Who Owns Your Website
It seems like a pretty easy question to answer, but you’d be surprised at how many times the answer doesn’t turn out the way you might think.
Several years ago a client contracted with us because they were dissatisfied with their current website and wanted one that they could easily update themselves.
When we started to work on their website we discovered several things. Their previous Webmaster had created their logo (they paid him to create it), which they had on their website, but also on all of their business cards, brochures and on their entire product line.
When they contacted their Webmaster, to let him know that they were going to have their website redone by Archer Strategic Alliances, he told them that he owned the copyright on their logo and that they could no longer use it! It seems that the person who creates a “work of art” owns the copyright to it. They hadn’t thought to specify in their contract with him that they had a perpetual, irrevocable and exclusive right to use it.
Another client had paid a Webmaster to build a website for their in-home care business. The webmaster had done so, but had used a program that wrote the web page’s code in a non-standard manner. It worked on one browser - Internet Explorer - but it didn’t work on Netscape. Then the Webmaster wanted to get paid additional amounts to modify the code.
Recently a new client contracted to have their website re-done. While gathering the information necessary, we discovered that their previous Webmaster had registered the client’s Domain Name - their “www” - in HIS name, and that he was the owner of that Domain Name. It didn’t matter that the Domain Name was the same as their business name - he OWNED it!
Fortunately, he was an ethical Webmaster who had registered it in his own name just for the convenience of doing so and to be sure that the client knew when to renew the name.
You can check the ownership of your domain name by going to a “Whois” database. We use www.BetterWhois.com. You may have to enter a security code which will be provided by the Whois.
You should be able to see Domain Name’s Owner (called the Registrant), the Registrar (the organization that is used to register the Domain Name), when it was registered and for how long and also the Status. For security’s sake the Status should be “Register-Lock” which will prevent someone from fraudulently transferring your Domain Name.
Another important thing to find out from your Webmaster is if your Domain Name is in an account under your name, and what the Username and Password is. Be sure that it is in your contract that the Webmaster will not change the Username and Password without your written consent. You also need to know WHERE the files for your website are hosted as well as the Username and Password to access or change these files (which may be different from your Domain Name password).
So the question for you is: Who owns your logo or other website artwork and who owns your Domain Name?
Steve Freedman of Archer Strategic Alliances develops business websites and Search Engine Optimization. He is the author of a PC Security eBook “Help! Something’s Got Hold of My Computer and It Won’t Let Go!” available at http://www.HelpProtectMyComputer.com.
Tags: key logger, malware, PC Security, Search Engine Optimization, spyware, virus, Website, worms9 Warning Signs You Might Be Infected With Spyware AndOr Adware
FACT: Chances are your machine is hosting spyware. There are currently over 78,000 Spyware and Adware programs on the Internet that can affect your PC.
Here are 9 warning signs you should be aware of, if any of them pertain to you then your PC is most likely infected:
If you start you Internet browser and the homepage that pops up is not the one that has been set by you. You then change it back to what you want and then it goes back to something you didn’t set again. This is one of the more common features and ways to tell that you have been taken over by some sort of spyware and that you should rid your system of it immediately.
If you get pop-ups that have been personalized with your name on them or you begin to receive pop up ads while you are not even connected to the Internet or don’t have a browser open. This is one of the more annoying ways that your system will let you know that you have something other than normal operating in your system.
You start receiving very expensive phone bills that have you placing many calls to 900 numbers that you never heard and ones that have hefty per-minute rates. Spyware takes over your phone line due to the connection that you have in conjunction with that phone service, whether dial-up or broadband.
You enter a searchable item into your required Internet toolbar or address bar and then all of sudden an unapproved searching system handles your search. More infamous items are infected with stuff such as Mysearch Bar and other spyware type search engines that only take you to their approved sites.
Another sure fire way to know that you have spyware operating on your system is that you have view your favorites list and you have favorite sites in their that you did not put in yourself and have found that other sites you put there are no longer found. You delete these items but they always show up again in your favorites.
Your system begins to run slower than normal. If you are a updated Windows OS user you pull up your task manager system information screen and see that your system is running at 100%, then you are infected with spyware because your system always needs a little free space in order to process information, which is why your system slows down when you have spyware on it.
At a time when you are not doing anything online, the send or receive lights on your dial-up or broadband modem blink just as wildly and lively as when you are online downloading a file or surfing the Internet. Also, your network icon on your screen will be flashing rapidly showing you that you are working on receiving and sending information from your system at a very rapid rate. This is the job of spyware here to send and receive information to your system without telling you.
A search toolbar or other browser toolbar appears even though you didn’t request it or install it. Your attempts to remove it fail, or it comes back after removal. Parts of spyware registry files hide themselves in your system under aliases and unless you find all of them and remove them, then they will never leave your system, causing them to show up over and over again.
And the final sign is: Everything appears to be running normal but the most deceptive and devious spyware leaves no tracking information for you to find it anyway. This is the sure way to get you to check your system on a routine and regular basis so that you are sure you have no signs of an infection.
When not on his soapbox, Andrew Wroblewski is doing battle with the thousands of spyware programs that can affect you via his ant-spyware and spyware removal website: http://spyware.pcwash.com where you can get a free spyware scan of your computer system.
Tags: ad ware, adware, keyloggers, malware, spy ware, spyware, trojan horses, worms
