IRS to shut down IRS.com and other domains containing "IRS"?
There can be only one IRS.
A few days ago, the US government agency responsible for tax collection and tax law enforcement reminded the public that its official website address is www.irs.gov - and not .com, .net or .org.
And the U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill ("Taxpayer Protection Act") clarifying that existing law, which prohibits the commercial use of Treasury Department names and symbols in a misleading way, also applies to the Internet, including domain names!
Here's a quote from the bill:
(a) In General- Subsection (a) of section 333 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting `internet domain address,' after `solicitation,' both places it appears.
The amended Section 333 of Title 31 now reads as follows:
(a) General Rule.— No person may use, in connection with, or as a part of, any advertisement, solicitation, internet domain address, business activity, or product, whether alone or with other words, letters, symbols, or emblems—
(1) the words “Department of the Treasury”, or the name of any service, bureau, office, or other subdivision of the Department of the Treasury, [...]
There are two main targets of this coordinated action:
- Phishing and identity theft sites which mimick the IRS site to gain access to private taxpayer information such as social security numbers and bank account details.
- Websites that intentionally resemble the IRS's website and offer commercial tax filing services, such as IRS.com
IRS.com is owned by publicly listed Intersearch Group, Inc. (IGO), which issued a press release to "denounce false news reports":
InterSearch Group, Inc., a leading operator of industry specific destination portals such as www.IRS.com, www.Banks.com, and www.Camps.com and provider of Internet search services, today denounced erroneous news reports falsely attempting to link its independent tax-resource website - IRS.Com - to tax "scams" or other illegal activities and demanded that news outlets who disseminate such information correct their false statements.
However, the "Taxpayer Protection Act" is not limited to scam sites and could also be applied to commercial sites such as IRS.com, which repeatedly came up during yesterday's floor debate. In fact, the domain name IRS.com might be incriminating all by itself because in the minds of some Internet users, IRS.com could create the impression that it is owned by the IRS.
It remains to be seen whether these developments are more than the usual tax-season propaganda ("we're doing something to protect you online so you can feel more comfortable handing over a large part of your income").
What do you think… will the US government use this bill to try to cancel or even confiscate domains such as IRS.com to protect its interests?
I, too, have a very "bright" idea: anyone owning any domain (say, xyz.net) should be able to confiscate all other TLDs of that name (e.g., xyz.com, xyz.info, xyz.edu, …) since the public may be confused… (What's that? The owner of xyz.info may want to confiscate your .net instead? Hey, that's for the lawyers to work out!)
And why stop at generic TLDs –surely you should be able to claim xyz.de, .co.uk, etc., etc. as well!
(OK, enough sarcasm.)
I want to ask the US government agency responsible for tax collection and tax law enforcement: WHY WE HAVE THIS EXTENSION ?! Just to have them …
IRS.gov - .gov for government agency
IRS.com - .com commercial Intersearch Group, Inc.
Everything is in order. That the idea of the domain extensions.
I want all land phones county codes to forward to my cell phone, in order my grand-mother not to be confused when she wants to phone me!
That's a good point, .gov is for government, .com is for commercial sites. But it seems to me that the government's revenue service should be allowed to confiscate what they want…
It says it's not the Internal Revenue Service on its banner and in the copyright and in the legal statement, but I think they should link to IRS.gov… If for nothing else the old people.
I am so surprised for news,and I don't think the US government have rights to frohibition people use any .com domain,.com is for commercial Intersearch Group, Inc.And now anyone could use .com,not only for US but aslo for the whole world.
Actually, wangjinhk is making a very good point there: registering .com domains isn't some sort of "special prerogative" for US citizens or US government agencies!
The IRS should be glad that IRS.com actually reinforces the taxpaying paradigm by linking to tax filing services. Imagine the "damage" such a domain could do in the hands of a tax protestor group.
Interesting. Anyone remember I.R.S. Records, home to the British band The Police, as well as other acts?
I don't remember any stir-up about that, though it's been a long time. Could be wrong.
Well Now again a Copyright issue would come is, when the both parties are storng, we could see a good Battel.. lol…
Anyway, as if IRS.com doesnt try to get or gather any info using the name of US Treasury Department, I dont think they will face any trouble.. !!
I think eminent domain should obviously come into play here. If the government wants to overreach into the .COMmercial extension and confiscate private property, it needs to be pay the fair market value of such property. No different than when it takes land from a farmer to build a turnpike.