Webjacked: How Freeoverstock.com was Taken Down
By webjacking (the digital or online version of hijacking) standards, this was swift and ruthless. A David vs Goliath contest, and David did not put up a fight - could not afford to. The fight was over before it even started, and the bully stole David’s lunch. If you have no idea what this is all about, here is what happened.
Freeoverstock.com is the bright, business idea of Sarkis Chakarian. The idea was to convince businesses to pay him to offload their overstock - stuff that is not selling and taking up warehouse space, and costing them money to store. And so freeoverstock.com was launched. Here is what happened after that as related to me by Sarkis.
The freeoverstock domain was launched on Thursday, November 8, 2007. On Friday, November 9, 2007 (at about 5:30PM PST) they received a cease and desist notice from a major online retailer, demanding that the site be taken down immediately (no later than Monday, November 12, 2007), and that they provide proof of transfer or forfeiture of the domain name (freeoverstock.com) by November 16 2007. Ruthless!
The same notice - and threat of legal action - was also sent to Black Sun Technologies (the hosting service provider of freeoverstock.com). Not wanting to participate in a fight he might not win, and fearing the cost of litigation - especially the cost of litigation, Sarkis contacted the attorney (of the raiding company) and asked to have the freeoverstock domain pointed to a new site - CostsZero.com - for one month. They agreed to have freeoverstock.com point to CostsZero.com for 1 week period from Tuesday, November 13, and to point freeoverstock.com emails for 1 month to CostsZero.com.
And that is how freeoverstock became CostsZero.com. The business is still the same - you get any item on FreeOverStock.com CostsZero.com for free, only paying a minimal shipping and handling charge. The whole episode is just one more example of corporate terrorism, and it seems that the Goliath’s just keep winning.
I have not even mentioned the name of the major online retailer involved in this, and even Sarkis refused to disclose the name, but according to him, “it is not that hard to guess”. Make a guess. What is the name of the major online retailer that stole freeoverstock.com?
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Really good and really interesting post. I expect (and other readers maybe :)) new useful posts from you!
Good luck and successes in blogging!
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