Discussion Topic #1

Cybersquatting

Cybersquatting is the practice of buying domain names on the Internet and then holding them for your own purposes. You might keep the site empty –no content – and wait for someone to offer you a good price. Alternatively, you might choose to put your own content on the site. This has the potential to misrepresent other individuals and organisations when your domain name is very similar to the name of a real organisation. Cybersquatting is illegal in some jurisdictions – try searching for “cybersquatting laws” on your favourite search engine. See http://unquietmind.com/cybersquat.html for some opinions. To locate examples of sites that some might consider examples of cybersquatting, try searching for “cybersquatting examples” with your favourite search engine.

Do you think that cybersquatting should be illegal – or that it is no more than an extension to the right to own property?

Discussion Topic #1 Microsoft’s Passport technology has been the subject of considerable criticism. You can find Microsoft’s own description of Passport here: http://www.passport.net/Consumer/default.asp You can find an extensive set of news, analysis, critique and editorial items about Passport here: http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/microsoft/default.html

What are the privacy concerns associated with Passport? How do you think they should be tackled?