Ohio Attorney General Orders Domains Taken

[DomainGoon]

Internet Domain Names for State Senators No Longer For Sale
by Dan Weist, Ohio News Network

January 24, 2003

The domain names for 9 Ohio State Senators aren’t for sale anymore, at least for the moment.

Mark Gribben of the State Attorney General’s office says it’s not legal to use someone’s name without permission.

Attorney General Jim Petro issued the order Thursday that Stamper relinquish the internet domains using the senators’ names.

http://www.onnnews.com/story.php?record=21764

Jeremy Stamper has so far ignored the warnings from Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's office that he is violating federal law by registering Web domain names and trying to sell them.

Mumper and other senators met Tuesday with Petro, who in an e-mail to Stamper informed him that he is breaking the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act signed into law in 1999. Petro said in the letter that the law requires consent prior to the registration and sale of an individual's name as a domain name.

http://www.marionstar.com/news/stories/20030123/localnews/837505.html

These people are public figures, but he did list the domains on eBay. I wonder what power the AG has to take domains from people, withut a court case, under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act?

 

[HOWARD]

NONE

 

[Drewbert]

>Attorney General Jim Petro issued the order
>Thursday that Stamper relinquish the internet
>domains using the senators’ names.

I didn't realise Ohio had become a fascist regime. When did that happen?

 

[charles]

Originally posted by HOWARD
NONE

DITTO

 

[charles]

The second article above contains this

Kim Norris, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said ..."We're discussing further legal action against Stamper," Norris said. "We don't have his exact address, so we can't serve him."

As we all know, this means they can commence an ACPA action in the Eastern District of Virginia, and commence an In Rem action against the names. Bad venue for Stamper, since the EDVA was the birthplace of the "domain names are not property" fallacy, the home base of VeriSign, and also incidentally a place where African-Americans were property for over a hundred years. Mr. Stamper is African-American, so the fact may seem relevant, although I would never suggest in a thousand years that any vestige of anti-African-American sentiment remains anywhere in the State of Virginia. (I went to military school in VA as a kid, and have fond memories about the total atmosphere of racial harmony that existed among the other cadets. Not!)

Ciao,
Chas

 

[jberryhill]

"I didn't realise Ohio had become a fascist regime. When did that happen?"

May 4, 1970

 

[cluelessdomainer]

charles, that is good, but your legal caveat is a little distracting.

 

[pljones]

Well, the Ohio AG could file a false contact report with Tucows, requesting that the Whois information be updated with accurate contact information for Stamper. Tucows has to place the registrant on notice of the false contact report, and give Stamper 15 days to correct the info before the domain names are deleted.

At the same time, the AG's office can also contact the Hotmail Abuse Department and have Stamper's e-mail address revoked.