Shady domains using similar names to established, larger sites are nothing new- web users often find themselves navigating into unfamiliar waters due to a simple typo, and many of the sites capitalizing on this habit are not exactly above board.
Not surprising, the website Twiter.com hosts content that is visually similar to Twitter, and could ostensibly attract less-savvy web users who may not be fully familiar with the Twitter interface. Also unsurprising is the fact that Twitter has filed a case with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the deception.
When you open Twiter.com, nothing majorly nefarious happens to your computer. But the site attempts to collect personal information. After answering three simple questions, Twiter prompts you to select from a bevy of prizes, including a MacBook Air and an iPad and asks for your email and phone number. Ostensibly, after this, they spam the hell out of you.
Twitter has pursued similar miscreants in the past, according to Fusible :
The only other case filed to date by Twitter Inc with WIPO involved twittersearch.com back in 2010, a domain dispute that wasn’t decided by WIPO, but the company still was successful in having the name transferred. As I reported in February, though no decision had been officially announced by WIPO and the case was cancelled, the registrant of twittersearch.com is now Twitter, Inc.
The case is still active, so the outcome is pending. Should people be prevented from this kind of behavior, or do you think the web is a bit more caveat emptor ?
