A politician in Hawaii has bullied a political activist into giving up his domain name.
In May I wrote about a law New York was trying to pass that would protect politicians’ names as domain names. In retrospect, the New York law was not so harsh: it would only punish someone who registered a politican’s domain name with the sole purpose of selling it. Although I don’t think states should regulate domain names, the New York law was rather narrow.
Imagine my surprise today to see that a blogger in Hawaii gave up domain names related to Hawaii state Rep. Bev Harbin. Harbin sent two letters threatening civil lawsuits if blogger Jon Asato didn’t agree to stop using BevHarbin.com and BeverlyHarbin.com. Asato couldn’t afford to defend himself so he gave in.
It has become established precedent in UDRP decisions that celebrity names are protected but politicians domains aren’t.
Harbin threatened Asato using a Hawaii law passed in 2001 that was stronger than the US Congress’ anti-cybersquatting law. The Hawaii law was more restrictive than the US law because it didn’t require complainants to show that a domain was used for profit. According to a Hawaii House report at the time:
“A cybersquatter could cause harm without intending to profit by placing a person’s name on the Internet, along with information that could tarnish or disparage the person.”
Of course, this law was passed by legislators with the sole purpose of protecting themselves. The law flies in the face of first amendment rights. Unfortunately, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii couldn’t take Asato’s case because its docket was full at the time. It’s a shame Asato’s story didn’t make it to the domain name community and other first amendment proponents earlier, as I’m sure the community would have stepped in to assist him.
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