redirected -- infected?

[highnote]

I was watching a youtube video of a speech by attorney Marc Victor. It was interesting so I put his name into a search engine and got a bunch of links.

I clicked on this one:

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2013/02/marc_victor_already_planning_t.php

At the end of this blog piece was a link to his political campaign website:

http://www.marcvictorforcongress.com/

I clicked on it and in Internet Explorer a warning message pops up saying that "Your computer may have been infected". I hit control/alt/delete and started over.

I put the marcvictorforcongress.com link in google chrome and got redirected to various websites.

What do bogus website's like this stand to gain?

Here is the whois output for marcvictorforcongress.com:

Domain Name: marcvictorforcongress.com
Registry Domain ID: 1812672543_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.gatekeeperdomains.net
Registrar URL: http://gatekeeperdomains.net
Updated Date: 2014-06-25T00:00:00-0400
Creation Date: 2013-07-03T14:34:10-0400
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-07-03T00:00:00-0400
Registrar: GateKeeperDomains.net LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 1352
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@web.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8773812449
Reseller:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: 12808 Gran Bay Pkwy West
Registrant City: Jacksonville
Registrant State/Province: FL
Registrant Postal Code: 32258
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.9027492701
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext.:
Registrant Email: 2m46icel2mihv83iifef4l1d9p@domaindiscreet.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
Admin Organization:
Admin Street: 12808 Gran Bay Pkwy West
Admin City: Jacksonville
Admin State/Province: FL
Admin Postal Code: 32258
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.9027492701
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext.:
Admin Email: 5k4vfeu6vejdqad6pom9sgr07n@domaindiscreet.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
Tech Organization:
Tech Street: 12808 Gran Bay Pkwy West
Tech City: Jacksonville
Tech State/Province: FL
Tech Postal Code: 32258
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.9027492701
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext.:
Tech Email: 4ejk56ednii7qbsai044h4bjkq@domaindiscreet.com
Name Server: ns2.above.com
Name Server: ns1.above.com
DNSSEC: Unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2014-06-25T00:00:00-0400 <<<

[GameTheory]

Marc Victor decided not to run for congress (last year), his website must have expired, so someone bought the domain and now redirects you to whatever other site or ads they like. Don't think you are infected...

[highnote]

Marc Victor decided not to run for congress (last year), his website must have expired, so someone bought the domain and now redirects you to whatever other site or ads they like. Don't think you are infected...


Ahhhh... that explains the motivation behind the redirecting. Makes sense. Although, I wonder if there is enough revenue generated to actually make it worthwhile to buy old domain names and then redirect them.

[GameTheory]

Ahhhh... that explains the motivation behind the redirecting. Makes sense. Although, I wonder if there is enough revenue generated to actually make it worthwhile to buy old domain names and then redirect them.You can get them for $10/yr or less. Just put up some ads or something vaguely relevant to what it originally was. Almost no effort (per site), repeat 1000s of times, you'll make money...

[highnote]

You can get them for $10/yr or less. Just put up some ads or something vaguely relevant to what it originally was. Almost no effort (per site), repeat 1000s of times, you'll make money...


Interesting business model!

[JustRalph]

You can get them for $10/yr or less. Just put up some ads or something vaguely relevant to what it originally was. Almost no effort (per site), repeat 1000s of times, you'll make money...

not a lot of money............ unless you get thousands of hits........

hell, a youtube video that gets 1 million views only gets about 800 bucks now.

[highnote]

not a lot of money............ unless you get thousands of hits........

hell, a youtube video that gets 1 million views only gets about 800 bucks now.


It used to be that songwriters got a nickel every time their song was played on the radio or jukebox. Those nickles added up to a lot more than 800 bucks for a million plays!

I am surprised so many musicians allow their material to appear on youtube. Maybe the exposure is worth not making any money?

[Longshot6977]

Ahhhh... that explains the motivation behind the redirecting. Makes sense. Although, I wonder if there is enough revenue generated to actually make it worthwhile to buy old domain names and then redirect them.

The reason somewhere would buy an old domain name, especially a well known one that has become foolishly expired, would be to hold it as ransom when the original owner wants it back. Some people can get $100,000 from a very large company. (I knew one guy a few years ago that did this to a major Office automation company). Do this with several expired domains (where the owners forget to re-register the domain name) and you could get a nice chunk of money if they need it back. Not illegal, just a little immoral I guess.

[wilderness]

FWIW, most of the registries provide an x-tra charge renewal up to 30 days (some longer) after the domain has expired.

Many folks whom register domains fail to keep the email addys current, which results in lack of notification that the domain registry is expiring.