BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - When Fred
McChesney heard about the Virginia Tech shooting spree on April 16, he
was appalled. But what he did next has appalled many others. Within
hours of the rampage, the Phoenix man began buying dozens of domain
names - CampusKillings.com, VirginiaTechMurders.com,
SlaughterInVirginia.com - in the hopes of selling them later to the
highest bidder. McChesney, 48, said he saw it as an opportunity to
show his contempt for firearms by featuring anti-gun content on the
domains he is selling.
He also saw it as an opportunity to cash in.
"Everyone is profiting off of this," McChesney said. "I'm not hurting anyone."
Domain names related to the tragedy were snapped up almost immediately
by people hoping to sell them off for a profit or use them to link to
advertisers. The cost of registering such domains is generally less
than $10 - but some are now being auctioned off for thousands.
While many consider the practice repellant, experts say it has become commonplace.
"Any time there's a big news event, people go register the domain names," said Christine Jones, general counsel
for GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain registration service.
"Nine-eleven they did it, Katrina they did it, the tsunami in southeast Asia they did it."
Especially troubling to some is the registration of domain names
related to those killed in the tragedy. On the same day the victims'
names were released, people began registering domains named after the
dead, such as JarrettLane.com. Victims' friends and family members
seeking to create a memorial site under the same Internet address would
then have to purchase it from the domain name owner - for whatever
price the owner wants.
"If anybody is working to make a profit
off of this tragedy by selling these kinds of things, it's just a
crying shame," university spokesman Mark Owczarski said. "Obviously,
you wouldn't want anybody to make a profit off something as horrendous
as this."
Jeremiah Johnston, chief operating officer for
domain name broker Sedo.com, said his company has shut down domains
named after the victims as well as dozens of others related to the
tragedy, including BlacksburgBloodbath.com and SchoolSlaughter.com.
"We do feel that they fly in the face of our offensive domain policy," Johnston said. "It is quite tasteless."
GoDaddy.com shut down one site purporting to raise money for the victims' families after university officials said they weren't aware of any such charity, Jones said.
