The .GOP is apparently willing to let opponents and haters to call it all sorts of unflattering names but only if they pay enough.
Unlike the .Democrat and .Republican registry which is being operated by a for profit public company, Demand Media (DMD), the. GOP extension is being run by an arm of the Republican party itself.
According to its website “.GOP is the preferred domain name for all Republicans and conservatives online. As the only web ending run by a political party, .GOP makes history by connecting conservatives, Republicans and all who identify with the GOP movement with an easily identifiable online presence to create a national support structure for the Republican Party. The .GOP registry is a technology endeavor dedicated to positioning the Republican Party at the forefront of innovation and advancing Republican principles. The .GOP is the place where you can find conservative people and ideas on the web.”
The registry is owned by the Republican State Leadership Committee, Inc. which has a vested interest in not only running a domain name registry but doing it in a way that support of the party and its candidates.
I was pretty shocked to see domains that were available to be registered of a nature that can only be used by opponents and haters of the Republican party, to either embarrass the party or to use it against the party.
So the registry could have placed domain names they didn’t want to see registered by opponents and haters on the reserved list and never let them see the light of day.
But even worse, much worse, the .GOP registry is allowing a lot of these types domain names to be registered and purchased, but only if the registrant is willing to pay more than the normal registration fee of $20.16
Someone had to create a premium domain list and overtly decide not to protect these highly negative domain names, setting a price the registry is willing to allow a highly negative domain which is likely to use against the party.
Its like putting a price on selling your reputation, in this case the reputation of the GOP.
If you want to launch an attack Ad against the GOP and use one of their own domain names against them, the .GOP registry seems fine with it as long as you are willing to pay.
For example if you want to register Crooks.GOP you can do it, but it will cost you $250
If you would rather call the .GOP Greedy you can register that domain name for the same $250.
If your think the GOP is in the business of blackmail you can buy the domain name Blackmail.GOP for $100
If you think the .GOP is Dirty you can get the domain name Dirty.GOP but its going to set you back $5,000
The same $5,000 will buy you Scam.GOP
Shady.GOP will only cost you $1,000
Finally if you want to call the .GOP Rats it will only cost you $2,500.
Steal.GOP and Pimp.GOP. are priced at $2,500 each. Althought Pimps.GOP is only $20.16
Of course if a substantial part of the the .GOP mission is to support the party and its candidates they registry should not allow any of these domains to be registered for any price, but by selecting domains with very negative keywords and charging a premium for them, it sure makes it look like the party doesn’t care what you call them as long as you pay up.