By WILLIAM M. HARTNETT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Scarcely minutes after the first reports that the space shuttle Columbia had been destroyed, Internet speculators were already scooping up accident-themed Web addresses.

Whether destined for use as online memorials or for sale through auction sites such as eBay, scores of such Internet domain names as columbiadisaster.com and shuttlecrash.net were bought by individuals and companies across the country, starting Saturday.

The race to claim choice domain names in the wake of a major disaster or other big news event has become a standard, if little-noticed, phenomenon. The Web address september eleventh.net, for example, was snapped up the very day of the terrorist attacks.

Through Web sites such as register.com or godaddy.com, anyone with a computer and a phone line can buy their own spot in cyberspace for less than $10 per year.

With prices like that, even small-time cyber speculators can afford to plant their flag on dozens of pieces of electronic real estate, hoping that someone somewhere will be willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for an address.

In the meantime, most such Web addresses go undeveloped. In the lingo of the Web, these domains are said to be “parked.”

Robert Mercer of Tierra Verde on Florida’s west coast is a hopeful and enthusiastic newcomer to this Web domain land grab.

After stepping out of the shower to the news of Columbia’s disintegration, Mercer wasted no time jumping online to beat what he knew would be a rush on the most desirable Web addresses.

“I’m somewhat of what you’d call an American capitalist,” Mercer said. “When everybody’s jaws were kind of dropped, my wheels were starting to spin.”

Mercer came away with five shuttle-themed domains, including columbiacrew.net and columbia crewmemorial.com. Addresses that end in .com are particularly coveted, said Mercer, a professional diver by trade currently laid up with an injury and on workers compensation.

He also bought columbia explosion.com, which he has posted for sale on eBay. His asking price is $2,500, but no bids had been posted as of Monday night. Though acknowledging his entrepreneurial instincts, Mercer said he will not sell his domain names to just anyone.

“I’m not looking to secure the name to exploit it,” he said. “My terms of sale say that whoever purchases it, they have to pay tribute and honor the astronauts who lost their lives.”

Mercer’s eBay auction page also says he will give NASA half the proceeds of the domain name’s sale.

Deus Marchacos envisions an online gathering place for the three domain names he bought on Saturday. Columbiaaccident.com, spaceshuttleaccident.com and columbiashuttleaccident.com may one day take visitors to “a Web site where people can add their own comments, post their thoughts and find information” on the accident.

“We’re not looking to sell the names,” said Marchacos, the owner of a small Rochester, N.H.-based Web development firm.

William Holderfield of Lexington, Ala., on the other hand, is most definitely looking to sell his Saturday catch: shuttleaccident.com.

Holderfield, a Webmaster by day, has been picking up potentially lucrative domain names for years. The mid-1990s glory days of big-time scores and cybersquatting on corporate names are gone, he said, but good money can still be made.

“You pretty much have to go for generic type names,” said Holderfield, who once owned the address harvardlawyers.com, but “ended up just letting that one go” after getting a letter that threatened legal action.

What will become of all the space shuttle-related domain names registered since Saturday remains to be seen. If the past is any indicator, however, not all of them will be put to the noblest of uses: wtcdisaster.com, an address registered on Sept. 11, 2001, redirects visitors to the Web site of a New York City travel agency that features Caribbean travel packages.

Copyright 2003 Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
February 4, 2003 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: A SECTION, Pg. 10A
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