New Delhi: Rights to your own name on the Internet just got more expensive. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has purchased the domain name randpaul.com for a whopping $100,000 to save the embarrassment that cyber-squatters can potentially cause.
Paul, who is vying for his party’s presidential nomination, paid the huge amount to a third-party firm, Escrow.com, to purchase the domain name. The company processes online transactions between buyers and sellers of domain names.
A report on the LA Times notes that the purchase has been mentioned in the Federal Election Commission disclosure. However, a spokesman for the Paul campaign declined to comment about the purchase or the name of the firm.
Popular figures acquire own domain names for a hefty price so that someone else doesn’t get it, possibly ruining the reputation attached to them. Former CEO of Hewlett Packard, Carly FIorina, failed to register carlyfiorina.org and it landed in someone else’s hands who’s filled the site with thousands of frowing faces, highlighting the number of people she laid off while running the company.
Other presidential candidates who could have potential problems with domain squatters are Jeb Bush and Chris Christie. jebbushforpresident.com, which mocks the former Florida governor, is owned by a gay couple from Oregon, while the Christie domain is owned by a man who shares the same name.
Those who played it safe are Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, who own their domain names.
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