probably wouldn't be using up your precious US namespace :D)
Re:Not an issue. (Score:5, Interesting)
This isn't just an attempt to grab cash; that's a side effect. This is to hamper the ability of opposition parties to use the Internet as a voice. The government in Cameroon controls the TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers tightly; they don't want the Internet to be any different.
Re:Smart move. (Score:3, Interesting)
More concerned with domain name squatting (Score:3, Interesting)
Well... (Score:1, Interesting)
They'll just have to get webmail somewhere if they'd like to send email...
Re:There's typos, and then there's THAT (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:correct solution (that will never fly)... (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem is that .com isn't just US companies. And having domains by country isn't that useful. Given that you use .net and .org domains and aren't US-based, I'd have thought you'd understand this.
I gather that the Cameron business is pretty serious. My take is that if all else fails, *.cm addresses can simply be blocked at the root DNS level till theRe:Not an issue. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Smart move. (Score:1, Interesting)
I know GW Bush claims to be Christian, but when it comes down to the metal, Christ never said "Thou shalt invade foreign nations for economic gain" or anything of the like. Bush does not represent Christianity, though he claims to so do.
Christ said "turn the other cheek," not "If it suits you, declare war." Bush claims to represent Christian values and ends, but is not one smidgeon better than the terrorists he claims to oppose.
If you want a smear campaign, you need not worry. It is already there. If you want to examine reality? I wonder whether John Q. Public is capable of doing so without prejudice.
WWW/HTML is a minor problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Remember, this is DNS, so this will affect not only your web browser, but all your Internet applications.
So, guess what happens if you try to send a mail to friend@gmail.cm? Yup, it also gets the Cameroon treatment:Even though the server currently will bounce your mail with a 550 Domain does not exist, they now have your email address and, with a quick typo-fix, that of your friend.
Hey! Guess what country is next door to Cameroon? Yup, Nigeria. Now, who in Nigeria might want a fresh source of email addresses...? [419eater.com]
And who is to say they bounce all mails? Or will continue to?
Re:(Still) Not an issue. (Score:4, Interesting)
That can be said about any country, anywhere, about the people and the government.
This isn't just an attempt to grab cash; that's a side effect. This is to hamper the ability of opposition parties to use the Internet as a voice.
Then they will have to find another voice. The masses aren't stupid. If they are being owned by a government, they know it, and if they don't like it they will do something sooner or later. BTW, some people don't mind being under a military or controlling government. It's not what everybody is accustomed to, but there are many ways to rule on the face of this earth.
The government in Cameroon controls the TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers tightly; they don't want the Internet to be any different.
Then practically speaking why should the Internet be any different? It makes sense in the context of that country.
I can see no good reasons in this discussion why Cameroon (the government) cannot do what they want with their domain name. The exceptions are: we don't like typo-squatting, or we don't like the government. The government is representing the people whether outsiders agree with it or not, and even if the people being represented don't agree. Everybody else in the world is too opinionated about what other countries should do, whether it be a different ruling style or something as small as a domain name suffix. We don't like being told what we should do with our country's domain name suffix, so why should we care what another country (yes the government, not the people) does with theirs?
(Actually, I expect to get many good reasons back about the history and politics and Cameroon and the people because I only know what I've read in the news and wiki -- I've never studied the country in depth.)
Everybody who surfs the Internet has no doubt experienced a typo and a typo-squatter. People will correct the spelling and move on. The generic Cameroon page looks like any other page full of advertisements on the Internet. Nobody is going to think it's the actual destination they want to surf to.
Re:I'd rather live elsewhere... (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, here in the UK, politicians tend to get laughed/sneered at when they mention the word "god". After all, we don't do god [telegraph.co.uk].
Re:Bad Article Title - Bad Summary Title (Score:2, Interesting)
But I usually assume it's just my computer.