As if there isn’t enough government interference with what Americans do, here comes to government again trying to get involved in our internet business practices. This news could potential hurt anyone who makes money online, owns domain names or sell advertisements.

I received this email from the DN Forum staff. It’s kind of long, but well worth the read if you’re involved in this business.

Dear DNF members,

We feel it is our duty to bring this to light and make people aware of what’s happening. As you may have heard, Senator Olympia Snow (R-ME) has very recently introduced a bill that could threaten the future of the domain name industry and internet commerce. Snowe’s bill has been introduced as the “Anti-Phishing” bill, but contains provisions that are largely unrelated to these objectives. These provisions radically and unnecessarily expand the rights of trademark owners to essentially provide them with monopoly rights on registered trademarks. This would be to the detriment of millions of individuals and businesses engaged in lawful and legitimate Internet commerce.

If the bill passed through congress, it may allow large businesses to take domain names with little to no effort. Trademark owners already prevail in 85% of all UDRP complaints and nearly 100% of all ACPA cases. Yet some apparently now wish to establish a new regime for contesting allegedly “infringing” domains that is tilted even more in their
favor by denying basic due process and substantive protections to domain name registrants – and that provides the possibility that they can use their power and influence to sway public officials to expend taxpayer dollars in defense of private Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).

The proposal unfairly targets domain name registrants for a widespread Internet practice  if it’s aim is to halt the advertising monetization of brand names and typographical variations thereof when consumers engage in direct Internet navigation or in web searches it utterly fails in that endeavor, as this activity is also engaged in systematically
by search engines, web browsers and ISPs.

We need to do as much as possible to make sure the bill is revised to serve it’s purpose of preventing phishing scams and not to bury domain name owners. Please sign the petition at http://www.SnoweBill.com to help in the fight and to review all portions of the bill.

Thank you for your time and attention in this matter. There are several big discussions taking place right now at http://www.DNForum.com - please visit the site and perform a search for “Snowe” to view the threads.