Capitalizing on a tragedy by registering domain names.
Egypt Air Flight 804 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last week, and all on board are presumed dead.
Such an event generates a lot of emotion, from sadness to fear, especially for the victims’ families.
It is beyond belief to me that people would try to capitalize on this event by registering domain names.
What was the Oregon man thinking when he registered egyptair804.com and then listed it for sale for $1,400?
I suppose there can be legitimate reasons for registering domain names related to a tragedy like this, although listing them for sale isn’t one of them.
Other people registered egyptflight804.com, egyptairflight804.com and egyptairms804.com. The latter one has a WordPress theme installed, although no content has been added.
Steve says
Maybe time to create of Hall of Shame for people who register domains, with the desire to make profits off others’ miseries.
dotdm says
Back in 2007 when we were forming the ICA, we made certain to have things like this type of activity (at the time it was post-Katrina, but anything disaster related) expressly against the code of conduct.
jothan says
Posted from my app.dm account
Spencer says
I get it why regging names like this is bad. Iits just bad mojo/karma.
that said, its hard to not be desensitized in this day and age to remote tragedy that isnt personally felt. I personally do not judge people who register names like this too harshly. I see many more grave transgressions from my fellow humans on a day to day basis. Something like this is not good but its just tip of the iceberg.
domainscience says
Andrew, you assume that they were “thinking.”
MajorMediaMogul says
Exactly, it’s time to realize we are NOW living in a world run by Artificial Intelligence. Robots are using indicators and that is it really.
aldis browne says
DISGUSTING!
rick says
is it right to make profit with porno ???
Snoopy says
Is this really news? This happens after every disaster so I’m guessing you’ve gone and searched for any related domains registered to make a story out of it?
Isn’t that capitalising on the disaster as well?