In the May 2000 Issue
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We have all read there is money to be made out of the Internet. Indeed by taking a small percentage of the cost of every phone call, for example, some companies can offer free services to their users. There are other similar schemes that do not directly affect us as individuals. Unfortunately some companies seem to think that they can make money out of us directly. It has recently come to my notice that a company has been set up that registered 15,000 village names for the Internet. They claim that they only intended to sell the names of 150 villages. Every name that has been registered by this company, that I have been able to find, is listed as for sale! They obviously hoped that organisations like the Parish Council, or individuals like myself, would pay them for the privilege of using the name of their village on the Internet! Luckily there was such an outcry that the idea of the sale was dropped. In their literature, published on the Internet, they now plan to register our surnames! "Webhound has deliberately registered a large number of Surname domains as .COM version" Perhaps these will be up for sale at some extortionate rate, until we protest. The Internet is available to anyone with a computer and a modem, for a very small - if any - charge. We regularly hear of the misuse of the Internet in crime, pornography etc. These are a very, very small part of the Internet, and are not, despite the newspaper reports, easy to access. The bulk of the information on the Internet is provided free and free to access. Obviously some companies have advertisements on the Internet - you don't have to look at them! This freedom is one of the main strengths of the Internet, surely we would not want, for example, the government controlling every thing we read and look at? The company that wishes to control our village names feels that: "We firmly believe that the public will be better served by the websites being managed by a company rather than individuals " In other words, they can get some advertising revenue from anyone interested in Gamlingay! Our own village Web-site is free to all of you. Yes, it does cost me a quite a lot to provide this facility, but I do not begrudge the village this expense, or the many hours of work maintaining and adding new pages to the site. That anyone can even consider thinking of charging me to use our village name on the Internet is a disgrace. Luckily this has been squashed, but watch out, your own surname isn't safe nowadays. If you wish to express your views, concerning their plans to register your surname, or their views on village websites, please write to:
Angie Barrow, Director,
or drop a note to me (so that I can pass it on via email): or e-mail direct to Webhound Ltd at webmaster@any-town.co.uk webmaster@any-town.co.uk
Italic text is quote from the Webhound 'Frequently asked Questions' page on the internet at:
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