VARIOUS media sources reported last week that Partido Lakas ng Masa presidential candidate and labor leader Ka Leody de Guzman is bent on filing a case against the entities behind the putting up of an illegitimate website carrying his name, which redirects to the official website of another presidential aspirant.
It was revealed that the website “kaleody.com” redirects users to “bongbongmarcos.com,” the website of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. De Guzman said that his official website is “kaleody.org” and urged the authorities to investigate this scheme, for it clearly intends to cause confusion among the voters and sabotage his presidential campaign.
To verify if the allegations are true, I typed “kaleody” on the search/address bar of my Internet browser and it automatically suggested “kaleody.com.” Upon clicking the return key, I was indeed redirected to “bongbongmarcos.com.”
First point: Since the domain name, “kaleody.com” still exists, and the redirection still exists, that means that the authorities concerned have done nothing to date. This is a matter of concern, so why hasn’t anyone done anything yet?
How website searches work
Here is what happens when you type something in the address bar near the top of your internet browser.
Step 1. Enter the domain name or uniform resource locator (URL) of the website that you want to visit in your browser.
Step 2. The internet service provider (ISP) provides you with an Internet connection. If the ISP doesn’t know the Internet protocol (IP) address of the URL, it will retrieve it from the domain name system (DNS) servers.
Step 3. The DNS servers translate the domain into an IP address.
Step 4. The ISP directs you to the website at the hosting provider based on the IP address provided by the DNS servers.
The IP address can be traced back if you know the domain name server, which is provided by the domain name registrar.
ICANN lookup
Who is the domain name registrar of “kaleody.com”? The first thing that I did, which any forensic investigator would do, was to perform a domain name lookup. This could be done through a raw registration data access protocol (RDAP) to reveal the registrant’s details. However, for non-techies, the best way is to query ICANN itself.
ICANN stands for “Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.” It is an American nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet. It manages the domain name system and root servers of over 180 million domain names and four billion network addresses across 240 countries, thereby ensuring a stable, secure and unified global Internet.
The domain information of kaleody.com shows that the name was created and registered only on Feb. 23, 2022, a day before de Guzman discovered it. The name was subscribed for use for a full one-year period.
The contact information has been redacted for privacy purposes, and most of the contact data has been removed, but the registrar information, which is important in all cases, is still available. It shows that the domain name was registered with Tucows Inc., as seen below:
Any perceived abuse of the use of the domain name has to be reported to the registrar itself through the contact details. As indicated, all abuses should be reported to [email protected] or through telephone number (+1)4165350123.
Second point: ICANN has agreed with their accredited registrars that only the latter can suspend individual domain names. Since the domain name is still up and running, this means that the abuse was not reported to the registrar concerned. Why not?
Third point: The publicly retrievable IP address of “kaleody.com” is 95.215.19.12. However, this might be a spoofed IP address. Take note that the name servers operator is Njalla, which, according to its own words, is the “World’s most notorious privacy provider for domains. Njalla provides you with an encrypted tunnel from your computer to the internet. We hide your real IP address behind one of ours.”
Tucows Inc.
According to its website, tucowsdomains.com, “Tucows is a publicly traded provider of network access, domain names and other internet services headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It has been a recognized leader in the industry since 1994 and ICANN-accredited since 1999. Tucows actively participates in internet governance and in shaping internet policy to ensure that the focus remains on making the internet better and more effective for all users.”
Reporting abuse is done by clicking the third top tab, “Report Abuse” and filling out the necessary forms. The tab welcomes the abuse reporter with the message, “If you have encountered a domain name that presents a problem you think should be addressed and if a Tucows registrar is the registrar for that domain name, this is the right page for you.”
Tucows is committed to responding, investigating, recording and publishing any abuse. One of its promises is a thoughtful, “registrant-first” approach to dispute resolution. Tucows’ approach to any domain name dispute begins with the firm belief that “your domain name is your own.”
Last point: Ka Leody should have banked on this promise and commitment and demanded that Tucows suspend the use of the name “kaleody.com.”
Remember, your domain name should be your own.
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