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by Kelby Hartson Carr

Abused women seeking help from a local domestic violence organization could happen instead on a pornographic Web site.

Address instead snatched up by porn site

Abused women seeking help from a local domestic violence organization could happen instead on a pornographic Web site.

The Rappahannock Council on Domestic Violence site, once at rcdv.org, expired in June. A volunteer who had helped with the page had left. The day it expired, Executive Director Nancy Fowler went to renew that domain name, only to discover it was already snatched up by someone else.

That didn't quite concern her at first. She simply registered for rcdv.com, not as ideal as the .org site, but certainly suitable. The site that took over was just one page, she recalled, a mix of text that included words like domestic violence. She couldn't find any information on the new owner, so she couldn't make contact about the site.

But soon after, she started getting phone calls. Even the Virginia attorney general's office called. They had gone to the old address, only to discover a raunchy sex site.

"I don't know how many potential clients may have gone to the wrong Web site," Fowler said. "We were absolutely distraught about the whole thing."

Attempts to reach Fazi Doghi--who is listed as the new registrant--by e-mail for comment were unsuccessful. The registrant, who listed a Baton Rouge location, provided only e-mail, and the phone number listed was all zeros.

Perry Binder , an expert in domain name disputes and a law professor at Georgia State University, said some sites seek existing names to divert Web traffic. Madonna was able to reclaim madonna.com, for example, when this happened to the pop superstar.

Binder said the domestic violence group could pursue legal action if it is determined that they have a trademark on their name, which a trademark attorney would assess. He said they would also need to show that there is "confusion in the mind of the public" because of the site. The fact that the site is pornographic would have no legal bearing, he said.

Fowler said she simply wants to get the word out so no one else happens on the sex site. Although the site address was never advertised, many other domestic violence-related or social service-related sites linked to that Web page.

Besides it being disturbing for domestic violence victims seeking help, she is concerned about colleagues who go to the site.

"Companies are monitoring what their employees are going to, and we don't want them getting into trouble because of the Web site," she said.

Fowler also hopes to find another volunteer to help with the Web page. It currently simply says "Under construction" to visitors.

"We need to reach out to a couple of people who could take the time to bring this Web site back up," she said. "None of us here are very techie. So for any of our computer work, we've been relying on the little bit of knowledge we have or generous offers from people."

She prepaid for the rcdv.com domain name for 10 years, just to be safe, "so it won't happen again in my tenure here."

But she said the whole ordeal has been a harsh lesson in modern times. "Now we just put ourselves up there as a technology statistic."