# Googl (sneaky suckers). **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2002, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993 "2002-10-05T20:11:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/1 "2002-10-05T20:11:42Z")
There’s google, [here](http://www.google.com/) And then there’s [these](http://www.googl.com/index2/index.php) folks. Now my browser jumps to the interlopers unless I type the entire word “google”. No big thing, really. But I was wondering. Isn’t there some kind of rule or copyright law that forbids this kind of chicanery? I know it’s illegal for a soap manufacturer to sell laundry detergent in a yellow and orange box and call it “Tides”. Same-o, right? Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/2 "2002-10-05T20:41:44Z")
Looks like Google might have a case under the [Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act](http://www.keytlaw.com/urls/acpa.htm). But then they might also have to go after these [cute li’l guys](http://www.googles.com). ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/3 "2002-10-05T20:46:45Z")
I don’t know about the legality or impermissibility of it, but it’s not unique to [Google](http://www.google.com)/[Googl](http://www.googl.com). There’s a Yahoo! interloper ([www.yaoho.com](http://www.yaoho.com)), a Lycos interloper ([www.lcyos.com](http://www.lcyos.com)), and the ever-famous [whitehouse.com](http://whitehouse.com), a porn site. (The real White House is [http://www.whitehouse.gov](http://www.whitehouse.gov) .) However, both [http://www.gooogle.com](http://www.gooogle.com) and [http://www.yahooo.com](http://www.yahooo.com) redirect to Google and Yahoo! respectively. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/4 "2002-10-05T20:58:05Z")
If I click on one of your links, then I’m going to get stuck with [googl.com](http://googl.com) coming up in my browser every time I want Google. I’m glad I thought of that before I clicked. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/5 "2002-10-05T21:17:14Z")
You can stop [googl.com](http://googl.com) from showing up by erasing your browser history. ---
**Author:** ![Slugworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Slugworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slugworth)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/6 "2002-10-05T22:29:30Z")
Most major sites have this problem. Even a relatively small website I used to work on, [www.massassi.net](http://www.massassi.net) has a similar address that sends you to a porn page. I forget what it is off the top of my head. [www.massasi.com](http://www.massasi.com) or something along those lines… The same goes for our forum address. ---
**Author:** ![Slugworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Slugworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slugworth)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/7 "2002-10-05T22:34:30Z")
[_deleted_] , that is. A moot point, but just in case someone was interested in visiting Hanky Panky College. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/8 "2002-10-05T22:38:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chula \* > \*\*If I click on one of your links, then I’m going to get stuck with [googl.com](http://googl.com) coming up in my browser every time I want Google. I’m glad I thought of that before I clicked. \*\* Oops! Sorry, I didn’t think of that. Which is exactly how I got it. I’ll do as **friedo** suggests. Thanks. 🙂 BTW; leave the cute little googles alone. At least they aren’t trying to usurp google’s domain name. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/9 "2002-10-05T23:58:02Z")
**Slugworth** , I’ve removed the link in your post. While I sympathize with your problem, we don’t allow links to porn on this board. **DrMatrix** - General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Slugworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Slugworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slugworth)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/10 "2002-10-06T00:01:50Z")
Not to complain, because as I said, it was a moot point, but curiosity is killing this cat, and just for future reference. Why’d my link get killed and not the references to other porn sites, like [whitehouse.com](http://whitehouse.com)? Just that it was a direct link? ---
**Author:** ![Slugworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Slugworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slugworth)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/11 "2002-10-06T00:05:04Z")
… answered before I hit reply. Sometimes an edit button would be nice 😛 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/12 "2002-10-06T00:06:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*You can stop [googl.com](http://googl.com) from showing up by erasing your browser history. \*\* Thanks, **friedo**. Worked like a charm. All’s normal now. 🙂 mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Anubis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/13 "2002-10-06T02:39:38Z")
Then there’s [nasa.com](http://nasa.com) (porn) and [nasa.gov](http://nasa.gov) (government thing). Don’t want to go into how I found that out. Let’s just say I was looking for photos of the sun at school… ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/14 "2002-10-06T03:06:09Z")
Hmm, I remember accidentally tuning into some AM call-in show and hearing this woman who was _horrified_ that when she decided to look up the Promise Keepers online–and just assumed that [pk.com](http://pk.com) would belong to them–she got porn. And _why isn’t there a law?_🙂 I liked this one just because of the assumption that any two letter abbreviation isn’t used by at least fifty different groups. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/15 "2002-10-06T04:28:13Z")
And this whole issue underscores just how far the Internet has spread from the purpose it was designed for: it was originally called the ARPANet and was designed to provide decentralized, blast-proofed computer communcations for the military if the Rooshians ever got the first strike. Of course, that is the Internet as a whole, not the web. The web began as a small NCSA project, born when it released Mosaic, the first web browser. This was the killer app of the 90s, because it made the Internet palatable to people who didn’t like to read (none of the other Internet protocols are as graphics-ridden as http is, and the web is http). Notice something about both of those projects? _Neither was meant for mass consumption._ ARPANet could well have remained classified had the DoD so chose, and Mosaic was created by a university. Quite simply, the Internet and the web had greatness foist upon them, and have had to try, stumbling, to keep up. (What does this have to do with anything? I’m getting there…) This is illustrated in how domain names are handed out. Domain names are text strings like ‘[googl.com](http://googl.com)’ and ‘[nasa.gov](http://nasa.gov)’ that substitute for IP addresses (the four-part dotted numbers I illustrated above, aka dotted quads) so humans can navigate the web. They’re given out by ICANN, a quasi-offical body with the support of the US government and almost nobody else. ICANN has made [bad](http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/04/30/2318253&mode=thread&tid=95) [moves](http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/07/02/0412221&mode=thread&tid=95) in the past, and now it’s [time for it to die](http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/08/15/1612226&mode=thread&tid=95) (gone, like farts in the wind). The fact that there is only one corrupt body adjudged competent (by an incompetent government, mind you) to hand out domain names is testament to how borked the web has become and how ad hoc its growth has been. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/16 "2002-10-06T04:30:42Z")
[Oh yes, a relatively recent Slashdot article on the quasi-judicial UDRP the ICANN uses to please a few and piss off the rest of us.](http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/07/11/1320257&mode=thread&tid=95) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/17 "2002-10-06T04:34:10Z")
Hm. My post has become borked itself. 🙂 IP numbers are numbers computers use to talk to each other across the Internet. They can be represented in almost any way, but the usual form is four decimal numbers in the range [0…255] seperated by periods, or dots. Hence the name ‘dotted quads’. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/18 "2002-10-06T06:52:59Z")
Regarding the Google issue, you can download either a toolbar (for IE) or a bookmark (Moz/Netscape). Then it’s just one click away. At any rate, bookmarks defeat these “interlopers” handily. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/19 "2002-10-06T17:31:01Z")
Erase your browqser history. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993/20 "2002-10-06T18:28:13Z")
For Netscape 7.0, you can go to Preferences; select Navigator -\> Internet Search. Then select Google (or Lycos, Music: Artist by Spinner, Netscape Search, or Overture) from the Search Using: menu. Then when you want to search using Google, you just put your search arguements into the location bar. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googl-sneaky-suckers/130993.md?page=2)