News
Squatters love iPhone
Stuart O'Brien Sep 27 2007, 10:45am
Apple's iPhone is apparently being targeted by 'cybersquatters' in the UK.
The FT reports this morning that so-called cybersquatters - opportunists who register variations of popular web addresses in order to mislead people and make a quick buck - had taken up residence at www.ukiphone.co.uk and www.o2iphone.co.uk.
By 10.30am, however, the former was already redirecting visitors to www.iphonessuck.com forums pages and the latter had been taken down (though we've also found a www.02iphone.co.uk 'squatter').
Cybersquatting is not illegal.
The squatters themselves usually make money by posting dozens of 'pay-per-click' advertisements on the pages.
The FT article quotes Jonathan Robinson, chief operating officer at NetNames, who said: "The iPhone launch is one of the biggest product launches of 2007 and has been just as eagerly anticipated by cybersquatters as it has by consumers. Cybersquatters have spent a great deal of time over the past few months securing as many iPhone and operator domain name combinations as possible."
