Why Online Businesses Should No Longer Use the Dot Com (.com) Domain

Following the FBI confiscation (also known as theft) of dot com domains from PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker in April of 2011, online businesses should take heed: your dot com domain name is not safe.

The theft of domain names is not the only attack on online businesses that the FBI and the U.S. States have perpetrated and continue to perpetrate. e-gold.com, moneybookers.com, goldage.net, and many others fell victim one way or another to the U.S.A money laundering laws, which are used as tools to make sure that U.S. and non-U.S. companies collect taxes or do not compete with land-based businesses that collect taxes for the U.S.A.

An online company's business reputation, trademarks, and traffic depend on its domain name. Millions if not billions of dollars are invested into a brand that includes a domain name. The fact that the U.S.A can take it at will, even if the business is based outside of the U.S.A, is not only preposterous, but the height of hubris, which is symptomatic of the U.S.A. America is saying that every business has to follow American laws even if the business is not in America.

This kind of theft of domain names is a troubling trend that not only makes doing business in America not safe, but also cheapens the value of the dot com domain name brand.

If you run an online business, it is a good time to think about registering a domain name that falls outside of the jurisdiction of the U.S.A.