Although freedom is one of the greatest benefits that resulted from the Internet, it also displays some inconveniences, like the fact that anybody can buy a “.com” domain. Scammers only need to spend US$ 10 to create an address that can imitate that of a bank, a clothing line or a car dealership, in a manner such to convince someone to purchase a fake product or to provide personal data.
Every day, almost 1,000 Americans report cases of identity theft before the Federal Trade Commission of the United States, and approximately 750 individuals report having been cheated by an impostor.
This is partly why hundreds of companies, from Google to Walmart, have paid US$ 185,000 to request the rights of web domains that include their names, “.google” and “.walmart”.
The companies that purchase this first category self-titled domains from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), will, in theory, be able to strictly limit the creation of web pages related to them. According to the ICANN, as of this date, of the 1,930 requests, 534 companies have requested domains that include their own brands.