Slashdot Mirror
UbiSoft Goof Lets Porn URL Into Rainbow Six
Thanks to CNN Money for their article revealing that an enterprising webmaster has purchased a URL featured in UbiSoft's tactical action Xbox title Rainbow Six 3, and constructed a pornographic website hub around it. According to the story, a "level set in a garage with posters adorning the wall" features a specific website address, and "Texan Tony Ashcraft was one of the early buyers of the game and noted the URL as he played. Thinking the link might feature ancillary information on the game, he told me he typed it into his browser, only to find no one owned the domain. On Nov. 22, he bought it and immediately filled it with porn links." Ashcraft, interviewed for the piece, says: "My intentions were to try to build up traffic and then sell the domain... If they ask me just to change it... they would have to have a pretty compelling reason. If they were interested in buying the domain, then we could talk."
Would it be asking too much for you to link to the 'offending' url? Especially for me. I can't seem to find any porn on the internet.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
They didn't let an existing porn URL into the game, which is what I inferred from the article title; they just made the mistake of including an unclaimed viable URL address.
Why would it be cybersquatting? He's obviously doing something with the domain, and he's willing to sell it to whoever will pay his price.
UbiSoft was stupid for not registering and controlling the domain in the first place, in this day and age they should've known better.
I find it really sad that anyone can accuse this guy of cybersquatting when he's just being an entrepreneur, no matter how sleazy.
The reason UbiSoft has a good argument is pretty clear. Suppose JK Rowling's book became an overnight success and one of the first readers went out and bought hogwarts.com.
Then, being an "entrepeneur", he turned it into a porn site.
It's no different. The only reason why the URL was purchased is because of someone making cash off of someone else's work.
If UbiSoft can yank this domain away from the registered owner just because it was published in one of their games, then what's to stop them from publishing 10,000 URLs in their next game and claiming ownership of any of those that somebody tries to register? There is only one way to reserve a domain name: register it! Register it before anybody else does!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
... the word of the article is ... Capitolism. There is nothing wrong with this. I'm not saying I condone this guy's right to make a high-traffic pr0n portal, but I would say the fault lies with Ubisoft. And the moral of the story, always check your links before you release them to the general public!
Kleedrac
Sure we wang, can.
if you're going to post a URL in your game/movie/etc, make sure it exists (like CSI did with http://ladyheather.com/ ) or that it can't exist (nonexistant TLD, illegal characters etc).
It's like making sure your characters' phone numbers start with 555.
One of my previous jobs had a link to Q&A site Experts Exchange in some sample content. The current link for that site is http://experts-exchange.com/, but they also had a nearly identical URL which was what was used in our product: http://expertsexchange.com/. At some point, its registration lapsed and it got acquired by a domain squatter who was using it as a similar porn portal. If you're not getting it, read the URL again: http://expertsexchange.com/
You have a choice: tax and spend Democrats, or borrow and spend Republicans. Choose wisely.
In the Grand Theft Auto III and VC games, many "fictional" web sites are advertised on the radio stations (pogo the monkey, etc.) All of these URLs were purchased, by TakeTwo, prior to the games being released and were realistically filled with content that corresponded to the in game advertisements. It kind of added another aspect of realism to the game, while at the same time kept anyone else from registering the web sites and using them for their own agenda.
The Ubisoft was simply careless in their production of the game and the gamer had every right to take advantage of that mistake. This is not cybersqatting because it does not infringe upon the copyright of Ubisoft nor does it violate any fair-use guidelines.
http://www.tomandemily.com
In their first patch modify the texture so it refers to a different website. And make sure they register that site this time. From memory XBOX Live forces people to patch straight away, right, so that should completely skirt the problem, and annoy the hell out of the guy who bought the domain :)
Try Googling "Domain Name Lawsuit" and then tell me there's only one way to get a domain name.
You may also want to read the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.