Even when the university of akron is closed for break, I still keep up with some of the email that comes into the webmaster@uakron.edu account since not everyone that tries to contact us would realize we’re closed. Most of this is pretty routine but the day after break started, we got a note from the Chinese Domain Registrar.
A domain is a collection of internet addresses – like uakron.edu or yahoo.com – that are managed by a central governing body. So, if you type in www.uakron.edu your browser knows where to go on the internet.
The note said that a company in China was trying to register uakron.cn, uakron.com.cn and several variations on that – along with the internet keyword of “uakron”. The registrar noted that UA existed and decided to check in with us to see if this was legit before setting it up.
Since this wasn’t close to being legit, I quickly responded with a polite but firm negation – and carboned our legal department. I included the dates we were going to be closed for break and a note that the lawyers would be back in touch with a more official response.
And then I waited and hoped it was enough.
If this actually goes through, then anyone in China – particularly prospective students – that searched on “uakron” would end up at this company’s site instead of at our site.
Shady.
When we got back from break, I updated my boss and a co-worker that oversees the UA brand. One of the lawyers emailed me back and said that he would look into it. The next day, I got a note from the Chinese company that basically said:
“Yeah, the registrar said we should pick a different name, but we really want to use this one so we will anyway,”
So, I replied to this as well – politely, but firmly – that “no” they were not authorized to do that. I carboned everyone on that note – including the Chinese Registrar guy (who’s my hero at this point for trying to do the right thing).
And now we wait again.
I’m glad I was keeping an eye on things and I’m hoping we can really get this stopped before it gets implemented – much easier than trying to undo it.
Think I need to update my business cards to add “Defender of the Internet”. Or at least, “Designated Internet Panic Response Coordinator”.