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Government wrests URLs from atheist cybersquatter
7/22/2003
The federal government has won a challenge to claim ownership of a series of dot-ca names originally registered by a British Columbia man who calls himself Darwin Bedford and uses the domain names to point to a number of Web sites promoting atheism and other causes.
David Bedford of Burnaby, B.C. no longer has the right to use a series of dot-ca domain names such as statscanada.ca and governmentofcanada.ca, but almost two months after the ruling he continues to have use of those names and seven others to direct people to various sites, including atheists.net.
The 54-year-old Bedford, who has a company called Abundance Computer Consulting and also goes by the name Darwin Bedford on his Web site, said he originally purchased the domain names with the intention of selling them back to the government – asking $300 a piece – when it went to arbitration. He said he goes by Darwin on his Web site because David "was not unique enough" and it is also the name of the evolutionist, Charles Darwin.
"I started using them for my activism – I'm an atheist activist, environmentalist and non-smoking activist. But because of what I had on the Web sites it was quite controversial, the government saw me as a squeaky wheel and took the names away from me," said Bedford.
Bedford's time may be running out. The decision was handed down May 27 by a three-member panel acting under the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) domain name dispute resolution policy and Bedford has use for 60 days after the ruling. During that time he can challenge the decision in court, but he said he can't afford the legal fees.
The order indicates nine names registered by Bedford, including theweatheroffice.ca, publicworkscanada.ca, gouvernementducanada.ca, ecgc.ca, transportcanada.ca and others be transferred to the government. It is up to CIRA to facilitate the transfer of the domain names.
Toronto lawyer Javad Heydary, a managing partner at Heydary Hamilton LLP, said he expects challenges to dot-ca names will increase in the near future.
More details at: http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&lid=1&sid=52954
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