Ever tried to go to a web site that you know, and end up at a page of links instead? Then you look at your url and realize that you have typed “goggle” instead of “google”?

If so, you are already familiar with the practice of “typosquatting,” even if you didn’t know it was called that and didn’t think much about it.

Most “typosquatted” domains are relatively harmless and easily distinguishable from the site you intended to visit. However many web marketers use typosquatting specifically to market pornography sites to children. The practice was engineered and ruthlessly executed by a man named John Zuccarini, who eventually served time in prison for his actions, and spurred the U.S. Congress to create and pass the “Truth in Domain Names Act” of 2003.

Zuccarini specifically targeted sites like hotwheels.com, homestarrunner.com, and cartoonnetwork.com, buying common misspellings of the domains and using them to host hardcore pornography sites. Not only that, Zuccarini used the practice known as “mousetrapping,” where the user’s attempts to navigate away from the page were thwarted by technical tricks. When a user clicked on the “X” button to close the page, it simply opened more pornographic sites.

By the time of his arrest in 2003, Zuccarini had 5500 domains registered. He was the first person arrested under the “Truth in Domain Names Act” of 2003, passed specifically to address the concerns and issues he had raised by typosquatting children’s sites.

Though the practice is now banned by federal law, it remains fairly easy for marketers to buy domain names and set up pornographic sites. One of our customers reported that the site webkinz.com had been typosquatted a few years ago, after the legislation was passed. Unfortunately the customer did not have filtering software installed at the time, and the customer’s young child was exposed to pornography.

Our Safe Eyes software is server-based, meaning that any site a child attempts to access is run through our servers at lightning-fast speed and checked for content. If any site has objectionable material under any of the categories you choose to block, the site will not be shown, whether it is a known pornography site or a fly-by-night typosquat domain.

Filed under: Internet Safety News