Identity Online

I was recently told that “private property” was the religion of the United States. But what qualifies as private property? In this digital era, Identity Theft has become a wide spread problem, putting a greater emphasis on the importance of our identity. And our name is clearly part of our identity. The digital era has also created an emphasis on also creating an online persona or “identity”, which may include a personal website with a personalized domain name. I think that cybersquatting, directly registering a person’s name as a domain name for profit, should be illegal because it is praying on a person’s identity. However, non commercial endeavors, like slight changes in popular domain names for the sake of political or social commentary, should be legal because they are not for profit. Motive should be what determines whether a “cybersquatter” is practicing within the law or doing something illegal. This will allow for activists to get there word out to the masses and practice their first amendment, and yet prevent cybersquatters from praying on other’s identities.