What is Cybersquatting?
The world of the Internet has opened the doors for many new crimes, and the legal system in the United States has not prepared itself entirely to deal with these problems. Domain hijacking (cyber squatting) is one of these issues. Cybersquatting is similar to squatting that takes place in abandoned buildings. The cybersquatting definition that is most common is that it is the use of Internet property related to the name of another legitimate site. A cybersquatting example is registering www.gooogle.com to get traffic that was intended for www.google.com. The purpose of this kind of cyber squatting is to make money off the legitimate site name. Cyber squatters also use trademarked names in some combination, such as www.googleman.com. The big companies often argue that people do this to make others assume they are associated with the more well-known company.
Cybersquatting As A Criminal Offense
Whether or not cyber squatting is a crime depends on where you live and is constantly evolving. Cyber squatting can be a violation of trademark law. So, if a company has registered its trademark, then you cannot use it to try to make money. The cybersquatting cases are still evolving, though. The current cybersquatting laws indicate that one cannot get the URL with the intention of later selling it to the trademarked company for a profit. Each month, the most ecent cybersquatting case helps to form more of the body of law related to the Internet and these practices.
Typosquatting
Typosquatting is another form of cybersquatting. When people in the Internet marketing world talk about GoDaddy cybersquatting, they are talking about the use of purchasing typo domain names to get the traffic intended for the other domain. These types of sites use affiliate links and pay-per-click programs to make money, and many in the Internet industry believe they are wrong. The courts have indicated, however, that they may be annoying but are not necessarily illegal.
What is domain hijacking?
Domain hijacking is another form of Internet crime. It relates to the use of someone’s personal information to take over their websites. Domain name hijacking crime is similar to identity theft for individual’s financial information. One can begin hijacking a domain by getting log in and password information about a site and then changing the information so that the true owner cannot control the site. This crime, like the cybersquatting legal issue, is one that the courts have not yet solved fully.