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Miranda Kerr suffers digital deletion

Domain authority shuts her down after cybersquatting

Australia’s domain name authority auDA has shut down and deleted the domain mirandakerr.com.au in a public stand against cybersquatting.

The domain bearing the name of the supermodel recently attracted media attention as its former owner domain speculator James Wester suggested that it could be worth up to $200,000 on the market.

Wester, who owns around 6,500 domains, had offered to hand the domain over to Miranda Kerr for free.

However, auDA investigated the matter and decided to cancel the current registrant’s domain name licence for breach of policy, in addition to deleting the domain name.

Under .au policy rules, a registrant must meet certain eligibility criteria to register a domain name. Registering a domain name for the sole purpose of resale or transfer to another entity is not permitted.

“The purpose of the rule against resale is to prevent people from “cybersquatting” the names of well-known people and brands,” said Chris Disspain, CEO of auDA.

“The rule has been in place since auDA assumed control of the .au namespace in 2002, and it has been affirmed in every public policy review that auDA has conducted since then. The Australian Internet community has made it clear, time and time again, that it values the high levels of trust and integrity that distinguish .au from other TLDs like .com,” he said.

For the Australian supermodel, the incident is not her first intersection with the power of her digital eminence.

In February last year a Macquarie Bank employee publicly busted for looking at Kerr’s bikini clad assets while on the job. The banker was caught ogling while a live TV news cross was being filmed behind him. Kerr came out in support of the banker at the time stating she would sign a petition to allow him to keep his job. Macquarie Bank did not fire him, but did issue an apology for his antics. ®

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