Domain Name Battle

A front-page WP story discusses the latest efforts by corporations to thwart e-criticism: the companies scoop up crude and disparaging domain names (e.g. http://www.walmartsucks.com) to keep them out of the hands of would-be internet defamers. Yet, as one source informed the WP, their goal is ludicrous given the inordinate number of possible slurs. The hacker magazine 2600 attempted to purchase www.Verizonsucks.com only to find the name already reserved by the telecom giant itself. No bother. They simply snatched up verizonreallysucks.com instead. When Verizon filed suit against them, citing an extension of the cyber-squatting laws, the magazine responded by registering the following domain name: VerizonShouldSpendMoreTimeFixingItsNetworkAndLessMoneyOnLawyers.com.