It didn't take long for computer-virus writers to create Trojan-horse programs that piggybacked off last month's shootings at Virginia Tech. It took even less time for online profiteers to snatch up all sorts of thematically relevant domain names, the Associated Press reports.
Just hours after the shootings, a Phoenix man named Fred McChesney bought up more than 40 Web addresses, including campuskillings.com, bloodbathinblacksburg.com, and, rather puzzlingly, virginiatechthemovie.com. Each site now hawks his supposedly forthcoming book, Guns Do Kill People, and features pictures of the students and professors who died in the Virginia Tech attack. Just in case anyone thought this was a high-minded exercise, though, the page also announces: "For Sale – Virginia Tech Media and Story Domains…. Make an offer."
There might not be much Virginia Tech can do to shut down Mr. McChesney's operation, because the sites don't quite meet the standards for cybersquatting, says Ann Bartow, a professor of law at the University of South Carolina. "It's socially, normatively disgusting," she told the AP, "but it's not trademark bad faith." –Brock Read
