GoDaddy is OK with killjulianassange.com

Laurel L. Russwurm Government, Human Rights, Politics, , , , , , , , ,

In my initial outrage about the death threat domain names, The other day I dented:

“Corporations aren’t human; if they were, the word would be “Sociopath” as in @GoDaddy is a sociopathic corporation”

—laurelrusswurm, identi.ca

But then I decided to follow @jwildeboer‘s fine example and fired off an email to GoDaddy. It is, after all, always good to find out the truth.

GO Daddy logo
GoDaddy response

Well, seems I was right the first time.

As promised, here’s the email response from GoDaddy, verbatim:

Dear Laurel L. Russwurm,

The domain killassange.com is directing to the IP of 99.14.214.54, which is not an IP allocated to Go Daddy. According to an IP whois it is allocated to Hoosier PC SBC. Go Daddy is not hosting the content. We have neither access to, nor jurisdiction over the content on this site. The web hosting provider for this website is the company responsible for policing any content that appears on this site.

There is no content currenlty resolving on the domains killjulianassange.com and julianassangemustdie.com.

As your complaint addresses the issue of wording of the domain name itself, we are unable to take action at this time. The complaint either needs to be taken up with the domain name owner directly, or should be filed in a UDRP or court proceeding.

If you find that you are unable to contact the registrant because the contact information given in the Whois database is invalid, please write to invalidwhois@secureserver.net and let us know.

Regards,

Spam and Abuse Department
GoDaddy.com
ARID1005

GoDaddy is off the hook for killassange.com because it isn’t one of theirs.

And without content, julianassangemustdie.com could argued to be ambiguous; after all, barring immortality, we all must die sooner or later.

But there is no ambiguity about:

killjulianassange.com

‘Kill Julian Assange’ is a three word grouping that is short, sharp and to the point.

Whatever anyone thinks of the man, Julian Assange is a real person.

A human being.

Prefacing the proper name of a real person with the verb “kill” is most certainly a death threat.

Or at the least, a directive.

Of course, I am not a lawyer. And as a Canadian, I’m not sure if death threats are protected by free speech or qualify as a crime south of the border.

GoDaddy thinks it isn’t an issue.

Does that mean GoDaddy would issue a killpresidentobama.com or a killsarahpalin.com domain name?

Just asking.

15 thoughts on “GoDaddy is OK with killjulianassange.com”

  4. […] As your complaint addresses the issue of wording of the domain name itself, we are unable to take action at this time. The complaint either needs to be taken up with the domain name owner directly, or should be filed in a UDRP or court proceeding. …” (note: we received this answer forwarded by the receipient, but the answer was made publicly available by the receipient herself, too. you’ll find the full copy here). […]

    Reply

  8. Also, a quick check would answer your question as to whether equivalent Palin or Obama domain names have been or could be registered. I would do it myself but I’m on my phone and well…you know.

    Reply

    • The only way to find out if they could be registered would be to register and see what happens. I don’t believe that anyone should make death threats, whether in domain names or anywhere else. So I am not about to register one.

      I did, however, do a search the other day. The upshot was that of the hundreds of domain names that include President Obama’s name, not a single one also includes the word “kill.”

      Whether people have tried to register any such names and been denied, or have ended up in Guantanamo Bay for so doing is unknown. I’m merely an obscure Canadian blogger without the resources that a real journalist could bring to bear on such an investigation.

      [Note: I may check in to approve future comments, but will reserve any of my own replies until after my editing session is complete. This is getting far too much like blogging. — regards, laurel l. russwurm]

      Reply

  9. Shouldn’t free speech include registering whatever domain name we please. I think these domain names are disgusting but I absolutely defend the registrants right to own them and Godaddy’s right to allow them to be registered.

    Reply

    • As you point out so graphically, it doesn’t take much to get the gist of even the longest grouping of words in a domain name.

      Nice redirect. Thanks wquoyle!

      Another good redirect can be found at Artificial Eyes who direct us to a new tracker site for cyber-bullying domain names of wikileaks associates.

      vivantleakers.org

      This new site was started by twitterer @carwinb in an effort to fight cyber bullying through exposure of the perpetrators. As @exiledsurfer‘s cool logo indicates, assassination politics is NOT OK.

      I also love @exiledsurfer’s mantra:

      I. exiledsurfer, EXPLICITLY denounce ALL death threats or exhortations of violence against any political figure or citizen, regardless of their stripe, and respectfully suggest that other people do the same.

      And I especially love Vivant Leakers’ tag line:

      We are watching. We are not afraid.

      Kind of like a cyber-neighborhood watch. 🙂

      [Yes. I know I’m busted, but I *had* to check my email… and peek at the microblogs… but my justification is that this isn’t really like blogging… and now back to the radio silence I need to work on my novel.]

      Reply

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