Companies Monitor Your Comments

Subscribe to Elliot's BlogI read Andrew’s post regarding the ISO.mobi WIPO decision and I think people who post domain sales or commentary in public forums, domain blogs or other public venues should take notice. While many people think big companies won’t notice what is said about them in small niche forums, almost all companies closely monitor their trademarks and intellectual property online.

Any time someone mentions something about a company in a public venue, their post or site will probably be seen by that company, triggered by certain keywords or acronyms.   Not only is it a way for people to ensure a blog post or article is viewed by the intended audience, but it’s also a way to attract unwanted attention. This pertains to people who are utilizing their First Amendment right to give their opinion about a company, and it also pertains to people who are selling trademark-related domain names or potentially infringing domain names.

In addition to this, people should also realize that it’s pretty simple for a company to track a person’s online presence. A simple DomainTools registrant report will show many of the publicly maintained domain names owned by a person. A company could then search Google for these domain names, and if they find one that the person listed on a domain forum at any point, the company now knows that person’s nickname. If they are investigating a TM domain name, they can search that person’s posting history on the forum to see if that person has ever listed a TM domain for sale. If this person has, they can claim that the person has a history of cybersquatting.   It can be as easy as that.

When I started at AIG just after the Spitzer investigation, people were always cautious about sending emails, which can easily be tracked back to the sender and remain a perpetual paper trail.   The saying was that if you would be embarrassed to see an email you sent posted on the cover of the New York Times, you shouldn’t send it. Likewise, you should be cautious about what you post in public or private forums. Everything can be tracked back to you and will be used against you.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

2 COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recent Posts

Atom.com Brings Expert Review Process in House

1
For as long as I’ve known the platform, Atom.com has relied on an “Expert Review Process” to evaluate domain names submitted by prospective sellers....

Google Change Should Reinforce .com Dominance

0
Google has operated its search engine on many different domain names. Of course, Google.com is the company’s primary domain name and the one that...

Don’t Delay Registering Trending Domain Names

4
I regularly see people discuss the possibility of domain registrar front running. In fact, I've written about this topic before. By and large, I...

ICA Webinar on Transfer Lock Changes

4
Transfer lock policies can differ at each domain registrar. Depending on the situation and domain name status, some locks are required by ICANN and...

Domain Count is an Important Metric

1
I have been using DomainLeads.com on a regular basis since it was introduced last year. I use the tool to see how many domain...