Link: Portsmouth Herald Local News: Church’s old Web domain converted into porn site.

Church’s old Web domain converted into porn site

DOVER — Hope Community Church is trying to spread the word about its new Web site and disavow its former domain name.

Because of an error, a pornography company bought the church’s old domain name unbeknownst to the church. The church’s new Web site is http://www.hopeacc.org.

Should be a reminder to all of us who are responsible for our parish websites to double and triple check the expiration dates of the domain registrations. I remember a few years back with Microsoft.com expired because Microsoft forgot to renew the domain registration and it was bought by a private party. It happens even to the big corporations.

There are a number of website publishers who will pounce on expired domains in attempt to make a buck by putting porn up instead and then selling the domain back to the embarrassed party for some serious money.