INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook today announced it has filed suit in California against domain registrar OnlineNIC and its proxy service ID Shield for registering
domain names that pretend to be associated with Facebook, like www-facebook-login.com or facebook-mails.com, for example
Facebook says these domains are intentionally designed to mislead and confuse end users, who believe they&re interacting with
Facebook.
These fake domains are also often associated with malicious activity, like phishing.
While some who register such domains hope to
eventually sell them back to Facebook at a marked-up price, earning a profit, others have worse intentions
And with the launch of Facebook own cryptocurrency, Libra, a number of new domain cybersquatters have emerged
Facebook was recently able to take down some of these, like facebooktoken.org and ico-facebook.org, one of which had already started
collecting personal information from visitors by falsely touting a Facebook ICO.
Facebooks& new lawsuit, however, focuses specifically on
OnlineNIC, which Facebook says has a history of allowing cybersquatters to register domains with its privacy/proxy service, ID Shield
The suit alleges that the registered domains, like hackingfacebook.net, are being used for malicious activity, including &phishing and
hosting websites that purported to sell hacking tools.&
The suit also references some 20 other domain names that are confusingly similar to
Facebook and Instagram trademarks, it says.
OnlineNIC has been sued before for allowing this sort of activity, including by Verizon,
Yahoo, Microsoft and others
In the case of Verizon (disclosure: TechCrunch parent), OnlineNIC was found liable for registering more than 600 domain names similar to
Verizon trademark, and the courts awarded $33.15 million in damages as a result, Facebook filing states.
Facebook is asking for a permanent
injunction against OnlineNIC activity, as well as damages.
The company says it took this issue to the courts because OnlineNIC has not been
responsive to its concerns
Facebook today proactively reports instances of abuse with domain name registrars and their privacy/proxy services, and often works with
them to take down malicious domains
But the issue is widespread — there are tens of millions of domain names registered through these services today
Some of these businesses are not reputable, however
Some, like OnlineNIC, will not investigate or even respond to Facebook abuse reports.
The news of the lawsuit was previously reported by
Cnet and other domain name news sources, based on courthouse filings.
Attorney David J
Steele, who previously won the $33 million judgement for Verizon, is representing Facebook in the case.
&By mentioning our apps and services
in the domain names, OnlineNIC and ID Shield intended to make them appear legitimate and confuse people
This activity is known as cybersquatting and OnlineNIC has a history of this behavior,& writes Facebook, in an announcement
&This lawsuit is one more step in our ongoing efforts to protect people safety and privacy,& it says.
OnlineNIC has been asked for comment
and we&ll update if it responds.
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