Been away from blogging for a while now, and the scholastic chess schedule is now in full swing. Unfortunately, it seems as though despite there being fewer tournaments, the turnout among the players has actually decreased. Maybe that will be a column for another day.
We are also in week 9 of the US chess league season, where our Chicago Blaze is 4-4 playing against the Arizona Scorpions in a match that has significant playoff ramifications. A win puts our destiny in our own hands and even gives us a chance at the #2 seed, a draw and week 10 becomes a must win game. I will probably blog again after the match.
Anyways, lets get to the title of the post. Back in the wild west days of the internet, cybersquatting was a practice that was common and even lucrative. The idea was that you either vulture a domain name when it expired, or beat a person or a company to getting a website at what their natural name is. Apparently this practice is still common. Several years ago the Seattle Chess Foundation (aka the AF4C) had their site taken and turned into a porn site. Allan Hsu purchased the Illinois Chess Association's http://www.ilchess.org/ address, and is holding it for ransom for $3000. To do this to a non-for-profit group is despicable. If you would like to tell Allan what you think of his doing this, you can contact him at allan_hsu@hotmail.com
To get to the real ICA website, please go to http://www.il-chess.org/
Glenn
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7 comments:
u fail to mention that ICA did not renew the domain for 2 months and let it drop?
You have real class in spamming personal attacks, Glen
It was explained to you that the domain registration firm had a billing issue and no email was sent regarding it. We don't check our domain account often and it lapsed due to this error.
You could have turned it back over the not-for-profit and we would have covered the domain transfer fee along with a small stipend for assisting us.
yes, I can choose to do that. But I have a RIGHT not to do that as well. As the owner of the domain name, I have the right to name my price and I do NOT force you to agree. You have the choice.
From a legal standpoint, Allan is probably incorrect that he has the right to register and try to profit from this domain name. Continued use of a name may be enough to establish a trademark. There are several options to enforce the trademark and force him to turn it over (including ICANN arbitration, legal proceedings under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, and probably others I don't know about). I would guess the cost of such action could easy be less than $3,000.
Try and find a chess player who practices intellectual property law and is likewise disgusted by this.
Lowlife? That might be the right term, but others come to mind... Bottom feeder, leech, parasite...
In my mind's eye an image forms... Mom's basement, dirty pull-out couch, bad hygiene, empty Cheetos bag, maybe a couple old uniforms from that fast food job that was just too hard. I guess a guy's got to find some way to make a living, doesn't he?
Yes, yes, Mr. Hsu. You have your rights. Hyenas and vultures have the right to eat the stuff they find too, but they're still disgusting scavengers.
Oh well. At least you've got company.
I suggest that we take the high road and avoid name calling.
I suggest we just use the new name of www.il-chess.org in the spirit of the Seuss story of the Whos from Illinois who celebrated Chessmas anyhow even after the Grinch stole their domain name.
Hey, A. Just because something is legal does not make it ok and certainly not ethical. As the owner of the domain name your email address is available on a whois lookup. Don't be suprised when you do stuff like this and people complain to you. it is clearly trying to profit from the misfortune of others.
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