How Many Domains Does Your School Own? 255
ADrexelStudent asks: "A debate has been brought up in recent months at my school, Drexel University, on the issue of whether the school should be allowed to own over 300 domain names. One domain, drexel.com, has been purchased from the students that owned the site, which was being used as a student forum. Another site, drexel.org, is under contest from the school against it's owner, a student. The university claims they didn't know the owner was a student and hence filed a lawsuit claiming trademark violation. Problem is the school doesn't own the trademark, a furniture company with no relation to Drexel does. Out of all the 300+ domains, only one outside the .edu TLD is being used, drexel.com, prompting the argument that this is an attempt by the university to silence student opinion on the Internet. My question for slashdot is how many schools out there purchase domains with no intent to use them, should student tuition be used in this manner, and what is your opinion of this practice?"
Failed bid to silence. (Score:5, Insightful)
Whether or not they posess the trademark, a school will not be able to silence student's opinions by regaining control of drexel.org or whatever. There are simply too many places to put up a webserver and I have a feeling that the domain name matters less than the number of students contributing to the server.
I guess the question is, why isn't this drexel company stepping in and sorting everyone out?
Re:Failed bid to silence. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Failed bid to silence. (Score:1)
So i could finally build my long-dream McDonalds automobile and not face trouble with the fast-food chain accidently posing under the same name ?
Re:Failed bid to silence. (Score:2)
Re:Failed bid to silence. (Score:2)
The latter doesn't always follow from the former. This is America, after all, and a lot of trademark holders will litigate at the drop of a hat.
It's just these sorts of gray areas that keep trademark lawyers in business. For example, the company that eventually became Circuit City began as a chain of TV & hi-fi stores called "Wards." Only after years of litigation did they come to an agreement with Montgomery Wards about how they could use their brand in advertising without stepping on the toes of the larger, deeper-pocketed company. (If Monkey Wards had given that much attention to merchandizing and customer service, maybe they'd still be in business.)
Re:Failed bid to silence. (Score:2)
On a somewhat related note, back in the '80s, Radio Shack nearly lost a trademark-infringement suit it had brought against an upstart company called Computer Shack. While Radio Shack's usage of "shack" was upheld, the judge acknowledged that it was a weak trademark composed of common words (or something to that effect...IANAL, and it's been a while since I read about it, though you might check your back issues of Nibble from 1985 onward for the legal column by (IIRC) Owen Linzmayer, as I think that's where I read about it). It took them forever to remove the space, though...this suit was from sometime in the early-to-mid-80s, but it was only on the past two or three years that they've called themselves RadioShack instead.
Re:Failed bid to silence. (Score:2)
Depends where you do it, if it's in Scotland you might have fewer problems than in the USA.
The basic problem with the attitude of second level domains as tradmarks is that these are restricted by geography and type of business. Also "obvious" things can't be tradmarked, though a fair number slip through.
Re:Failed bid to silence. (Score:2)
I think only a non-proffit organisation (a dot org) should be alowed to challange the dot org domain name...
The student should argue that Drexel.edu is the only domain inside the educational trademark.
Re:Failed bid to silence. (Score:2)
Effectivly
Good day Mr. Orwell. How are things? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd have to admit though, that there Is a point to stopping anyone from using a domain that could be masked as the official page.
Re:Good day Mr. Orwell. How are things? (Score:1, Informative)
Trademark (Score:5, Informative)
One of the biggest problems in domain name fights is when two people who both have a trademark on the name fight it out with each other. Then the regular rules of "give it to whoever has the TM" doesn't work.
You can look up trademarks at tess.uspto.org.
Re:Trademark (Score:3, Interesting)
Authorities know the solution (Score:2)
TRUE or FALSE?
It will not solve 'consumer confusion', 'trademark conflict' or stop anybody 'passing off'.
Also, as an example on Sunrise, thousands of trademarks using word 'Apple' have no guarantee of being able to use name.
Apple computers will still protect and make claim to every Apple.[anything] - even though they share word with 727 others in the USA alone (plus all those in 200+ countries).
The simple solution is name.class.country.reg
Apple computers could still use apple.com - just redirected to
Please visit WIPO.org.uk [wipo.org.uk].
Re:Trademark (Score:2)
Hmm... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Hmm... (Score:1)
You've been to whitehouse.com right? I still believe in a first come first gets it internet. If you want to know what's actually on the site, use google.com
Porn and education. (Score:4, Funny)
I don't know if you meant this as a hypothetical or not, but it does happen. I work for the IS department at Canisius College [canisius.edu] and a few years ago someone bought canisius.com [canisius.com] and set up a porn site there. It was pretty interesting trying to explain that to the people in publications and promotion.
"No, you don't want to put canisius.com on any of the literature. No, don't go there. Just trust me."
*scream*
--saint
Re:Porn and education. (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's another example: I discouraged a former employer from snapping up every possible related domain name. We had the
Well a few years later, we found that a British neo-Nazi group had acquired the
Re:Porn and education. (Score:2)
Why not? (Score:2)
OT: Domains (Score:2, Interesting)
Just a friendly reminder: The number of domains is not limited by any factors except ICANN's greed and thirst for scarcity. Head over to OpenNIC [unrated.net] if you'd like to go back to democracy.
AINAL (Score:1)
Than again, there was the guy who had the dog named newyorkyankees.com?
Who cares (Score:3, Troll)
It isn't really that much money.
Let's focus on the bigger problem of creating
a more reasonable DNS naming scheme.
300+ domains? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:300+ domains? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:300+ domains? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:300+ domains? (Score:1)
drexelsoftware.com
it's kinda catchy and slashdot just indirectly caused it some PR I think I'll register it.
In My Humble Opinion... (Score:5, Informative)
to be used, and have ONE domain, drexel.edu. If they need to subdivide it, do it they way it
was freaking intended. Like:
www.drexel.edu
mail.drexel.edu
news.drexel.edu
www.drexel.edu/~username
etc... This is the way my university has always
worked, and there has never been a problem for anyone. And yes, this foolishness IS a waste
of university (students!) funds. Someone who is
a student there should write an editorial slamming them for being so stupid.
All IMHO, of course...
Right on! (Score:1)
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:4, Insightful)
But the way to do multiple websites is to use www.science.drexel.edu, www.staff.drexel.edu, etc...
~username is fine for individual users pages on a given server perhaps...
DNS issupposed to be heirarchial.. the problem is it's also a be-all-end-all lookup service for the WWW now.
You want ford? YOu don't look up 'ford motor company' in an index and go to the site, you go to 'ford.com'.. that's the problem.
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:2, Insightful)
Google search site: eku.edu [google.com]
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:2)
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:1, Informative)
The school prez was once quoted as saying he doesnt want websites popping up "that are not in commensurate with the school" We students see that as clear attempt at cencorship.
The comp ethics professor last winter semester discussed this exact topic. (He's also the one responsible for introducing me to
The administration did miss one site: www.drexelshaft.com [drexelshaft.com]
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:1)
www.drexel.edu.us, because they are not an international educational institution.
That is something a lot of people are missing, the
So, IMO, Sun or Microsoft deserve the
Another question on domain names: What does the
BTW, we need more top-level domains.
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:1)
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:3, Informative)
There actually arn't that many international educational instututions...
So, IMO, Sun or Microsoft deserve the
Except that
Another question on domain names: What does the
It stands for "academic". Used probably because it's 2 letters rather than 3. Anyway
How stupid it is depends on what you think they... (Score:2)
Now obviously, this still won't work, as any search engine would find it. But it could make it a little more difficult, and a bit less trustworthy. And it could certainly divert energy that could otherwise go into protesting actions that are more central to their purposes (whatever they are).
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:2, Informative)
Luckily, when Drexel bought all those domain names, they missed THESHAFT.COM and THESHAFT.ORG, which I quickly snapped up.
THESHAFT.ORG is now site dedicated to free speech about the actions of the Drexel administration and the many ways in which it screws its own students, parents, and faculty.
Re:In My Humble Opinion... (Score:2)
Problem is that many people don't have a clue how the DNS is ment to work in the first place. There is also a belief that everything much be www.foobar.com, interesting how this has just been proven to be nonsense considering the amount of leads the FBI got through a website...
www.drexel.edu
mail.drexel.edu
news.drexel.edu
www.drexel.edu/~username
Or even engineering.drxel.edu, mechanical.engineering.drxel.edu, electrical.engineering.drxel.edu, etc, etc
This is the way my university has always worked, and there has never been a problem for anyone.
At a guess your university has been on the Internet for at least a decade or if not has it's DNS run by an "old hand".
It's because the broken DNS system allows them to. (Score:2)
Re:It's because the broken DNS system allows them (Score:2)
Except that it wouldn't if they used the system in the way it was intended to be used in the first place. e.g. as product.company.foo, rather than a whole set of productoradvertisingslogan.foo
Universities and domain squatting (Score:2, Interesting)
I've since dropped the program because they were clueless about what they wanted to teach, couldn't communicate amongst themselves or with students, and now I'm skeptical of anything I didn't pick up on my own during that experience. If ye olde prof is actually right about this one, someone please tell us all who regulates something trivial like this?
Why is this a question? (Score:1, Flamebait)
Should the school be allowed to own over 300 domain names
Why not? Why does the school need to follow any different rules than any other entity? If CmdrTaco had 300 domains, would we care?
how many schools out there purchase domains with no intent to use them
Why does it matter how many others do it? What bearing does it have on your school?
And finally, should student tuition be used in this manner?
How presumptuous to think you have any say in how your tuition is spent. You don't wonder aloud what McDonald's does with your cash after you buy a Happy Meal, do you? And if you don't like it, you don't give them the money.
I guess the real question is "Why do people post tempest-in-a-teapot stories to Slashdot?"
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:4, Troll)
"Should the school be allowed to own over 300 domain names
Why not? Why does the school need to follow any different rules than any other entity? If CmdrTaco had 300 domains, would we care?"
Because, in a world of limited domain names, we should care if any "entity" owns a bunch of names not being used. There are a limited number of meaningful, easy-to-remember names out there.
"how many schools out there purchase domains with no intent to use them
Why does it matter how many others do it? What bearing does it have on your school?"
Wow, I feel like I'm trying to explain Afghan politics to George W. Bush. Okay, moron, listen up, and try to follow along. I'll use small words.
What happens at one school is generally of interest to students at another school. Sometimes this is simply for the same reason that people are interested in the world around them (Wow! What a concept!) and sometimes it's because what happens at one school now might well be happening at other schools next year. Imagine that.
"And finally, should student tuition be used in this manner?
How presumptuous to think you have any say in how your tuition is spent. You don't wonder aloud what McDonald's does with your cash after you buy a Happy Meal, do you? And if you don't like it, you don't give them the money."
Presumptuous? Go fuck yourself. First of all, yes, I do sometimes wonder where my consumer dollars go -- and if people didn't talk about it, I'd have no way of finding out and deciding if I wanted to spend my money there or not. Second, the connection between a school and a student is much more intimate than the connection between McDonald's and someone ordering a Happy Meal -- or at least it should be; I wonder where (or if) you went to college that you don't understand that.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:4, Insightful)
As a tax payer I want to know how MY MONEY is being spent. If a tax payer funded organization is wasting thousands of dollars on leagal and domain fees, then I'm pissed. The tax payers of the state entrusted money to see that standard of education was met. And as it stands I can't even fathom a good reason to waste that much money.
Then again, I think the entire higher education system is worse at wasting money then the federal gov't.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait, first you argue we have no right to know how the money we spend with a company is used, then you argue that if we don't like the way the money is used we shouldn't spend it there. The two views are incompatible.
There are places I won't spend my money because of the way it may be used (Domino's Pizza [holysmoke.org] for example). The discussion of how companies use our money is one of the few powers captilism gives the masses; vote with your feet and you can make the company think again. If this were to be disallowed, then there would be nothing to keep corporations in check.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:1)
(yes, redundant posting, I know, but...)
... what he said. It's important.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:2)
I apologize. Let me clarify.
Once you give the money over to the university, you've lost your right to say how it is spent behind the scenes. You don't have the right to say "Hey, I gave you money, you need to do what I say." But you're perfectly within your rights to say "I don't want to give any MORE money to you because I don't like what you do with it."
You're paying for a service. Giving the University of Whatever doesn't give you an ownership stake in the place, any more than forking over for a Happy Meal lets you tell McDonald's what to do.
If this were to be disallowed, then there would be nothing to keep corporations in check.
Nobody said anything about "disallowing" voting with your feet. That's a mighty big stretch from my original comments.
By the way, I never said that you don't have a right to know how the money is spent, but since you brought it up, you're right: You don't have any right to know. Do you demand that the manager at McDonald's open his accounting ledger?
Now, if we're talking about a public university that gets your tax dollars, then squawk away, but temper it with a sense of scope. We're only talking about $15,000/yr or so, which is relative chump change. More than anything, I'd be annoyed at the absurdity of Drexel trying to block dissent through squatting.
What baffles me is why people think that paying for a service entitles them to something other than what's spelled out in the contract. It's just standard grist for the Slashdot mill: erroneously outraged folks with a false sense of entitlement.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:2)
Now let's paraphrase your arguments:
OK, so Whining Corp must never tell Dave Drexel to stop drinking on the job. They can fire him if they want, but they mustn't explain why.
In reality, accountability usually goes with money. Anyone who gives you money becomes your boss to some small degree. For good or bad, Universities have been pretty successful at evading that accountability.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:2)
It's irrelevant to this conversation. McDonald's is not a "public company", but rather a "publicly traded company". The information is for potential stockholders, not customers. That there is an intersection between those two sets is a happy coincidence for the customers who would like to know more.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:2)
Although, as it happens there isn't a Dominos where I've just moved to anyway, so it's Pizza Hut for me still..
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:1)
Big difference here: Firstly, happy meals are consumable, so a happy meal will affect you for maybe a day (including digestion) and cost less than $5.
Schooling costs ~25k or so and affects you for a lifetime.
Why shouldn't it be treated as an investment?
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:3, Interesting)
I partly agree. If they want to buy a bunch of drexel*.* domains they can do it. But if they were doing it to silence people's opinions on the university I would really have to question whether it would be a fit educational facility for my son.
how many schools out there purchase domains with no intent to use them Why does it matter how many others do it? What bearing does it have on your school?
See above.
And finally, should student tuition be used in this manner? How presumptuous to think you have any say in how your tuition is spent. You don't wonder aloud what McDonald's does with your cash after you buy a Happy Meal, do you? And if you don't like it, you don't give them the money.
I am not part of the McDonald's community for 4+ years. McDonald's will not solicit me for funds to build a new facility on campus. I do not go to Micky D's and get several thousand of dollars in debt to better myself and work towards a future.
I have the right, as a parent paying my child's tuition or as a student, to question where every cent goes. If the University is blowing $1000s to horde a bunch of frivolous domain names and that money could be spent on something even remotely useful I have a right to call foul on that decision. Being part of that experience is a good thing and will help a student when they leave for the "real world." You are seriously underselling a college education if all you think it means is paying some money and attending some classes.
I guess the real question is "Why do people post tempest-in-a-teapot stories to Slashdot?"
No. The real question is why do people who don't give a rip about the article waste their supposedly precious time and whine about the content.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:3, Insightful)
Censorship is always a touchy issue, but a private school is in fact allowed to practice it. The first amendment is protecting us from the government imposing censorship. A private company is still able to warn employees: either you stop saying that or you will be fired. A school is still able to tell students that they can't print something in a school funded paper.
An example: Chelsea Clinton attended Stanford from 1997 to 2001. I hear that Stanford takes a strict view on enforcing privacy for its students, and in this case they apparently enforced a ban on stories about Chelsea. Well, a student columnist was fired [mercurycenter.com] for writing a story about the ban the University had put in place. Doesn't sound very fair does it? But it's within their rights.
You can always bring pressure on the school, and I assume such has happened in the past. But I don't agree with arguments that a school should not be allowed to buy up domain names in an attempt to keep the most obvious avenues of criticism closed.
Jim Robinson
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:2)
The costs are irrelevant. It doesn't matter whether you're shelling out $5K a year, or you're spending $160/semester for a class at the local community college [cc.il.us], like I am. You still don't get to tell your service provider how to conduct business.
The exchange of money for goods or services is limited to that exchange and gets you no other entitlements.
Re:Why is this a question? (Score:3, Informative)
Having gone to a community college and a private institution I have to say that this viewpoint is by far too narrow. Whether you want to believe it or not, there are enormous differences between the experience you have at a community college and a university but none of those differences support your simplistic capitalistic arguement. Still, I'll argue it from your standpoint.
You are not paying tuition for just classes. You are paying tuition for an investment in your future. I'm paying for good study areas, a safe campus, good equipment, quality classrooms.
I'm paying for the chance to make good contacts, join organizations and for the chance to be an active participant in the community if I so desire. In return, the college gets the opprotunity to receive donations from me once I'm an alumnus. The more personal the experience is for the student the better the chance that the college will continue to receive funding from them.
That need to instill a sense of community within the individual requires giving the student a voice in how their money is spent. And if that voice is loud enough, it behooves the university to take it into account when they make their budget.
Whether one takes complete advantage of what is being offered is up to the student. To take a spin off of your McDonalds analogy, just because I buy a happy meal does not mean I have to eat all of my fries or finish my coke. But by the same token, you have no right to limit another's experience just because you think the only entitlement you are paying for is some books and a few hours in a classroom.
@ Virginia Tech (Score:5, Informative)
In addition, they were going after sites which used player likenesses and images (i.e. Michael Vick) because under the NCAA rules, student-athletes are not permitted to endorse a product or service. VT was apparently concerned in that case about NCAA sanctions related to student run web pages which used player images and likenesses to promote their site.
My point, it's not always the case that the school is trying oppress free speech, but rather protecting the use of their marks and are worrying about other factors, like the NCAA situation.
Still here at VT, students are not permitted to use the school logos on their web pages (see this page [vt.edu]).
Virginia, a UCITA state (Score:2)
I'm sure that your argument is basically sensible, and could be re-cast so as to not violate the aforesaid condition. But until it has been, I can't consider it valid. Acutally, I won't consider it. (Yes, this is a conscious choice, so won't is the proper term.)
It's true that I am being appearantly unreasonable, but the justification would be quite long winded. The summary is that vile laws should be discouraged lest they spread, and I am limited in the tools that I have available for discouragement. But I should use the ones that I have, and this is one of them.
Re:@ Virginia Tech (Score:1)
Lint
http://www.wkdu.org/
Satire (Score:2)
There has been some effective arguement made that the actual purpose of the education system is not innovative thinkers but a properly propagandized population.
make of it what you will.
Domains? One. (Score:4, Informative)
Reasons why they should stick to
1) It makes things less confusing. When you want to find your college on the web, you'll basically enter it's name and clip on
2) They're educational, not commercial. They're not an organization, really. That's like the government wanting all forms of they're domain, when they have
Re:Domains? One. (Score:2)
That's a good point. Actually it's a great point for very damned business out there. You only need ONE damned domain name. All your other machines, or whatever, can be pieces of that. Drexel should be happy they have an
Similarly, if I ever register my own domain, I certainly wouldn't want to be a
domain is psu.edu
www.psu.edu
red.crayola.psu.edu
green.crayola.psu.edu
.
.
ripsaw.otc.psu.edu
buzzsaw.otc.psu.edu
hacksaw.otc.psu.edu
.
.
*.engr.psu.edu
*.libraries.psu.edu
*.lias.psu.edu
psuvm.psu.edu (yeah, baby!)
etc.
Re:Domains? One. (Score:2)
toronto.edu [toronto.edu]
however they don't like to use it. Canadian universities don't seem to like it. I guess they like to be a little nationalistic and use the
utoronto.ca [utoronto.ca]
Witness also queensu.ca and mcgill.ca , although I don't think they have
Re:Domains? One. (Score:2)
Except that very few companies are geared up for the "international marketplace" in the first place, indeed plenty struggle to even sell to one country. There are
Maybe if they quoted their country (and country code of telephone numbers) and acepted more than one currency then a
Customs, duane (Score:2)
I live i Europe and i can tell you the whole
If i go look for something in the
As things stand, i actually avoid shopping in stores in the
As i see it, it's actually useless for the local stores to be in the
Re:Domains? One. (Score:2)
Tough, they should have moved. To somewhere outside the US... Or maybe asked why they attracted such critique in the first place.
My University should sue Universal Studios!!! (Score:3, Funny)
We should sue them, I bet they have deep pockets and could help me lower tuition costs.
[/Homer] In case you couldn't TELL I was being SARCASTIC [End Homer\]
--Joey
domain possession (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:domain possession (Score:3, Interesting)
I go to Drexel, btw. This topic has been a fairly big controversy in the Mathematics and CS department.
Similar situation (Score:1)
finding all owned domains? (Score:1, Interesting)
SUNY Stony Brook (Score:1)
Hmmm. (Score:4, Funny)
www.drexelshaft.com (Score:1, Funny)
A much easier way... (Score:3, Interesting)
Why sue a student, who has no money, when you could just threaten to take away his/her degree. I bet the person would cough it up real quick. It works for our shady University. Apparently "for the students" has different meaning in Wisconsin.
If you're not sure whether the University sensors student speech, read the school newspaper sometime. I hear people bitch about things they hate hear, yet I open the newspaper to see people regurgitating the same point of view as the school. Student run newspaper? To laugh!
What does their domains held matter? (Score:2, Interesting)
A better question would be how much IP space are they hoarding for use with those 300+ Domains. For example I believe MIT have a class A to them selves, no problem there in itself, we should have as much space as required, but IP's are a far more limited resource than names, and there just isn't the room to keep expanding in the current conditions. I doubt Drexel has anywhere like that number. IPv6 is not coming as fast as it should be and that should be more of a concern to us than names.
Let them have as many domains as they like so-long as they aren't stolen from the students, (or anyone else for that matter), with a LEGITIMATE use for them.
Brandeis University (Score:1)
Sometimes, there is no other choice (Score:3, Interesting)
However, the problem is less drastic over here in Germany because most university DNS entries usually have a UNI- prefix in the second to last component. Anyone registring such a domain who does not represent a university should know that he is heading for trouble, and it is rather unlikely that random collisions occur.
www.stevensishell.com (Score:1)
May 15, 2000 was the legal letter date (Score:3, Insightful)
Trademarks (Score:1)
I have been talking to the authorities for some time, about this matter.
The United States Department of Commerce and the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization know the solution.
Big business wish to abuse the powers of their trademarks and to deny your First Amendment Rights.
In 'real world' trademarks are identified by a symbol - why should it be any different in 'e-world'?
Instead of ® - use a TLD of
Please visit WIPO.org.uk [wipo.org.uk] for details.
Coward - go to WIPO.org.uk (Score:2)
Please try to engage your brain before replying.
With that much intellect, I am not suprised you keep your name hidden.
Re:Coward - go to WIPO.org.uk (Score:2)
The tradmark holder would get a 4th or even 5th (in the case of places such as the US, even 6th if smaller entities than states can issue tradmarks) thus you'd have tradmark.country.type.tm or trademark.state.us.type.tm
sucks domans (Score:1)
300 TLDs ? let's get serious (Score:1)
The question is: what has the University done wrong ?
and the answer is ... (Score:1)
EDU domain rules (Score:4, Informative)
Re:EDU domain rules (Score:2)
My School and Microsoft... (Score:1)
Guess what company owns http://www.mnsd.org/ .
Making matters worse, the teachers seem to think that their email addresses are located at the Microsoft domain.
My School (Score:1)
.com OK; 300+ not OK (Score:3, Insightful)
Should Drexel have 300+ domain names?
It does make a lot of sense for colleges to purchase their {collegename}.com site (if it is unowned), maintaining it as either a mirror of their
It doesn't matter that legally it isn't the College's responsibility--the College will lose the preception battle on this one, *particularly* if the offending site is about the college.
The answer is simple--buy the bloody site.
I don't feel that this resitricts the expression of students or anyone else; it's still easy to put up a site called {collegename}student.com or {collegename}sucks.com or whatever...
And I wouldn't worry about tuition dollars being used to make the purchase.
...Of course, any College that hasn't trademarked their name is also asking for a whole world of hurt.
they did not "buy" drexel.com (Score:3, Interesting)
or at least, that's not all of the story... if you followed what was happening, you'll know that they bullied the students who owned drexel.com out of the domain name, by threatening litigation.
one of the students who owned the name was mysteriously kicked out ! and so they finally settled, and sold the domain name, barely enough to pay their lawyer.
i knew the kids who owned the domain name, and there is more to this story, that they couldn't tell me.
it seems that drexel got angry when students who were displeased with the school and it's administration, discussed their dissatisfaction on the forum. i guess if someone types in drexel.com, they don't want you seeing anything about drexel's bad side. oh well.
i'm a student at drexel now, and finishing up my sentence there. i'd reccommend against anybody who is looking for colleges to even consider this place. they're just bastards, really. go somewhere else.
Gee, sounds like Drexel business as usual (Score:3, Informative)
Anyway, yeah, this is standard operating procedure for Drexel. They put me on probation for having an A record referencing a non-drexel domain pointing to my linux box (and turned off my ResNet access). I was wondering where Drexel.Com went...
A point of fact, however. Drexel Furniture -is- related to Drexel University. A. J. Drexel founded both. And Drexel Hill, PA was named such because AJ Drexel's family was from there. Etc, etc. Remember, Anthony J Drexel was a bigwig back then. Lotsa cash, power, etc.
-j (ujdisher@mcs account still lives, too!)
International TLDs? (Score:2)
I realise this is maybe slightly off topic, and I also realise that domains are registered on a first come, first served basis, and IANAL and all that, but I have noticed that the majority of sites in the US seem to use an international domain, as if the US is somehow entitled to these, while everyone else must use their own country codes. I don't mean to sound like a Usian-basher either, but I am curious.
Blame the greedy registrars (Score:2, Informative)
So if you're wondering why your school owns so many, maybe you ought to start telling your school administration to stop listening to the phonecalls from netsol
Re:Look, here's one that's still open... (Score:2)
3141,Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
US
Domain Name: DREXELSUCKS.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Billing Contact:
Drexel University (DREXEL-U) dunet-admin@NOC.DREXEL.EDU
Office of Computing
Services - Network Operations
Drexel
University
Philadelphia, PA 19104
tel: +1 215 895-5862
Fax- +1 215 895-6677
They're just not using it...
Does it still suck there? (Score:2, Insightful)
To keep this post somewhat on topic-- I think it's a real dick move on Drexel's part trying to sit on all those domains just so nobody else can use them for anything.
~Philly