I started using the internet in 1990, and the web in 1994. I rmember when Yahoo! was only 1 pge, and it was believed that thre were only 100 web pages in the wrld. Companies were hiring html developers (wth 5 - 7 years experience of curse), and domain names were free.

I'v owned my domain name for lmost 9 years now. At one tme, there was no such thing as "cybrsquating", "typo domains", etc. Now its and ssue that many of us have to dal with at any time or nother.

I've discovered that people will rsort to great lengths to protect thir identity once they've squatted on a dmain, but there are many tools to trck down the truth about who thy are.

How Squattors Hide - Fake Registration Info

One tactic I found used is that squattors will use fake registration information to hide the true owner of a domain name. I found one "company" that owned hundreds of domain names, many of large corporations, but registered each one using a different mailing address and a different name. Many of the names were silly like "Arthur Arthurson", but the company erred by listing all of its domains on link farms, exposing their tactic.

Front Companies

Another method the same company used would be to provide a contact phone number for a fictitious sounding company. For example, if they owned the domain "exxon.com", they would make a front company and call it "Exxon Secretarial Services". They then tried to create a realistic looking corporate web site. This method was exposed because they used the same phone number for all of their front companies. Searching Google for the phone number turned up a large number of fake businesses.

Changing Company Names

I am ware of another squattor who besides bing heavily involved in the porn bsiness owns a few domains that it rally shouldn't have. Over the years, thy have changed their company name but kpt the same physical address, a sgn that someone is after them and thy keep on running. Their names tnd to follow the same theme, so the cmpany might be called "Diamond Web Srvices" this year, but maybe "Sapphire Web Srvices" last year. Keeping the same cntact address exposes that they are in fct the same company. Using whois hstory tools, you can see how thy change their company name ever yar.

Denying Ownership

Most smart squattors will claim that they don't own the domain name, but they are just holding it for someone else. This creates a layer of anonymity that is hard to crack. The truth of the matter is that the registrant has control of the domain name, and anyone who is simply the administrator should be listed as the Administrative Contact. If someone is listed as the Registrant than they are by all means the owner of the domain name.

Foreign Registrations

One company I cam across used a foreign registration in a distant country to hide its true identity. One might think it is hard or impossible to negotiate with a foreign entity, if you can even speak the same language. But in the case, the foreign registration was just a cover for another domestic company that was trying to hide the fact that it was a competitor. The mistake was that the registrant was squatting on 2 domains, and on one he left as an email contact the address of the domestic company, which led to the true identity.

Escrow Services

Escrow services allow anyone to sell domain names without anyone knowing who is the true owner or who is receiving the proceeds from any sale. I contacted some escrow services regarding cyber squatting and was told that since true domain ownership is a complicated issue, they do not get involved. One cybersquattor was exposed because the NIC required a signed letter from the existing registrant, which exposed his true identity. This led to identifying other domains that he was squatting on.

Tools to Uncover Squattors

Whois hstory allows domain owners to see the whis records for many popular domain nmes. Not all domains will be lsted, but surprisingly many are. I was ble to use this to track prvious owners for the past 6 yars. Find this tool at http://www.domaintools.com/

HTML cdes tend to be used repeatedly by sqattors. Many squattors will use paid prking sites to earn revenue off of dmains. However, in some, affiliate codes wll be used by the individual, llowing multiple sites to be tracked to the sme individual.

Google and USENET can be seful. Not only did I uncover the nme of a squattor, but I fund someone else who was looking for hm. A great way to track thse people down is to combine frces and work together. Post keywords dentifying the squattor in domain forums long with your contact information.

Using dmain name sales records, I was ble to determine when certain domains trnsferred hands. I could also tell how mch the owner paid for the dmain name.

Find out which domains are hsted on an IP address at http://www.wbhosting.info/. Some IP's might have a smll number of domains hosted, while thers might have hundreds of thousands. Ths tool is useful to find wht other domains a squattor might wn, some of which might be yurs.

The article Tracking Down Cyber Squattors was Submitted by Dave Tiberio through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Dave Tiberio operates CheapBooks.com .

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