Verizon Steals PoliBlog Name ***UPDATE***
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James Joyner | Friday, December 15, 2006 |
The folks at Verizon have persisted in operating a not-very-good blog by the name “PoliBlog.” This, despite the fact that Steven Taylor has been running a good blog named “PoliBlog” since February 2003; is the #1, #2, and #3 search on Google for PoliBlog; is almost the exclusive subject for Technorati posts mentioning “PoliBlog;” 1731 links vs. their 149 (many of which are on this controversy); and has sent them numerous messages on his prior claim to the name PoliBlog as a political blog.
More here.
UPDATE: Verizon has relented and agreed to change its name to “Policy Blog.” Taylor observes, “While their letter was written in response to my letter of 11/21/06, it strikes me as unlikely that it is coincidence that it comes just as the issue started to receive Blogospheric attention as of last night and into today.” Indeed, especially since they’ve repeatedly rebuffed previous attempts to resolve the issue.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Just another reason why net neutrality could be an issue...whats to stop them from appropriating anything they like?
I'm not sure how this relates to net neutrality? Domain registration is a separate issue altogether and what one names a website is hardly something that an ISP would control.
Ah, but if the ISP in question decides to 'favor' (or even subtly re-direct) traffic going to their similarly-named knock-off site?
Just like the RIAA goes after low-level individual file traders to avoid a protracted legal fight from a sizeable organization, ISPs could do things like this all day to small individual bloggers without the means to sue them back, couldn't they?
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