How misspellings make money.
By the end of 2007, at least 8,000 URLs using the word "iphone" will be registered.
Deep in the virtual space of the Internet some people make real money with speculations on misspellings. McAfee (not McAffee or McAfie) has published a very interesting article about the art and business of Typo-Squatting.
Definition and Trend
Typo-squatting, the practice of registering domains using common misspellings of popular brands, products and people in order to profit from consumer typing errors, is increasing dramatically.
Targets
The five most highly squatted categories are game sites (14.0%), airlines (11.4%), main stream media company sites (10.8%), adult sites (10.2%) and technology and Web 2.0 related sites (9.6%).
Some facts
Cybersquatting cases filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) arbitration system increased 20% in 2005 and another 25% in 2006.
Microsoft says that “on an average day more than 2,000 domain names are registered that contain Microsoft trademark terms.”
According to the US Government Accounting Office, at least 8.65% of all domain names are registered with false or incomplete Whois information, a practice that makes domain squatting easier.
More recently, in September 2007, the managers of the .eu top level domain suspended 10,000 domains registered by a Chinese woman who was accused of being a cyber-squatter.
Frightening
Children’s sites are highly targeted by typo squatters. The average for the category is 8.4% and 24 of the top most squatted sites are children’s properties for kids 12 and under. Add in sites like MySpace and Miniclip and more than 60 of the top most squatted sites are properties that appeal to the 18 and under demographic.
Very interesting article about one of the not so well known Internet industries.
What’s In A Name: The State of Typo-Squatting 2007
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