Is everyone up to date on their domain registrations??? http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/103710586899510.xml Fire union site's shift raises eyebrows 11/12/02 JOHN SNELL and RYAN FRANK LAKE OSWEGO -- A picture may be worth a thousand words, but for three months the pictures on the Tualatin Valley Firefighters Union Internet home page generated just three: "Oh, My Gosh The Web site for Local 1660 of the International Association of Fire Fighters was taken over by a porn peddler, who snapped up the site's domain name when the union let its claim expire. Down came information about union benefits and shop stewards. Up went photos and movies devoted to an array of sexual proclivities. "I didn't even know what some of those things were," firefighter and union President Rocky Hanes said. "We laughed about it for a while, but it was serious. I thought we had been hacked." Actually, the site was "porn-jacked." Web site operators pay an annual fee for domain names -- the part of the Internet address between "www." and ".com." But once the year is up, there are no reminders to renew and the name is up for grabs. Often pornographers grab the names, hoping to snag the site's current audience. That is what happened to the Tualatin Valley Firefighters Union. Firefighter Neale Brown, the union's Webmaster, bought the rights to the domain name, www.iaff1660.com, a year ago and never renewed it. When he visited the site in early September, it had been reborn as smut central. The site's hijacker is based in London. Contacted via e-mail by The Oregonian, the shadowy figure who lists three different names on Web site registrations and e-mail accounts says he never heard of Tualatin Valley or the firefighters union. He bought the rights to the union's Web site name with the hope its customers would like the new content and come back for more. But his plans flopped when the union's site didn't draw any new business. Now he is offering to give it back to the firefighters. "I have to assume when a domain is allowed to expire it is because it is no longer wanted," he wrote. "I guess mistakes are made." John Snell: 503-294-5949; johnsnell@private Ryan Frank: 503-294-5955; ryanfrank@private =========================================================================== IMPORTANT NOTICE: This communication, including any attachment, contains information that may be confidential or privileged, and is intended solely for the entity or individual to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message and are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message is strictly prohibited. Nothing in this email, including any attachment, is intended to be a legally binding signature.
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