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‘Do no evil’? Fine, Google: Don’t abet ‘The Web’s Million-Dollar Typos’
April 30, 2006 | 6:40 am
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By David Rothman
“It seems very hard to reconcile Google’s support of this activity with their ‘Do No Evil’ motto.” – Harvard researcher Ben Edelman on the Google ads that appear on the typo-based Web sites–as quoted in the Washington Post.
The TeleRead take: Amen, Ben!
Disclosure: I own a very small slice of Google stock as part of my pathetic retirement savings.
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Comments:
Very recently there was a high-profile court case involving this exact issue of typosquatting. The controversial television preacher Jerry Falwell has a website at http://www.falwell.com. A critic of Reverend Falwell created a website at http://www.fallwell.com. The Washington Post reported that the Supreme Court let “stand a federal appeals court ruling protecting the right of a gay activist in New York City to maintain a “gripe site” designed to capture some of the traffic that was trying to get to Virginia preacher Jerry Falwell’s site.” Hence, this form of typosquatting appears to be legal at this time. The typosquatting website does state prominently that it is “not affiliated with Rev. Dr. Jerry Falwell or his ministry.” It even provides a link to Falwell’s official website. Also, I did not notice any commercial advertisements on the website. However, this adjudication is probably just the first in a series in this field.
Garson, I’d agree. Quite different from greed-driven squatting! And no misrepresentation. – David