The Saga of Katie.com

digitalcaffeine writes "The gist of the story is that Katie Tarbox became a victim of an online sexual predator when she was 13. She wrote a book about it in 2000 and Penguin Putnam made the title of the book 'Katie.Com', which unfortunately was a domain name owned by Katie Jones since 1996. Now Tarbox's lawyer is demanding that Jones turn over the domain name. Penguin refuses to apologize, saying that it would be a violation of their free speech to re-title the book and that Jones never trademarked katie.com, so they can do what they want with the words."

Newsflash!

[Anonymous Coward]

Website gang-raped by thousands of Slashdotters. Film at 11...

A new shock site?

[jrockway]

Why doesn't the real (slim?) Katie make katie.com a convienient mirror of, say, goatse. Then the people will complain to Penguin and they'll be forced to do something. Like change the title. It's her right to decide the content of her page, right? So I think she'd even be in the clear :-)

Of course ligit visitors might think Katie is a weirdo, but hey. It's better than having Katie.tv_fm_info_dumbtld :)

Tux name back

[1gor]

FSF should sue Penguin and get Tux's name back.

Re:A new shock site?

[Ianoo]

Best. Idea. Ever.

Upcoming books galore

[ergonal]

Maybe Penguin should have thought about that before releasing the book? Dumbasses. On the plus side, I've decided to becoming a budding author. My debut book is scheduled to be released on April 1 2005, and its name will be "cia.gov".

Imagine if...

[Anonymous Coward]

I wrote a book and called it

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

Washington DC 20500

Then tried to claim it as my property!

Dear OSDN,

[Ianoo]

I notice that you currently own the name "slashdot.org". Our research shows you never trademarked this name. Last week, I applied for a trademark on the terms "slashdot", "slashdot.org" and "slashdot.com" and these have been granted. Therefore I require you to hand over your domain immediately, or face legal proceedings.


Yours Sincerely,
I.P. Freely

Three step buisiness plan.

[donscarletti]

I have a brand new buisiness idea:

1. Write a book called Amazon.com about ancient warrior women that are stalked online.
2. Take control of said domain name then sell it back.
3. Profit

Unlike the plans of the underpants gnomes and SCO, this one may actually be crazy enough to work.

I have one thing to say

[MrKahuna]

867-5309

The real question is...

[Oxy the moron]

... how is Darl McBride involved? I mean come on, doesn't he *really* own the trademark to penguins?

You're missing the boat

[Anonymous Coward]

My book Google.com is going to be a bestseller!

Re:Imagine if...

[donscarletti]

That's what Bush did wasn't it?

Chances are....

[Bobman1235]

Chances are that we'll solve this whole dillema by reducing her server to a smoldering pile of rubble anyways....

Although it's holding up well so far...

Re:A new shock site?

[Anonymous Coward]

goatse? What's that? Anyone have a link?

Penguin's REAL strategy

[Alzheimers]

1) Name book after existing, small time website
2) Create small copywrite-related controversy over said site
3) Get small site url posted on Slashdot.
4) Reduce small website to smouldering ruin
5) Offer to accept smouldering ruin as "donation."

Re:So they name the book

[xbrownx]

Wow, both girl.com and katie.com are truly horrible titles. Who thinks of this crap?

Re:So they name the book

[Otter]

See, what Penguin should have done is buy out Girl Skateboards [girlskateboards.com], use that against girl.com (who, I'm guessing, didn't bother with a trademark either) and then everyone would be a winner! Err, except the porn guys.

Honestly, this whole thing sounds like this is a story the editors misqueued back in 1998. What does Penguin think -- that they're going to make a fortune off banner ads and the katie.com IPO?

Dear Ianoo,

[IPFreely]

I notice that you currently use the name "I.P. Freely". Our research shows you never registered this name. Several years ago, I applied for a registration on the terms "I.P. Freely", "IPFreely" and "IP Freely" and these have been granted. Therefore I require you to hand over your title immediately, or face legal proceedings.

Yours Sincerely,
IPFreely [slashdot.org]

Re:A new shock site?

[mikael]

As Zahphod Beeblebrox would say:

"ten out of ten for style, but minus several million for good thinking".

The ISP would probably suspend her Internet account, giving Penquin the opportunity to seize the domain name.

Of course, she could take an interest in wildlife conservation in the Orkney's [pluton.co.uk],
and tell the major book publisher what they can do.

Individuals standing in the way of profit!

[Zwets]

Why are individuals allowed to have short, easy-to-remember domain names when there's a corporation that can potentially make money off it? What is this, communism?

People with their own domain name are leeching potential profits off corporations, thereby destroying the economy!

Solution

[komet]

Katie should redirect katie.com to tubgirl for a while. I bet that will get Penguin off her back in a hurry.

Re:Makes no sense

[paullush]

Cool, time for me to release a hardcore gay movie called microsoft.com. I mean, what grounds would they have to object?

Re:Upcoming books galore

[Anonymous Coward]

Portland, Oregon: After a 3 month period of being reported missing, the FBI finally solved the mystery about the disappearance of "ergonal", who will be left unnamed as wished by the family. Shortly after authoring the book Cia.gov, "ergonal" vanished from the face of the earth, leaving nothing that could trace to his current whereabouts. Not being known for doing anything dangerous in remote areas, people assumed the worse and a massive manhunt began in order to find "ergonal" and his supposed kidnappers.

Three months later, however, the story came to a dramatic end as FBI agents performed DNA testing on an unknown mutilated and burned corpse. Subsequent tests also proved the identity of the corpse to be "ergonal". Friends and family are unavailable for comment after a series of mysterious fatal car accidents, a plane crash and s few freak lightning storms taht burned down a few houses. "This is all very unfortunate, but I can't really go into this at all..." said field agent D. McKinsy, FBI. "People want to solve this and get this over with. Just another murder, nothing to see here, move along..."

"ergonal" left all his material posessions, including the rights to his book, to the CIA. "We are surprised, but we accept the generousity of our fellow americans and if we can honour this man post-mortem by accepting his gifts, then we will." as said by CIA director J. Ryan.

Re:A new shock site?

[warpSpeed]

goatse? What's that? Anyone have a link?

Sure look Here [golem.de]

Re:Makes no sense

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows already is gay porn you insensative clod.

Someone needs to write a book titled....

[jejones]

penguin.com--that would be a good title for a book about business uses of Linux, wouldn't it?

Re:I have one thing to say

[Zak3056]

With appologies to Tommy Tutone:

Katie, Katie who can I turn to
We want you to give us something you want to hold on to
I know you think we're like the others before
Who saw your info in the WHOIS database

Kaaatie, I got your domain!
I'm gonna make it mine!
Kaatie please change your domain!
K-A-T-I-E-dot-COMiomiom
K-A-T-I-E-dot-CO Mioniom

Katie, Katie it's the site for me
Donate your domain, it'll make me so happy
Our lawyers called you before
Yeah they've got some nerve
We aren't sorry that
Your life was disturbed

Kaaatie, I got your domain!
I'm gonna make it mine!
Kaatie please change your domain!
K-A-T-I-E-dot-COMiomiom
K-A-T-I-E-dot-CO Mioniom

K-A-T-I-E-dot-COMiomiom
K-A-T-I-E-dot-COMioniom

Re:Another victim becomes an abuser....

[Anonymous Coward]

Simple: They're fucked up.

Okay, I'll be quiet now :-)

Re:Almost too weird to be true

[FosterKanig]

Yes, but Nancy McKeon and Judith Light need the work.

Re:Makes no sense

[whiteranger99x]

Well you can't call it microsoft.com unless you have a Steve Balmer look-a-like jumping around like a babboon, preferably on a gimpy looking guy with glasses. ;)

Of course, I'm putting too much thought into that, so I'll just stop now *cringes*

Re:Makes no sense

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent -1 Pedantic [wordsmyth.net] Wanker [webster-dictionary.org]

Re:Katie.com

[xarium]

Apparently the book got renamed at the last minute because girl.com (the original name) was a porn site. The solution for Katie Jones as owner (and sole publisher of content) of katie.com seems obvious to me!

Re:Almost too weird to be true

[Tony Hoyle]

when was the last time you clicked on a link in a book you were reading

Just a few minutes ago, actually. I thing the book is broken though as nothing happened.

Let's do it.

[nanojath]

I suggest making it an internet meme on the scale to shame savekaryn.com. She runs a chat thing, somebody here has to know her. Set up a donation site to collectively, temporarily buy her domain. Get somebody like Stile to be the webmaster, somebody who is used to having a whole lotta people mad at him/her. Once the appropriate sum has been reached (say, the amount of money she'd need to take a year off, sounds like she needs it), turn it over to Slashdotters - the trollers, the goatse boosters, the sick child who pulls the wings off flies in each of us - to collectively create the website you absolutely would not want to go to. Popups, grossly NSFW images, midi renditions of "Eye of the Tiger" that won't shut off. Ought to clear the matter up in about a year. Then give it back.

Re:Katiet.com is the real site for the book

[doublem]

So, we learn that she's a cowardly little brat, incapable of standing up for herself. Gee, if she always lets people walk all over her and always bends to whatever authority figure presents itself, she could end up being taken advantage of by some manipulative jerk.

From the internet with love...

[Anonymous Coward]

and one stalking victim to another.

Nice to see that KatieT's bad experiences left her with so much empathy for others. Seems like she got what she deserved a priori. It is truly a mysterious universe.

Re:Almost too weird to be true

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean when was the last time you clicked on a link in a book you were reading?

Not since the CueCat :-)

Katie Tarbox?

[callipygian-showsyst]

C'mon now! That's a fake name! How about Katie gzipBox or Katie rarball?

Vengeance can be sweet

[jasmusic]

My brand of revenge is a little different. To embarrass the HELL out of Penguin, I'd make Katie.com a porn site.

Re:Oh, Penguin's got a history...

[argent]

I guess they haven't noticed that there's another company using the same name now.

Re:probably not

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure publishing this on the front page of Slashdot really helps her save bandwidth.

Re:Lawyer's Phone number

[Necromancyr]

Yeah and at Krispy Kreme from the look of those pictures.

Personal Responsablity

[yoshi_mon]

As every decent person does I am sorry for what happened to Katherine Tarbox. However, this does not releve her of any of the personal responsability as a moral human being to stop what has/is happening to Katie Jones.

If she has any sence of morality she personally will stop this and make amends.

Re:Wow

[AhabTheArab]

Never underestimate the power of geeks in large numbers.

Re:Makes no sense

[AhabTheArab]

This has been done already.

Check out www.hotmale.com

I think i'll pass on the website; i'll just have to take your word for it.

Re:Makes no sense

[Anonymous Coward]

er.. you just dissappeared up your own arsehole..

Re:Katie.com

[Sylver Dragon]

Apparently the book got renamed at the last minute because girl.com (the original name) was a porn site. The solution for Katie Jones as owner (and sole publisher of content) of katie.com seems obvious to me!

I had about the same idea, turn katie.com into a porn site, one of those "Just 18" sites, or the like, and, of course, call all of the models on the sign up page, "Katie". Get some basic content, pics, movie clips etc. and then use the book's fame against it. Might even be worth it to have a bunch of fiction posted on the site as well. Hell, go for the spike, and have lolita type fiction, and advertise this fact on the front page. If nothing else, the amout of controversy this will create will draw a ton of people to the site, just to see what it is all about. Once the site gets really popular, sell it to one of the bigger porn companies, and get out in style.
But then, I am vindictive that way.

Re:Different field

[mysticgoat]

Besides, think about it for a minute: Micro? Soft? Not exactly a good name for pornography.

Good point. Do you think this might explain some of Microsoft's behaviors-- like maybe they are compensating for something?

I wonder if calling the porn movie "MacroHard" would work? It could be about a dweebish geek who just happened to be hung like a horse but was clueless about how to use this hardware. Maybe he needs to rely on telephone tech support... from India... hmmm. Could make for a good mainstream comedy.

Re:Different field

[pyrrhonist]

It could be about a dweebish geek who just happened to be hung like a horse but was clueless about how to use this hardware. Maybe he needs to rely on telephone tech support...

That's a good start, but it's got too much plot.

Re:Tux name back

[Anonymous Coward]

GNo

Re:Katie.com

[AndroidCat]

She could check with the Faroe Islands to see if tarbox.fo is available then redirect to that. (Strangely there doesn't seem to be a .fu TLD.)

Re:Penguin has been ignoring the issue since 2000

[AndroidCat]

It's shiny, it's her birthday and she wantss it, yesss my precious.

Re:Evil Katie's lawyer wants to hear from you....

[Dyolf Knip]

Hmmm, I think I'll write a song entitled "201-463-8663" and then sue her for the number. After all, it'd violate my first ammendment rights to not have the phone number of the song I wrote!

Re:Different field

[Molina the Bofh]

They are trying to compensate this by releasing Long Horn.

oh, i don't know

[RMH101]

we're your 51st state, now, aren't we?

Re:Do NOT do this

[SCHecklerX]

Somebody should write a book and name it "aftab.com" and then sue the lawyer to give up her domain name.

Re:And then there's...

[Meostro]

C. Gibson [verizon.com] might not appreciate you posting his/her phone# to be Slashdotted...

Re:Different field

[Rimbo]

Well, no, Microsoft.com (the hardcore gay porn movie) could be the touching, heart-rending tale of a young closeted male with great looks but a small member and erectile dysfunction who, through friends on the internet, discovers the joy of playing for the other team as a catcher.

Re:Katie.com

[roman_mir]

And here is a link to Pary's mug shot. [aftab.com]

Yikes.

Re:oh, i don't know

[yiantsbro]

51st state / bitch...it's all the same.

huh?

[grolschie]

What's wrong with using http://members.webs.net/pages/k/a/t/katy/index.htm for a book title? :-)