Can typo squatting lead to imprisonment?

June 10, 2009
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts

Typo squatting can certainly lead to imprisonment. One man was jailed in 2004 for typo squatting. John Zuccarini served a term of 30 months for registering typo squatting sites leading innocent internet users to children porn sites. According to Zuccarini he made more than a million dollars a year with his typo squatting. The problem of typo squatting is said to become worse in future with the adding of more extensions such as .art, .mus etc. This highlights the security risk for users who may enter their usernames and passwords at typo squatting sites resembling legitimate banks. Once the user has typed the information the typo squatter will immediately know what bank and account to target. He will also have the access details and will be able to withdraw or transfer money while the poor user is still at the typo squatting site trying to make a transaction.