Soros not responsible for Factcheck.com domain

[AmericanErrorist]

Statement on GeorgeSoros.com

We do not own the FactCheck.com domain name and are not responsible for it redirecting to GeorgeSoros.com. We are as surprised as anyone by this turn of events. We believe that Vice President Cheney intended to direct viewers of the Vice-Presidential Debate to FactCheck.org.

Iniquiring minds must ask: Who owns factcheck.com?

A quick trip to <[www.netsol.com|Network Solutions>]' WHOIS revealed next to nothing.

Domain Name: FACTCHECK.COM
Registrar: DOMAIN NAME SALES CORP.
Whois Server: whois.domainnamesales.com
Referral URL: http://www.domainnamesales.com
Name Server: NS1.15X.NET
Name Server: NS2.15X.NET
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 12-sep-2004
Creation Date: 04-feb-2004
Expiration Date: 04-feb-2007

>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 18:50:09 EDT <<<
Current Registrar: DOMAIN NAME SALES CORP.
IP Address: 66.199.187.168 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: US(UNITED STATES)-WASHINGTON-SEATTLE
Record Type: Domain Name
Server Type: Apache 1
Lock Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Web Site Status: Active
DMOZ no listings
Y! Directory: see listings
Secure: No
E-commerce: No
Traffic Ranking: 2
Data as of: 08-Jun-2004

If anyone knows who has registered factcheck.com, please come out because... people want to know things. You're a great, web-savvy individual.

[No2W2004]

1. here's what was on Yahoo earlier today

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041006/ap_on_el_pr/debate_web_sites

The company decided to redirect traffic to the Soros site after it became inundated with hits — about 100 a second after the debate, John Berryhill, a Philadelphia lawyer for FactCheck.com, said Wednesday.

"This was to relieve stress on the service and to express a political point of view," said Berryhill, who spoke with the site's administrators shortly after the debate ended.

They picked Soros not only for his political views, Berryhill said, but because the billionaire could afford the costly deluge of hits the site would receive in the wake of the debate. Plus, the site administrators didn't want to point surfers to a candidate's site that was asking for money.

Web site operators typically pay fees to the companies that host their sites. The more hits a site receives, the more its operator pays.

Soros was not advised of the switch and did not know it had taken place until Wednesday, said a spokesman, Jeremy Ben-Ami.

"We are as surprised as anyone by this turn of events but certainly encourage voters to visit both of these valuable sites," Michael Vachon, a senior aide to Soros, said in a statement.

An unprecedented number of visitors to FactCheck.org caused the site to crash several times Wednesday, said Brooks Jackson, the site's director.

[SoCalDemocrat]

2. So CNN lied?

I'm so shocked. MSNBC/CNN running the story that Soros bought up the internet domain in order to have it redirect to his site.

Their reporting is so shoddy.

[JI7]

3. smart for taking into account financial issues while expressing

political views. it wouldn't be good for someone with small finances to deal with this.

[splat]

4. Amazing story broke here last night

It was all on DU last night!

Here's some backstory: Messages in a thread titled (Cheney gives web link during debate that leads to George Soros site) at Democratic Underground.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x886996 from philaguy, who signs his posts JB and says he's Name Administration Inc.'s lawyer. (AP spoke to lawyer John Berryhill of Philadelphia for the story above.):

Factcheck.com was registered quite some time ago by Name Administration Inc.
Name Administration often registers expired or abandoned domain names which comprise generic or descriptive terms
The staff at Name Administration have been through some difficult times lately, due to the impact of hurricane Ivan on Grand Cayman, and they were delighted to have been given this opportunity by Vice President Cheney....

Name Administration Inc. received no payment, inducement, or any communication from George Soros or any political organization for re-directing the domain name. It was purely a volunteer gesture....

Please don't send thank you emails. Traffic volume in the first hour alone was on the order of 48,000 unique visitors.

If you feel compelled to do anything, please make a donation to rebuild Bodden Town, Grand Cayman, which was hit very hard by Ivan:

http://www.turtlenestinn.com/hurricane_ivan-HI2.htm

From http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/include.pl/blogs/shenews/archives/week126.htm#fc

[Piperay]

5. Glad that people

were directed to Soro's site. :thumbsup: