The ease by which domain names may be registered and pass out of registration has led to the presence of everything from so-called "Cyber Squatters" to companies and software dedicated to nothing but the monitoring of which domains are in use, and why, and by whom. The reasoning behind this is obvious: a good domain name is necessary to attract and retain customers, and there are only so many memorable domain names out there.
Additionally, many people with similar domain names often end up with unwanted cross traffic. The most famous instance of this was when a pipe fitting company received many more visits than their servers could handle due to the fact that their web site was at utube.com, which many people visited by mistake when heading towards youtube.com.
Many of these near-misses are, not so benign, however, and many popular sites are surrounded by copycats using different domains such as example.org or example.net instead of example.com or example.co.uk in order to snare unwary visitors and install malware or steal credit card numbers.
This, combined with the expense and difficulty
Additionally, many people with similar domain names often end up with unwanted cross traffic. The most famous instance of this was when a pipe fitting company received many more visits than their servers could handle due to the fact that their web site was at utube.com, which many people visited by mistake when heading towards youtube.com.
Many of these near-misses are, not so benign, however, and many popular sites are surrounded by copycats using different domains such as example.org or example.net instead of example.com or example.co.uk in order to snare unwary visitors and install malware or steal credit card numbers.
This, combined with the expense and difficulty
