Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Propping Up Typosquatting Biz?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-love-shopping-at-amezon.com dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google is making oodles of cash placing ads on a vast sea of otherwise vacant Web sites that do little more than capitalize on misspelled domain name names, according to a story in today's Washington Post. From the story: 'Google Inc., which runs the largest ad network on the Internet, is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads. In many instances, these ad-filled pages appear when users mistype an Internet address, such as BistBuy.com. This new form of advertising is turning into a booming business that some say is cluttering the Internet and could be violating trademark rules.'"

4 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. In other news... by elwin_windleaf · · Score: 5, Funny

    Typosquatter site BistBuy.com reports record profits and an all-time high hit count.

  2. I don't blame Google for enabling typosquatting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I blame DNS.

    We should have stuck with numbers. In hex. Would have kept out all the lamers, nannies, and governments.

    Heck we should go back to uucp over dial-up connections.

  3. Are we calling it something else now? by bluemeep · · Score: 5, Funny

    Back in the olden days of 2004, we used to call it "cybersquatting." Kids these days and their crazy terminology. And their music.

  4. Obligatory by Fruny · · Score: 5, Funny
    * Typosquatters pay attention: slashdot.eu is not yet taken!
    In the European Union, typosquatter slashdot.eu.