Regulator moves against .sucks domain name

The body that regulates internet addresses is investigating if it can crack down on a Canadian company accused of using the new .sucks domain name to extract exorbitant sums from celebrities and firms seeking to protect their public brands.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers sent a letter to the US Federal Trade Commission and Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs to see if the actions of company Vox Populi Registry are illegal.

The corporation initially approved the so-called top-level domain name, among nearly 600 it has added recently to expand beyond common names such as .com, .org and .us.

However, it is backtracking after an advisory panel made up of industry groups and companies like Microsoft, Verizon and eBay complained last month.

Vox Populi began accepting registrations using .sucks on March 30 from trademark holders and celebrities before it was released to public applicants.

It has recommended charging €2,360 a year for the privilege, and according to Vox Populi chief executive John Berard, most of the names have been sold by resellers for around €1,900 a year.

Singer Taylor Swift purchased taylorswift.sucks as a preventative measure.

So far, purchased names include Youtube.sucks, Bing.sucks, Visa.sucks, Bankofamerica.sucks, and Yahoo.sucks.

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