Cyber Squatters Grab Up More Than 600 'Pope Francis' Domain Names

tsamsoniw writes "Although the newly appointed Pope Francis I has proven himself technologically savvy enough to use Twitter, the Vatican dropped the ball when it came to quickly registering a domain name for the pontiff after his appointment earlier this month: Within hours, cyber squatters grabbed up more than 600 domain names containing derivations of the pontiff's name, including popefrancisi.com, popefrancis.co.uk, popefrancis.org, and popefrancis.fr, according to domain-name company names.co.uk."

Comments

Because the Vatican Has Its Own TLD?

[eldavojohn]

Although the newly appointed Pope Francis I has proven himself technologically savvy enough to use Twitter, the Vatican dropped the ball when it came to quickly registering a domain name for the pontiff after his appointment earlier this month

Well, you've put me in the awkward position of defending papal technology. None of this really matters considering Vatican City has its own TLD of .va so it would be a waste of money and resources to try to accumulate every other TLD. I believe .va is tightly regulated to include only 1990s era website technology. The last pope's virtual dedication was done in comic sans as seen here.

Funny, if the pope was more like the humble carpenter Jesus of Nazareth and less like an enshrined emperor he wouldn't have this problem as there'd be no financial gain to drive extortion. Keep paying your tithes so the Vatican has deep pockets ... or would that be a Louis Vuitton to match his Prada shoes?

Re:Because the Vatican Has Its Own TLD?

[RyoShin]

None of this really matters considering Vatican City has its own TLD of .va

Because absolutely no one went to whitehouse.com when trying to get information about the White House in Washington, D.C.

(For those not in the know, whitehouse.com was once a porn site; whitehouse.gov is the USG's website. According to Wiki the .com domain changed hands and content a little under a decade ago, shows how current I am.)

Re:Because the Vatican Has Its Own TLD?

[eldavojohn]

who would buy a shitload of used solar panels, a pair of red shoes of a specific size, or etc?

I can't tell if you're serious or trolling so I'll try to keep this short. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In our day of capitalism, the more capital you have the more inherent power you have based on what you can buy with it. All that gold and gilded shit in the Vatican? That could certainly be sold to collectors and the power structure could make do with a modest monastery in the middle of nowhere.

To say that an auction on ebay wouldn't absolutely blow up with bidding on The Pope's used shoes shows you are either unintelligent or disturbingly apologetic to the insane amount of power and influence the pope has and continues to try to hold on to. It is staggering to hear someone say that.

The solar panels? Fine. But you could sell a lot of vatican stuff and put that money to good use helping the poor. They don't and they still ask for donations instead -- often from the poor. As someone who grew up Catholic below the poverty line watching 10% of my parents income go to a man in a magic castle with better digs than anyone else in the world, I can tell you he is further from Jesus than the homeless man on the street. The Bible will tell you it's harder for a rich man to enter heaven than a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. And yet the top leaders live in gilded opulence. Fitting for Italy I guess.

It's a shame.