Misleading Domain Names
 

Do you use non-porn domain names to divert traffic to porn? I was considering using a domain I own which gets over 19,000 Overture search hits, but the recent "Truth In Domain Names" Bill made me pause before taking action. Even though that Act is geared toward prosecution of individuals alleged to divert "minors" toward porn, it seems to me that you cannot trust the government to use legislation as intended when it could easily be used to simply expand prosecution of obscenity cases.

Chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code Section 2252B

Subtitle B?Truth in Domain Names

SEC. 521. MISLEADING DOMAIN NAMES ON THE INTERNET.

§ 2252B. Misleading domain names on the Internet

(a) Whoever knowingly uses a misleading domain name on the Internet with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

(b) Whoever knowingly uses a misleading domain name on the Internet with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing material that is harmful to minors on the Internet shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 4 years, or both.

(c) For the purposes of this section, a domain name that includes a word or words to indicate the sexual content of the site, such as ?sex? or ?porn?, is not misleading.

(d) For the purposes of this section, the term ?material that is harmful to minors? means any communication, consisting of nudity, sex, or excretion, that, taken as a whole and with reference to its context?

(1) predominantly appeals to a prurient interest of minors;

(2) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

(3) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

(e) For the purposes of subsection (d), the term ?sex? means acts of masturbation, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person?s genitals, or the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal

Chances are, you'll make more money sending the traffic somewhere relevant than you would sending it to a porn site. Someone will always be prepared to buy traffic.

I agree :thumbsup

It says if you inted to deceive a PERSON, not just a minor.

If they are not looking for porn, chances are, they won't buy the porn.

IMO, people like you are the reason that law had to be made in the first place. Just gives the adult industry a bad name. There is no reason to do shit like that, because there are enough people LOOKING for porn.
:(

They guy who got busted made millions doing this. So people will buy. I wouldn't do it though. Ethics.

http://news.com.com/2100-1025-5119512.html?tag=nefd_hed

Guilty plea in Net porn case
Last modified: December 10, 2003, 4:55 PM PST
By Reuters


A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 49 federal charges that he used misspellings of Internet domain names like Disneyland, Teletubbies, and Britney Spears to lure children to pornographic Web sites.

John Zuccarini, 56, broke down in tears before admitting that he intentionally deceived minors into logging on to adult sites containing graphic sexual scenes. Zuccarini also pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography.

Under a plea deal reached with Manhattan federal prosecutors, Zuccarini agreed to serve a prison term of 30 to 37 months. However, the judge who will sentence Zuccarini is not bound by the agreement and can impose a different term.

The defendant was arrested in September at a Hollywood, Fla., hotel, where he had been living for several months.

Zuccarini, who was sued more than 100 times by such organizations as Dow Jones and The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues for misusing their domain names, was the first person charged under a new federal law making it a crime to attract children to X-rated Internet sites.

Prosecutors said Zuccarini had admitted in previous private litigation that Web site operators paid him between 10 cents and 25 cents for every hit he brought them. They said Zuccarini claimed he made as much as $1 million from these payments.

Zuccarini admitted in the civil cases that he registered domain names of Web sites popular with children partially because they are more likely than adults to make spelling errors on Web site addresses, prosecutors said.

Zuccarini admitted carrying out his scheme by registering at least 3,000 domain names based on misspellings of legitimate companies and individuals. A very large percentage of those names were geared toward children.

For example, he registered the Internet domain name "www.dinseyland.com," a misspelling of Disneyland. He also registered 16 variations of the legitimate site operated by singer Britney Spears.

Other addresses included "www.bobthebiulder.com" and "www.teltubies.com." These are misspellings of the cartoon characters "Bob the Builder" and "Teletubbies."

Typing in Zuccarini's domain names connected users to ads for free access to pornography. The ads showed numerous high-quality images of hard-core pornography including explicit photographs of young people having sex

do a search on domainactive

they are notorious for that sort of thing

It's one thing to use a non-adult domain to have some links to an adult domain.

It's another to have the non-adult domain have porn on the site itself.