The echo chamber about GoDaddy’s diss of .tv shows that new and old media can get it wrong.

GoDaddy is taking its diss of the .tv domain name a step further. How people are reacting to and writing about it shows that it’s hard to know who the “authoritative source” is.

In November I wrote an article about how if the country of Tuvalu (which has the .tv country code) ceased to exist, .tv would technically go away. GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons later joked about tuvalu sinking on his video blog and how this would be the end of .tv. (Parsons was promoting .me as an alternative. GoDaddy backs the .me registry.)

GoDaddy took it a step further recently, adding this disclaimer to its web site when you search for a .tv domain:

What follows is a lesson in not always believing “authoritative sources” and the echo chamber.

A blog picked up on GoDaddy’s latest move, and BoingBoing wrote a story about it. One of the commentors on the BoingBoing story said:

A search for “tuvalu sinking domain” online gives this refutation of this story from 2004. Godaddy should probably take a look at this little thing called Google before they get all hot and bothered.

Then Gawker wrote about the story, and included the bit that GoDaddy was wrong about .tv going away if Tuvalu no longer exists.

So everyone believed what was in USAToday. “It’s USAToday, so it must be accurate”. The problem is the USAToday article quotes someone who is wrong. It quotes a VeriSign representative:

VeriSign spokesman Tom Galvin tells me that a defunct country’s Internet domain lives on. For instance, you can still find addresses on .su — the domain for the Soviet Union.

VeriSign runs the .tv domain name. So it has a vested interested in the domain surviving.

But the truth is that if Tuvalu no longer exists*, the current rules stipulate that the domain name will be phased out. That’s straight from ICANN’s mouth. The .su case was unique, and it will eventually be phased out. The rules could change, but as it stands today GoDaddy is right.

*If it goes below water the country could still exist. Some island nations are buying land elsewhere to move to if they eventually go below sea level.

The NBA and Denver Nuggets basketball team have filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain name DenverNuggets.com. The domain name currently forwards to NBAtix.com, which sells sporting tickets. However, it appears the domain name is owned by another entity that forwards the domain name to various ticket sites, perhaps under an affiliate arrangement. The domain name previously forwarded to StubHub.

The Nuggets team, which just advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs, uses Nuggets.com as its domain name.

In another recently filed domain name dispute, Gold Globe Award-winning actor Jim Carrey is claiming rights to the domain name JimCarrey.com. Carrey has held lead roles in hits such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber, and The Truman Show.

The domain name JimCarrey.com is currently parked at DomainSponsor and shows ads related to “Jim Carrey movies” and “Pictures of Jim Carrey”. Compete.com suggests that the site receives a couple hundred unique visitors a month.

A glimmer of hope from old school media, but a painful reminder of how lost they are.

The Austin American-Statesman, a Cox-owned newspaper, has done a decent job with its online presence. Just two days ago it made a bold move — registering a separate domain name for a portal about swine flu. It even picked up a pretty good keyword swineflucare…

.Net.

Seriously? Yes, it created a web site at SwineFluCare.NET. SwineFluCare.com was registered on April 25, so when the Austin American-Statesman decided to register a domain on April 27 it went with the .net version.

They would have been better off registering a longer domain in .com than going with this name in .net.

Oh well.

Meanwhile, the media continues to pull off as much “freak out” as it can about the virus. Schools are closing in Texas and after school activities are canceled. I think this is overkill. Send the sick kids home, but there’s no reason to cancel school right now. One school in Austin had a “probable” case of swine flu, so it decided to shut down until May 11. Another school had some kids who just got back from a trip to Mexico, so it canceled school. I guess it’s an excuse for some time off.

For a reality check, here’s what a story in the Los Angeles Times today has to say:

As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.

Vietnam.com first of company’s geo domains to sell.

Ownership records for Vietnam.com, one of many domain names Live Current Media (OTCbb: livc.ob) has been trying to sell, have changed over the past two days.

In March Live Current announced that it sold two domain names for $1.65M. One of those domains was likely Body.com at $400,000. If this was the second domain Live Current was referring to, then this domain name sold for $1.25M. Although there is no indication from Live Current if this is the second domain name, the price seems about right for this domain. UPDATE: I heard from the buyer, who claims the purchase price was about $400,000.

Vietnam.com currently has a protected whois record, but yesterday the domain name’s ownership record briefly changed to Nhatvi Nguyen with an address at an upscale office building in Dallas, Texas. UPDATE: I heard from the buyer who said that Nguyen was some sort of broker on the deal.

Live Current Media has been actively selling premium domain names to raise cash. In addition to body.com and vietnam.com, the company appears to have sold Malaysia.com for about $400,000 USD.

NDX open for business as of minutes ago.

NameDrive’s new domain name marketplace, called NDX, is now live.

NDX allows sellers to list domain names either as “make offer” or place the domain name directly in an auction. There are no specific requirements for domains listed at auction, and sellers can choose the day and time they wish the auction to end. Auctions last from 3-14 days and can also include “BuyNow” prices.

Commissions are only 7% for most domains, about 30% less than most online domain name aftermarkets. Domains parked with NameDrive have commissions as low as 3%. Most ccTLDs and gTLDs carry no minimum commission, and all commissions will be waived through the end of May.

Because NameDrive is a parking company, domains parked at NameDrive that are listed on NDX have the option of displaying parking stats including views and revenue from the past 30 days. This is an extension of NameDrive’s existing “Park & Sell” program.

NDX also has a certification program that allows buyers to make higher offers and sellers to list domains at higher prices.

I’ve been test driving NDX over the past few days and believe it could help push the domain aftermarket forward.

As part of the launch, NameDrive has completely revamped its main web site.