Rory Reid, a 2010 gubernatorial candidate for the Democratic party in Nevada recently forked over $10k for the domain name RoryReid.com. In an article that should have been titled ‘How to Cybersquat Political Domains’ the Las Vegas Review Journal (lvrj.com) broke the news about the purchase. Reid’s campaign decided to acquire the domain directly from Gene Smith. Smith, a refrigerator repairman and domain name cybersquatter recently uploaded a web site featuring a political cartoon on RoryReid.com that poked fun at Rory and his father, long time Nevada politician Harry Reid. This web site triggered the Reid campaign to finally pay the $10k for the domain (which is the price tag Smith put on the domain).
Reid’s and his campaign manager consulted internet law attorneys who advised them that they had a very good chance could take the domain name through legal proceedings but it could cost as much as $30,000 and take up to a year. They also thought about filing UDRP with WIPO. Neither of these options offered 100% certainty at winning the domain. Ultimately, Reid decided that it was not worth the hassle to go to court or WIPO. Also time was a factor in their decision since the election is only one year away.
Meanwhile, Gene Smith a resident of Las Vegas sits on several politicians first + last name .coms most of which point to a blog page titled ‘Snitch’. This web page features the political cartoon (mentioned above) portraying Rory and Harry Reid. Also on the site is a slanderous article called ‘Rory Reid is a Closet Faggot‘. Among the other political squatted domain names Gene Smith owns and re-directs to the ‘Snitch’ web page are ChipMaxfield.com (County Comissioner), JohnEnsign.com (US Senator), and OscarGoodman.com (Las Vegas Mayor).
It’s really sad to read this article by lvrj.com for two reasons. First of all this story will give cybersquatters more of a reason to keep registering and using domain names in bad faith. Secondly, turds like Gene Smith of Las Vegas continue to shine negative light on the domain industry when they make headlines for successfully selling cybersquatted domain names.
The Reid campaign instantly upon receiving the domain redirected it’s former official site RoryReid.net and others domains to RoryReid.com Reid’s new official homepage.
I hate stories like this.
“I paid for these domain names fair and square.”
GDI… some people need to get brains. In 2002 he could have registered much better domains then this sh*t… it drives me crazy when they luck out… especially knowing a couple people who couldn’t protect their generic domains and got them taken away.
Clearly a case of someone deliberately registering well known people’s names to profit. He bought the name to sell to a specific person. He is not a domainer, but a cyber squatter in my opinion.
Things like this really bother me. I wish Reid would of taken the time to go to court to battle this jerk! Until people stand up and do whats right, cybersquaters like this will continue to “shine”.
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Whoa, great read. I just found your blog and I am already a fan. =D
Sounds as if others didnt think of this first and main one had to pay with others money no doubt just donations to campaign, whatever means it was not any different than others buying a business name and selling it this politician lives on his famous name and should have planned ahead , hooray for this guy