John Ferber's Dirty Little Domain Secret

Behind the scenes of the internet, there's a dirty little secret. Some people are making millions. They buy and sell domain names. They've been doing it since the internet first came to the publics attention. Sounds like a great idea. Nothing wrong with that, right? Many are doing it legitimately, but others are doing it on the backs of small internet shops and business owners. You've probably heard of cybersquatting.

In the early years of the internet, cybersquatters were vilified. They would buy domains with business names or common misspellings and hold them, asking ridiculous prices from those who needed them - who could legitimately use them. Famous cases abound. Big companies, like Microsoft and Yahoo!, won disputes over variations of their domain/business names, while smaller companies without their resources have gone out of business over purposefully misdirected traffic.

Cybersquatting used to be a bad thing. Now, the squatters have taken enough of the internet to publicize themselves as money-making geniuses. They use the domain names - hundreds of them - that they own to make fake sites about domain information and news. Their fake sites sing their praises. They are millionaires, philanthropist, marketing geniuses. Yes, it is brilliant marketing. They fill search results with how wonderful they are, to prevent the truth from showing up. They don't want you to find the links about who they really are - wolves in sheeps clothing.

One of the top domain name sellers is John Ferber with Domain Holdings, LLC. He was even featured on ABC's Secret Millionaire. Notice the word 'secret' right there in the title of the show? The secret is, he and his girlfriend, Jenna Wehner, help cybersquatters sell off the domain names they're squatting.

They've made their millions with legitimate domain name sales, but they're also making money on the backs of business owners whose domain names squatters have purchased. John Ferber, his company, and Jenna Wehner, his girlfriend, are helping cybersquatters collect ransom - thousands of times the original cost of a domain - from business owners trying to stop misdirection of their customers/business.

Is that genius or evil?

Getting in on the ground floor of domain names - buying names to resell for a profit - there's nothing wrong with that. Generic domain names are fair game.

Buying domain names of current businesses for the sole purpose of holding that name hostage to force the business owner to pay you thousands, is the very definition of cybersquatting.

ABC pats John Ferber on the back. Kudos on the MicroGiving business! He's helping others with micro amounts of cash, while the cybersquatters he, his company, and his girlfriend, represent empty the pockets of small businesses - costing business owners thousands in disputes, lost business and legal fees - knowing they don't have the money to fight his million dollar corporation. All the while, his company makes thousands of fake sites with articles about what a great and wonderful man he is.

Maybe he is a marketing genius?