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Bank of America Buying Abusive Domain Names
Nite_Hawk writes "Bank of America has snapped up hundreds of abusive domain names for its senior executives and board members in what is being perceived as a defensive strategy against the future publication of damaging insider info from whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. According to Domain Name Wire, the US bank has been aggressively registering domain names including its board of directors' and senior executives' names followed by 'sucks' and 'blows.'"
Good luck grabbing every possible abusive word and all variations. "Sucks" is hardly the only word in existence that can be used to mean you smoke cock or gobble knob.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Maybe they're just preparing themselves for some future "truth in lending" legislation.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Yesterday it was noted that they can do this but getting all of those available will exceed their available cash. Seems like a waste of time and energy.
The nearly endless variety of insulting phrases that begin with [name] [verb] [...] makes it impractical to register more than a tiny proportion of them, and no matter how extensive, it's easy to think of alternatives.
[name]stealsyourmoney.com comes to mind in the context of BoA long before it would occur to me to register [name]sucks.com, much less [name]sucksass.com, [name]sucksthebigone.com, and -- in the spirit of Bill Hicks -- [name]suckssatansscalycock.com.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
Well, the first sentence of the two-sentence summary suggests that what makes this newsworthy is the fact it's being done defensively ahead of a major wikileak.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
There's astounding variety in dyslogistics; humanity's capacity to insult extends far beyond the simple "x sucks", "y blows", and often enters far more explicit territory. What makes them think that "sucks" and "blows" are the preferred verbal weapon of the domain-registering masses? If anything, this will only cause a rise in popularity of other insulting verbs.
Well, the first sentence of the two-sentence summary suggests that what makes this newsworthy is the fact it's being done defensively ahead of a major wikileak.
Yes, but I wonder if they are buying domains like: Wewentbroke.com, bankgobyebye.com, Wetookyourmoney.com and my personal favorite: Wethoughtboombutwentbust.com
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
BOA is a bunch of angels compared to the rest of the financial community, they should probably be investing in security rather than PR...
There is a steady stream of "$PERSON$ loses job/house, kills family, self, occasionally neighbors and/or a cop or two" stories in the US. Given the number of dodgy forclosures BOA is believed to be involved in, including some cases where they didn't even own the loan, or where there was no loan, I could easily imagine some of their more visible people becoming part of dissatisfied customers' blood drenched exits.
The really high level guys probably already take precautions; but a bank the size of BOA probably has a lot of fat around the middle...
This is like putting buckets over your flowers in advance of a hurricane...while living in New Orleans.
On the other hand it is really interesting they are scared enough about the Wikileaks release to take these fairly absurd measures. I wonder what public opinion of Wikileaks will be like if they expose some serious corruption in a major bank.
This seems to be pretty close to admitting that their senior execs have done things that would cause public outrage. Seems like a smarter strategy would have been just to shut up completely about it until seeing what these leaks actually contain. But, I suppose if you know beyond a doubt you will be proven guilty and held to account for something, you might as well prepare for it.
The only thing I have with bank of america is credit card debt. I hope that disappears in the whole wikileakageddon bank of americassplosion.
don't bet on it, your debt might be one of their few assets when this is over. :p
Indeed.
Or:
reallysucks.com
reallytrulysucks.com
reallytrulysucksbigtime.com
superreallytrulysucksbigtime.com
and so on....
Lots of buying to do there... I don't see how such defensive strategies can work... Am I missing something?
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
You're making a classic mistake; I've heard about it being made in reverse (by someone who used to work in a bank getting a job in a company that wasn't a bank).
If you were a business, that debt would go on your list of liabilities. You'd like it to disappear of its own accord with no action from you.
You would also have a list of assets, and you certainly wouldn't let them disappear of their own accord.
The important thing is that if you are the bank, other people's debts appear in your list of assets. And other people's assets (ie. bank accounts in credit) appear in your list of debts.
I have personally experienced the taking-down of sites and content by ISPs which were legally bullied (cease and desist orders) by large companies to make the site/content go away. It's possible that for every one site/piece of content that I've seen taken down outside of due process, short-circuiting the burden of proof, there may be many other sites where the ISP referred the matter to a legal department and determined that it was just corporate bullying, and took no action.
In my personal experience, when a big company threatens to take action against a smaller company, unless it's a high-profile case that the EFF is willing to tackle, the smaller company seems to fold and remove the site/content. It simply costs too much to battle it out in court, so the big guy often wins.
Does anyone have any experience with a smaller company telling a larger company to go suck eggs and successfully fighting a suit or threat to sue? Maybe I'm just cynical....
I knew somebody who actually had their mortgage bank (a "small" shop) go out of business, but which sold all their loans off at a slight loss at the end before going bankrupt. The guy's file actually got lost in the office and the bankruptcy proceeded and completed without anyone finding it. The bills quit coming and nobody ever asked for money. He finally went to the courthouse and since the company had gone bankrupt without selling his loan, he owned the house free and clear.
I wouldn't hold my breath, but it's not without precedent.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
What I don't understand is why they think this is even necessary in the new world we just entered a month or so ago.
Why should they have to buy up domain names?
Why not just have their friends at Visa/Mastercard deny the ability of anyone to buy a domain name which could (potentially) be used to engage in "illegal activities"?
Or have their friends in Obama's office of imaginary rights enforcement seize the domains for trafficking in stolen property?
Or have the host (Amazon or whoever) drop the websites? Paypal refuse service? EveryDNS drop the domain records?
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
It's nice of Bank of America to provide an index to the coming revelations ahead of time. It should make the first pieces of dirt hit the headlines faster, since you know what to look for.
Also, I wonder if you could get another major organization to reveal their shady actions in this way simply by spreading a rumour that Wikileaks is onto them?
Finally, this is interesting from purely psychological point of view: It proves that the leadership of BoA understands that their actions would be considered evil by common people; thus it seems unlikely that they are psychopaths, as common theories hold, but rather simply evil.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Check out this Wired article for some highlights of the legal issues related to a "sucks" / "gripe" site: Legal Tips For Your 'Sucks' Site. Although it was written in 2000 and so might be a little outdated, it's worth reading for some interesting info.
Two important points: (1) The site operator should avoid any commercial activity (at all) on the gripe site and; (2) The site operator should ensure that visitors would never think that the site is in any way associated with the entity that is the focus of the gripe site. While a properly designed gripe site is generally safe from losing a lawsuit it's definitely best to check with an attorney to make sure that you're doing everything properly before heading down a potentially expensive road.
JAGga.me ----> Producing video games addressing emotional health and wellness issues affecting teens.
Actually it could be the PR department trying to cover *their* ass. The board of directors may or may not still be psychopaths.
c++;
bankofamericasextrade.com
bankofamericaxxx.com
bankofamericalaundering.com
bankofamericadrugs.com
bankofamericadruglaundering.com
bankofamericaspies.com
bankofamericabribes.com
banksters.com
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
There is no doubt that anyone wanting to create a boa-lostmyhouse.com address can be infinitely more creative than B of A can be in anticipating what that address might be.
And ultimately it doesn't matter at all. You can post the same information at www.abc123-etc.com as you can on an address called boa-sucks.com.
It's the information and dialogue that will be damaging (from the company's perspective), not the URL.
If that's not obvious to them, why are they being entrusted with the investment of hundreds of billions of dollars?
> bankofamericaspies.com
How *are* Bank of America's pies, anyway?
I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
That's possible, but it's certainly NOT "free and clear".
Here's how you do it, in a VERY simplified form.
1. Open an escrow account and place your monthly mortgage payment, plus interest, into that account.
2. File a small claims suit with your local county, against the mortgage company holding your mortgage. Make it for the monthly amount of the mortgage, plus interest. You are filing suit for them to provide a signed and notarized copy of the deed, as well as any copies of the bill of sale for ALL of the transactions they made with the property.
3. Pay a process server to serve the holder the papers, or at least try.
4. Hire a court recorder. Chances are good that the court will try to simply dump you once it becomes apparent what you're doing. The court reporter will keep them honest.
5. Keep EXCELLENT records of every penny spent, as well as all transactions and communications with the process server and the court.
6. Show up in court on the appointed day.
Now here's where it gets tricky.
The mortgage holder, if they can even be found, probably won't bother to send a lawyer for such a small sum. They'll simply ignore it, and you win by default. If they DO show up, they have to produce the paperwork. Again, chances are good they can't. If they produce a robo-signed copy, they'll be charged with forgery. The odds are stacked in your favor.
If the unlikely event happens that they can prove that the debt is valid, simply resume paying the mortgage and carry on as normal. That's what the escrow account is for.
If nobody shows up, take the money you won in the small claims suit and place THAT into the escrow account too. This shows good faith on your part.
7. File a new small-claims suit again for the next month. Follow steps 1-7, for six months or more. Six months is probably best.
8. On the sixth court appearance, ask the court to nullify the debt. You can...
a. Show you fully intend to pay all debts if the paperwork is provided. (The escrow account again)
b. Show you can cover all interest, penalties and fees if the paperwork is provided and you have to resume paying.
c. Show that you can cover all costs of the court.
d. Show that you paid the process server.
e. Show you followed due process and due diligence.
And the mortgage holder has shown nothing but negligence and dereliction of their obligations.
The court will hand you the property with a clean deed.
BUT WAIT!!!!!
Remember that escrow account? DO NOT SPEND IT!!!
You're going to need that money to pay CAPITAL GAINS TAXES, because a new house will constitute a huge jump in your income, and that mortgage payment write-off is going bye-bye too.
You can tack this on as Step 8f: You can show ability to pay all federal, state and local taxes once the house is yours.
Bonus: If the mortgage holder sends your debt to collections while the court cases are pending, they're in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and can be slapped with a heavy fine on top of losing the mortgage.
You can spend that.
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