Domain Extortion Attempt Made On GOP House Members.

[ReignDomain]

From TheHill.com:

"Several House lawmakers say they’ve been the victims of an Internet extortion that attempted to link their names to a racist organization. The scheme also involved House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and at least two senators.

Sites named after Reps. John Mica (R-Fla.), Porter Goss (R-Fla.), Ric Keller (R-Fla.), Hastert and 18 other House members brought web-surfers to the National Association for the Advancement of White People and other unsavory home pages.

Keller said he grew suspicious when he got an e-mail offering to sell him an Internet address bearing his name for $499. Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla) called the setup “quite a little enterprise for extorting money.” But looking at the bright side, Putnam said, “I ought to feel good. They wanted the same amount for the speaker’s name as they did for mine.”

For a time the congressional domain names were even for sale on the eBay auction site.

The House General Counsel quickly notified the Seattle entrepreneur causing the trouble that he had violated a provision of the U.S. code."