Hurricane domain names being registered and sold online ahead of anticipated 2013 storm season
list of 2013 storm monikers is a hot topic online even though it’s only March. Internet speculators are registering domain names for future hurricanes, anticipating heavy traffic and potential profits if one makes history like Sandy.
The domain, HurricaneAndrea.com is already taken. In fact, multiple domain names have been registered for each 2013 storm, from Andrea through Wendy.
“It’s like buying a lottery ticket,” said Andrew Allemann, editor at DomainNameWire.com. “You make a guess and if it turns out that Hurricane Andrea is one of the big storms of the year, people will go to that domain. We can call it distasteful, but it’s not illegal to buy a domain name of a disaster and try to sell it. It’s just kind of sad.” source