It seems that Mark DeSantis, Republican candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh, has purchased pittsburghpolice.com. I was searching for crime statistics and clicked on the link to find myself at the Mark DeSantis for Mayor site. I know this is legal, but is it ethical? Misleading?
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
Josh Wander
Legal? Ethical? Taking a federally owned Homeland Security SUV on a joyride, now that’s questionable. But, buying a public domain name…what’s the question? Maybe he plans on using it after he’s elected for crime stats or the like…
Nov 4th, 2007
Desantis Hearts Santorum
Josh,
Legal, yes probably, but definitely not ethical. Is Desantis a Pittsburgh Police Officer? What if someone is searching for some real information about the Pittsburgh Police and all of a sudden a big picture of Desantis mug shows up. It is unethical. The SUV thing.. come on. Grow up. Luke explained what happened and as soon as he found out he stopped using it. Luckily that’s a non issue to Pittsburgh voters and makes you Republicans look petty.
Now I know the FOP endorsed Desantis (very sketchy that two people get too chose for many on this) but does the Pittsburgh Police really want their name on a website pointing to a politician? Even if i was a supporter I would think this is just wrong.
I ask this. Will Desantis give this domain to the Pittsburgh Police after the election win or lose?
Seems the domain was purchased in 2002. Was Desantis even in Pittsburgh in 02? was he thinking of running then? Also seems it was changed in OCT of this year. So the Domain name wasn’t public? Also, this is registered under a private name and private information. If Desantis doesn’t think this is a big deal that he is doing this, make the domain registration information public.
Another thing, the title of the PittsburghPolice.com website is “Police Bureau” not what is on his “official site”, it says “Mark Desantis for Mayor of Pittsburgh.” I think whomever owned this domain originally and purchased it legally and ethically in 2002, is a Desantis supporter and sold it to him. Wonder how much Desantis Paid for it? So Desantis just didn’t go and buy a public domain name. Period.
here is the WHOIS info on the domain name.
WHOIS information for: pittsburghpolice.com:
[whois.godaddy.com]
The data contained in GoDaddy.com, Inc.’s WhoIs database,
while believed by the company to be reliable, is provided “as is”
with no guarantee or warranties regarding its accuracy. This
information is provided for the sole purpose of assisting you
in obtaining information about domain name registration records.
Any use of this data for any other purpose is expressly forbidden without the prior written
permission of GoDaddy.com, Inc. By submitting an inquiry,
you agree to these terms of usage and limitations of warranty. In particular,
you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible,
dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any
purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and
and solicitations of any kind, including spam. You further agree
not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic
processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose,
including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.
Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified
in the “registrant” field. In most cases, GoDaddy.com, Inc.
is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.
Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: PITTSBURGHPOLICE.COM
Created on: 17-Mar-02
Expires on: 17-Mar-08
Last Updated on: 16-Oct-07
Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration PITTSBURGHPOLICE.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599
Technical Contact:
Private, Registration PITTSBURGHPOLICE.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599
Domain servers in listed order:
NS11.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS12.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
You so lost this argument!
Nov 4th, 2007
I heart internet tough guys
So this another failed attack in the recent Ravenstahl campaign brain farts.
Your argument is as poor as the recent flyers trying to frame DeSantis as George Bush. Why didn’t you just draw horns on him as well?
It is an insult to the intelligence of Pittsburgh and it’s residents, but what else can I expect from a campaign that gets caught trying to rig an online poll. Rookies, tisk tisk.
1) No one finds a website on domain name alone. So even if Mark did buy pittsburghpolice.com, if someone were to search for “Pittsburgh police” the website is not currently in the first 100 results in Google. Oh yeah and only 31 people a day search for ‘Pittsburgh Police.” So… I’ll assume your math is better than your fact checking, and I don’t really need to explain that no one is going to find it.
2) Congrats, you swiped a domain from GoDaddy.com and think you’re clever. You are the latest and greatest person who grew a set when they found out on the internet you can’t get a black eye.
What you should really be worried about is: http://www.didnt-Luke-push-a-cop.com is still available. Oh, that might explain why the FOP didn’t want to endorse him as well.
3) I think your time would be better spent brainstorming damage control tactics for using tax money for joyrides or the fact that Luke enjoys being a celebrity more than he does being a mayor.
4) Gee really, the domain is registered under private information? So wouldn’t that mean there is just as much of a chance you registered it as Mark?
Your desperation stinks, and I’m sick of having to smell it. You’re scared, I understand, I would be to.
I’ve been very nice to you guys, but if you want to play, we can play. All you have to do is respond to this post.
Nov 4th, 2007
I heart internet tough guys
Oh my! http://www.pittsburghpolice.com, is an iframe, you didn’t even redirect the domain… you guys really are rookies.
Nov 4th, 2007
AMB
Dear IHITG:
I’m a little confused about who you are referring to with these posts so I’m not sure how to respond. Anyone would admit that purchasing a domain name that has absolutely no relation or affiliation to your campaign or cause is suspect. That’s all I said and that’s all I meant. I have never mentioned the mayoral race or DeSantis here before and I may not again. Politics isn’t the mainstay of this blog.
I can’t control Desantis Hearts Santorum or what she/he thinks. I respect his/her opinion as I respect yours. You can battle it out using this as a forum, but please refrain from categorizing myself or other frequent contributers to this site as “desperate” or “scared”. Reserve your ire for the political websites that will actually care to engage you.
AMB
Nov 4th, 2007
Reply to “Deceptive Domain”