Since the dawn of human communication, there have been thieves intent on taking what is not rightfully theirs. Not much has changed since then, except that as life evolves, new means of thievery are invented.
With the ongoing revolution in information technology the question has become: What could people steal from you through the Internet? The simple answer is: Everything including your name.
This phenomenon is called cybersquatting, which is the registering of a domain name for malicious purposes, such as slander or blackmail. It is an outright criminal and immoral act. Although cybersquatting can occur to your domain name before you register it, it can also occur to a registered domain name.
There are four classical types of cybersquatters:
1- The Pirate Cybersquatter: The aim of this one is to steal your online customers for a rival business by setting up a website using a variation of your domain name. Whether by stealing your clientele or merely causing confusion, the pirate can cause a lot of damage to your business.
2- The (I-Hate-You) Cybersquatter: Slander is the goal of this squatter who is usually a former, or even current, peeved employee. His motive is hate directed against your company and/or its staff. This cybersquatter will spread lies, and might even expose your trade secrets. Although it is impossible to prevent the setting up of such a website, certain measures could ensure that the infringing domain name is far away from your own, and thereby lessen the damage to your business and reputation.
3- The (your-company-sucks) cybersquatter: Similar to, but less malicious than, the (I-Hate-You) type. This is usually a customer-based website that criticizes your products/services. While it is hardly a pleasant experience, most companies ignore, and some even use the criticism to improve their performance.
4- The (Hostage Taker) cybersquatter: Perhaps this is the most malignant form of cybersquatting. The hostage taker will register a variation of your domain name and then seeks to sell it back to you at a high ransom. In most cases, companies tend to pay thousands of dollars to recover their hostage websites.
So how can you combat cybersquatting? Well, it is not the easiest thing to do. In most countries, there are no laws protecting your business from cybersquatting, and thus it might be easier to simply buy off the cyber property that the squatter occupies.
Even if there are laws, again it is going to cost you both lots of time and lots of money to fight or to arbitrate a case. In other words, once cybersquatting occurs then you should be prepared for a protracted battle.
The solution is simple though. Pre-empt the cybersquatter by registering as many variations of your own domain name as possible.
1- (.com) is not enough: Today there are many variations other than .com. So register .net, .org, .biz, and any other variation you think a cybersquatter might abuse.
2- (Dash) the cybersquatter’s plans away: Don’t settle for the (yourbusiness.com) variation. Register also the hyphenated (your-business.com).
3- Pluralize your name: Register your domain name in both its singular and plural forms.
4- Misspell your name: With so many non-English speakers using the Internet, misspelling is very common. Cybersquatters will take advantage of this. So register all possible misspellings before they do.
5- Even (yourcompanysucks.com) belongs to you: Again, pre-empt and outsmart the cybersquatters by registering the (sucks) variation before they do.
This might seem excessive and maybe even expensive. However, when you consider the costs of legal actions or the ransoms that you’ll have to pay, $20 per domain name is a cheap price.
Assign one of your staff to run a checklist on both the already registered domain names, and the potential types of cybersquatting (see above). An old Arab proverb goes: “The right of a persistent claimant is never lost.