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Cameroon Typo-Squats all of .com

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the can't-fault-them-for-the-idea dept.

wayne writes "As reported on CircleID, the nation of Cameroon, which controls the .cm top level domain, has typo-squatted all of the .com domain space. They have placed a wildcard DNS record to redirect all traffic to an ad-based search page. Unlike the earlier case of Verisign putting a wildcard in the real .com domain, ICANN has very little direct control over what a nation can do with their own TLD. Will the owners of .co and .om follow?"

20 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. Smart move. by Duncan3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That should double their GDP!

    --
    - Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
    1. Re:Smart move. by MECC · · Score: 4, Funny

      pple who cant tyhp shoulndyt be ushing the inpternet anwywya

      --
      "We are all geniuses when we dream"
      - E.M. Cioran
    2. Re:Smart move. by TALlama · · Score: 2, Funny
      After all, no one who isn't anglo-saxon Christian couldn't possibly do anything to deserve criticism. It's all just a plot of White Supremacists, fighting for control with the Elders of Zion and the Freemasons. Right?


      Dammit man, you've blown our cover! Expect the "Re-education Team" at your door in five minutes.

      --

      - The Amazina Llama

    3. Re:Smart move. by Thuktun · · Score: 2, Funny

      And for the record: I know nothing about Cameroon, besides a quick Wikipedia lookup, and can't say whether their government is dictatorial or not.

      I heard that their elephant population tripled in the last six months. Weird.

  2. Re:There's typos, and then there's THAT by pookemon · · Score: 3, Funny

    But if you mean to type .com and you actually type .cm then its a typo. If you mean to type .cm and you .cm then it's not a typo.

    --
    dnuof eruc rof aixelsid
  3. www.gkj.cm by tsa · · Score: 4, Funny

    I tried it, it works! I must say it's a real clever idea. I want a country too!

    --

    -- Cheers!

  4. What's next? by macserv · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm sure the government of Vomania will benefit highly from my URL mistakes.

    1. Re:What's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      not nearly as much as The People's Rebublic of Cmonistan.

  5. If you think about it by Koragnar · · Score: 5, Funny

    .com is typo-squatting all the .cm sites for people who suck miserably at typing.

  6. How long until... by FlyByPC · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...the Nigerian scammers get wind of this, and move? I mean, it's right next door!

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  7. Ah... time to crontab wget again by MrPerfekt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Once every 5 minutes I think I'll be hitting www.youcontributenothingtotheinternet.cm!

    --
    I just wasted your mod points! HA!
  8. Not working for me... by Gerocrack · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... did we just slashdot an entire country?

  9. Re:There's an easy fix for this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just make a loooot of entries ;)

  10. Most queries at www.google.cm by totallygeek · · Score: 2, Funny
    Cameroon location earth


    At ask.com: "Where the fuck is Cameroon, Jeeves?"



    --
    Click here or here.
  11. so by AlgorithMan · · Score: 2, Funny

    so, is there a .cm boom comming up?

    --
    The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
  12. Re:for those that don't get it, .cm == typo of .co by morie · · Score: 4, Funny

    lk buddy, my keybard is quite ld s yu dn't expect all the keys t wrk prperly, nw d yu?

    I have truble with .cm very ften

    --
    Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
  13. Re:WWW/HTML is a minor problem by Penguin · · Score: 3, Funny
    Hey! Guess what country is next door to Cameroon? Yup, Nigeria


    Hey! Guess what country is next to Cameroon in the CIA World Factbook? Yup, Canada.

    The conspiracy is clear!
    --
    - Peter Brodersen; professional nerd
  14. Re:The fix is easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    Wouldn't a better solution be to redirect *.om and *.cm to the .com equivalent?

    Maybe Verisign could implement a system that would capture mistyped addresses and automatically send them to a page that had a list of "suggested" site they might have been looking for? They could call it something like "SiteFinder"

  15. Re:OK.... by Lissajous · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ouch! Oh no - the pain, the agony! Please stop Mr. A. Coward, for I cannot withstand the onslaught of your loquaciousness and mastery of the fine art of debate. See me prostrate myself before your mighty intellect and insightful witticisms, not to mention your deft and creative turn of phrase - the creative of course referring to your ability to turn a five letter word into a four letter word. Unless, of course, you were intending to compare me to some Thai condiments. Oh - how I tremble in fear at even the remotest possibility of meeting you in a scrabble competition.

    Now please move along, buy yourself a dictionary, learn some manners, discover the courage of your own convictions, and post as something other than Anonymous Coward in future.

    Dont let the door hit in the ass on your way out.

  16. Re:correct solution (that will never fly)... by zen-theorist · · Score: 2, Funny
    I gather that the Cameron business is pretty serious.
    you cant hope to set things right by stealing an O from Cameroon to replace the one in .com!