Tech companies want to go ahead of trolls and harsh critics

Apr 9, 2015 14:21 GMT  ·  By

Ever since the .sucks domain was approved by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, personalities and brands have been targeted by Internet trolls.

Although the website clearly states that it “is designed to help consumers find their voices and allow companies to find the value in criticism,” it is very unlikely that people will limit themselves to simply share some constructive comments.

Even so, putting the name of a famous brand or a renowned celebrity alongside the controversial domain could only be harmful to their image. All we have to do is think of the infinite possibilities.

Companies are afraid that this will affect their trademarks

Adobe’s Associate General Counsel J. Scott Evans declared for NPR that he “basically thinks it’s extortion,” and many others would probably agree with him.

He sees no reason they should take part in the whole scheme by buying the domain. If they agree to pay for this one, then others will see it as the perfect way to make easy money and things could go on endlessly as .sucks is definitely not the worst suffix that people can come up with.

Big companies could probably afford to pay $2,500 (€ 2330) every year to make sure that their detractors are kept at bay, but they do not want to convince others that it’s OK to open up other similar ones.

Google obviously does not feel the same since it has acquired quite a few by now: Gmail.sucks, glass.sucks or Nest.sucks. The tech company seems determined not to let critics get their way with some of its most important services.

Same goes for Apple or Microsoft, which have also secured an impressive list of domains they do not plan to use, but which they acquired solely to protect the company’s brands. “We have done this in order to ensure that these domains will not be used, and we do not have any intention of ever using these domains,” a representative declared for MarketingLand.

Besides Taylor Swift, who also purchased her .porn domain, hopefully with no intention of actually using it, there are other celebrities who have quickly joined in, like Kevin Spacey, and more are expected to jump on the bandwagon.