Despicable Squatters Reserve the Domain Names of those Killed in VA Tech Shootings

Garry Conn reported on his blog this morning that domain cybersquatters are reserving the names of the people killed in the Virginia Tech shooting incident, as well as the names of their family members. The squatters then plaster ads all over the pages and offer to sell them back to the family members at exhorbanent prices.

According to Conn, Joseph Parker of Christiansburg, Virginia reserved the name of the Virginia Tech gunman, Cho Seung-Hui. Upon further investigation it appears that the domain names of many of the victims have also been reserved. The owner(s) of those pages are attempting to make money with advertisements on the sites. In addition they are attempting to sell some of the sites to anyone who is interested.

This is a developing story, so check back to Conn’s website for breaking news on it. He is currently assembling a list of the victims names who have had their online identities stolen. It is sick and disgusting that someone would do this after a tragedy of this magnitude, and anyone who is caught doing it should be flamed all over the web for doing so.