Domains containing 'IRS' in trouble for fines under new bill

[woeger]

The U.S. Government is cracking down on any sites using the characters "IRS" in their domain names. Notable sites they are apparently going after IRS.COM, IRS.NET and IRS.ORG. Many other sites possible.

They passed this bill 407-7 in the U.S. House of Representatives today.

More here about this on News.com at:
http://news.com.com/House+vote+targe...l?tag=nefd.top

Another story with more background info here:
http://news.com.com/Bill+would+ban+s...3-6176659.html

The IRS is saying they are working with the Treasury Inspector General about possibly reviewing issues with IRS.COM, IRS.NET and IRS.ORG:
http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=168574,00.html

Didn't I see someone with a thread selling IRS.NET here on DNF yesterday? Maybe he/she knew this legislation was coming down...

"“There is one legitimate IRS site: IRS.gov,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “Always check carefully and make sure you know what Web site you are using.”

Because .com, .net and .org are such common parts of Internet addresses, taxpayers may automatically or inadvertently type these extensions, instead of .gov, into the address line of their Web browser when trying to find the genuine IRS Web site.

Following recent concerns that Internet sites may be causing confusion among taxpayers, the IRS is working with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration on this matter. TIGTA has authority to review issues protecting the integrity of tax administration, including impersonation of the IRS. The IRS and TIGTA are committed to ensuring that taxpayers are not misled."

[Acro]

I wonder if that would affect other government entities like FBI; the .net is being offered for sale.

[barefoot]

Excerpt from:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129908/article.html

The IRS could do more to address the cybersquatting problem, said Enrico Schaefer, an attorney with Traverse Legal PLC who specializes in domain name disputes. "This IRS press release is of zero value," he said. "When someone ends up at IRS.org ,.net and .com they think it's affiliated with the government and they never see this. They would be much better served by simply taking control of those domains."

The IRS could do this under Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, he said.

Scary. Some very valuable domain names could be yanked away from their owners as a result of this.

[Brujah]

Sounds like they only mean sites misrepresenting themselves as the actual IRS agency?

Otherwise, .. Don't stand so close to me.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/IRS.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.R.S._Records

[Banned: AlienGG]

Why doesn't IRS change their domain name? Instead of using IRS.gov, I would suggest them to use Internal--Revenue--Service.gov and reg all other ext. for the interest of all Americans.
Shady government robbing their citizens. Weird things happen a lot while Bush's in power.

[Poker]

There have been tax scams going on with sites collecting tax refunds etc...
They have to do somthing...

[Gerry]

Heard about this several days ago. They were talking about all the scams on the internet and confusion created by these sites. But I was doing my taxes and trying to get them out in time. So, I wasn't really paying attention.

Had no idea they were going after domain names but I did hear them mention the .com etc and some of the online scams.

[Banned: AlienGG]

They are doing something now, but it's not the best way to do it.
It appears that they are trying to shut down legitimate sites to get it started, but there are thousands of real phishing sites out there and they can't do anything about it.

I would suggest to do something more effective.

[Johnn]

What about IRS .cc .ws .eu and other country extensions?

[ctc]

They cant do anything about.
They are not trademark names..just acros that happen to be US (not global) gov entities..
imo they are just blowing smoke
for heavens sakes...if a country is not entitled to their domain (research newzealand.com and southafrica.com), what makes you think an entity of a country is?

I wonder if that would affect other government entities like FBI; the .net is being offered for sale.

Hey acro..that ones easy...FBI "Female Body Inspector"

[Bill Roy]

Well letting the rebel out of me I just reg'd the .st. I hate it when any government tries to bully their way through a system. I guess a lot of other 'IRS' ccTLD's will be snapped up now as well.

By the way no idea what I'll do with the domain but it was worth the few dollars just to know it will bug some pen-pushers in Washington! Now they will all have to look up where Sao Tome & Principe is!