MemeMachineGo!

Further update on the sleazy domain name registration story:

Iambic is unregistering the datebk4.com and datebk5.com domains, a small triumph for the public successfully pressuring a company to do the right thing. (It remains the case that registered customers of their who questioned their actions on their support forums have been banned.)

The viewpoint of a vocal minority in the discussion of the subject at Palminfocenter and Metafilter troubles me. Basically, they were disinterested in any consideration of ethics beyond legality. Their perspective: Pimlico was some combination of lazy or stupid in not specifically anticipating a competitor pulling a sleazy stunt and taking the necessary steps to head it off in advance — they deserved to have their product's name hijacked. That it's illegitimate to question whether Iambic should have done this; they could and that's all that matters.

This is the same basic attitude I discussed in How many Earths?, and I am gravely concerned by its popularity.