SNL registers domain they spoofed

[chadmg]

So I was watching Saturday Night Live tonight and they had a skit for cheapkids.net where they sold child immunizations for like 49 cents. So of course I did a whois on the domain and someone over at NBC registered the domain 2 weeks ago.

I wonder if they did it for profit or to protect themselves. If someone picked up the domain and put some dirty pictures on it, it might look bad.

[microcars]

I'm going to made an educated guess and say their legal dept makes them do this.

if they don't make sure they have control over the domain they are "spoofing", then they open themselves up to someone else registering it and using any traffic generated to show pr0n or whatever, or maybe ads for another network (god forbid!)

also- making sure you have control over that domain ensures you don't slander a "real" website and its content. I just went to the domain you mentioned and it just has the usual placeholder for register.com

SNL should be creating some boilerplate page that links back to the show's site when you go to something like this. But they don't. oh well. I guess the Internet is just for yuks.

[xbase234]

The classic SNL domain skit is about the serious investment brokerage company that built their website at www.clown-pen1s.fart, "because all the good names were taken".

[novice]

They did it again this past Saturday, the 12th. A skit about dating with me-harmony.com. Same whois info.

[xbase234]

saw that one too - good to see that NCB is getting proactive about forecasting potential traffic. This is a great lesson in online media for the traditional media folks (that offline drives online, and that online should be integrated into the overall plan).

[Luddite]

They did this in at least one other instance - spoofing an investment firm. They forwarded the name to their site.

[edited by: tedster at 7:27 pm (utc) on Mar. 14, 2005]
[edit reason] remove specifics [/edit]