For more than 24 hours beginning Sunday morning, Secretary of State Betty Ireland's official Web site was seized by a Canadian-based Internet company, the office confirmed Monday.
For more than 24 hours beginning Sunday morning, Secretary of State Betty Ireland's official Web site was seized by a Canadian-based Internet company, the office confirmed Monday.
The domain name registration for the secretary of state's Web site expired at midnight on Sunday. Apparently within moments, Toronto-based Innerwise, which registers domain names through its ItsYourDomain.com Web site, had taken control of the site.
By Sunday morning, visitors to www.wvsos.com no longer saw the secretary of state's Web site, featuring links to the office's elections, business and administrative law sections.
Instead, it was replaced by a Web page featuring such seemingly election-related links as: "Presidential elections, "Register to vote on-line," "Virginia secretary of state," "How to vote" and "West Virginia attorney," among others.
The links provided lists of various retail and commercial Web sites, including a sign company that produces campaign signs, a site offering presidential collectibles and souvenirs and a site selling historic campaign buttons.
Other posted sites included campaign pages for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Meanwhile, clicking on "West Virginia attorney" accessed a list of Web sites for personal injury lawyers.
Spokeswoman Sarah Bailey said the office apparently fell victim to a common practice among domain name providers.
There are domain companies that automatically monitor Web site registrations, and seize them when they come available. In turn, they charge the true owner a fee to regain the site, she said.
"In this case, the fee was $14.95," she said. She said the secretary of state's office became aware of the problem Sunday, and immediately renewed the domain registration.
However, each of hundreds of Internet service providers had to switch the Web address back to the proper domain, with most ISPs scanning and updating domain changes overnight.
Most visitors to the secretary of state's Web address were being directed to the correct site by midday Monday.
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 348-1220.
For more than 24 hours beginning Sunday morning, Secretary of State Betty Ireland's official Web site was seized by a Canadian-based Internet company, the office confirmed Monday.
The domain name registration for the secretary of state's Web site expired at midnight on Sunday. Apparently within moments, Toronto-based Innerwise, which registers domain names through its ItsYourDomain.com Web site, had taken control of the site.
By Sunday morning, visitors to www.wvsos.com no longer saw the secretary of state's Web site, featuring links to the office's elections, business and administrative law sections.
Instead, it was replaced by a Web page featuring such seemingly election-related links as: "Presidential elections, "Register to vote on-line," "Virginia secretary of state," "How to vote" and "West Virginia attorney," among others.
The links provided lists of various retail and commercial Web sites, including a sign company that produces campaign signs, a site offering presidential collectibles and souvenirs and a site selling historic campaign buttons.
Other posted sites included campaign pages for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Meanwhile, clicking on "West Virginia attorney" accessed a list of Web sites for personal injury lawyers.
Spokeswoman Sarah Bailey said the office apparently fell victim to a common practice among domain name providers.
There are domain companies that automatically monitor Web site registrations, and seize them when they come available. In turn, they charge the true owner a fee to regain the site, she said.
"In this case, the fee was $14.95," she said. She said the secretary of state's office became aware of the problem Sunday, and immediately renewed the domain registration.
However, each of hundreds of Internet service providers had to switch the Web address back to the proper domain, with most ISPs scanning and updating domain changes overnight.
Most visitors to the secretary of state's Web address were being directed to the correct site by midday Monday.
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 348-1220.
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