Spring Break
ISU Democrats criticized for 'cybersquatting'
David Roy
Issue date: 2/15/05 Section: News
The ISU College Democrats are currently facing criticism for purchasing a number of Internet domain names using Illinois republican Congressman Ray LaHood's name, an act commonly known as cybersquatting.
"We heard Congressman LaHood was announcing he has formed an exploration committee to run for governor," sophomore history major and President of the ISU College Democrats, Logan Faron said.
"We decided to give anyone who would be going to Congressman LaHood's Web site something good to actually look at," Faron said.
According to Faron, the College Democrats purchased five domain names including lahood06.com and raylahood2006.com and used the links to take people to the ISU College Democrat's home page.
The purchase of these URLs brought some criticism from Illinois republican blogs Peoria Pundit and ArchPundit, which consider the prank juvenile.
"Some bloggers say we're immature. I say these people don't have a sense of humor," Faron said.
"We're having fun with it. When we have such a well-organized state party to compete against, it can be fun," he added.
Chairman of the McLean County Republican Party Michael O'Grady is not worried about the College Democrat's actions.
"I find it a bit humorous," he said.
"If the College Democrats want to go spending money to buy Web sites they have no use for, that's a decision they have to make," O'Grady said.
While he does not claim to know the intentions of the College Democrats, O'Grady does not see how they stand to benefit from their purchase.
"The only people who are going to benefit from this are the people who got the money for the domain names," O'Grady said.
Currently, while the College Democrats still own the domain names they purchased, they no longer take visitors to their home page.
"We took them down for the time being," Faron said. "One of the members was concerned about being bothered about it," he added.
College Democrats are not worried about the criticism and have no fear of legal retribution from LaHood.
"We're not really worried about it. We've already looked at the legal aspect of it," Faron explained.
As long as LaHood's name is not trademarked, there are no grounds for any sort of future legal action.
The College Democrats are currently working on their plans for the future use of the LaHood domain names.
"I don't know if we're going to put it back up. [The year] 2006 is plenty of time away. We have plenty of time to have fun with this thing," Faron said.
Congressman LaHood was unable to be reached for comment at time of press.
"We heard Congressman LaHood was announcing he has formed an exploration committee to run for governor," sophomore history major and President of the ISU College Democrats, Logan Faron said.
"We decided to give anyone who would be going to Congressman LaHood's Web site something good to actually look at," Faron said.
According to Faron, the College Democrats purchased five domain names including lahood06.com and raylahood2006.com and used the links to take people to the ISU College Democrat's home page.
The purchase of these URLs brought some criticism from Illinois republican blogs Peoria Pundit and ArchPundit, which consider the prank juvenile.
"Some bloggers say we're immature. I say these people don't have a sense of humor," Faron said.
"We're having fun with it. When we have such a well-organized state party to compete against, it can be fun," he added.
Chairman of the McLean County Republican Party Michael O'Grady is not worried about the College Democrat's actions.
"I find it a bit humorous," he said.
"If the College Democrats want to go spending money to buy Web sites they have no use for, that's a decision they have to make," O'Grady said.
While he does not claim to know the intentions of the College Democrats, O'Grady does not see how they stand to benefit from their purchase.
"The only people who are going to benefit from this are the people who got the money for the domain names," O'Grady said.
Currently, while the College Democrats still own the domain names they purchased, they no longer take visitors to their home page.
"We took them down for the time being," Faron said. "One of the members was concerned about being bothered about it," he added.
College Democrats are not worried about the criticism and have no fear of legal retribution from LaHood.
"We're not really worried about it. We've already looked at the legal aspect of it," Faron explained.
As long as LaHood's name is not trademarked, there are no grounds for any sort of future legal action.
The College Democrats are currently working on their plans for the future use of the LaHood domain names.
"I don't know if we're going to put it back up. [The year] 2006 is plenty of time away. We have plenty of time to have fun with this thing," Faron said.
Congressman LaHood was unable to be reached for comment at time of press.