After September 11th, the companies launched a spam campaign in
the US with subject lines which read, "Be Patriotic! Register .USA
Domains." The text of the e-mail read:
"The latest domain name extension has
arrived .USA!!! It's the fresh, new, exciting web address that is
taking the world by storm. Who wants to be .com when you can now be
.USA. Register your .USA domain name today exclusively at:
http://www.dotusa.com."
The hyperlink connected consumers to a web site where they were
offered the advertised domain names for $59 each.
The FTC alleges that the companies are not accredited domain
name registrars, that the ".usa" domain names are not usable on the
internet, and that they probably never will be useable. In papers
filed with the court, the agency said that many consumers had
purchased multiple bogus domain names, and the defendants likely
pocketed more than $1 million from their illegal scheme in less
than a year.
The FTC alleges that the companies violated federal law by
failing to disclose on their Web sites that the domain names they
were selling were not useable on the internet, and by sending the
deceptive spam. The FTC has asked the court to permanently bar the
operation from deceptively selling the domain names and to order
consumer redress.
