On The Net

Sites nixed for selling bogus Web names

The Web domain-name business continues to produce its fair share of con men. A federal court in Chicago recently shut down three Web sites because they were selling worthless online addresses to people who didn't know any better. The court, prompted by a Federal Trade Commission complaint, issued an injunction suspending the registration of dotusa.com, dotsex.com and dotstore.com, according to the New York Times. The commission said the sites were used to sell about $1 million worth of Web addresses with the fictional suffixes ".usa," ".sex" and ".store" for $59 each. The complaint named three companies -- TLD Network, Quantum Management and TBS Industries -- as well as two men who controlled the companies: Thomas Goolnik and Edward Harris Goolnik of London. The companies are based in Britain, but the suspended Web sites were registered in the United States, according to the Times.

IM spam expected to expand

Users of instant messaging services already are used to a certain amount of unsolicited commercial messages. But the experts say IM networks are on their way to becoming an expansive dumping ground for spam messages. Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters, an anti-spam organization, told ZDNet News: "IM spam seems to be in its beginnings. I've got a bad feeling about it because it looks a lot like junk e-mail did in '95." The proliferation of IM spam is credited to at least two pieces of software that allow advertisers to infiltrate IM networks. One, called MassMess, has been used primarily on Yahoo's messenger service, while another, called ICQ Interest Search is credited with a steady barrage of spam in the ICQ messaging network. David Ferris, an analyst with Ferris Research in San Francisco, agreed IM spam is only in its infancy. "It will get much worse," he said.

Online grocery sales still in the mix

Despite the failure of Webvan and other Web-based grocery stores, the idea has not died -- it's just found new partners, according to USA Today. This time around, grocery chains with solid bricks-and-mortar businesses are expanding online, in the same way that they have come to embrace in-store pharmacies, photo processing kiosks, bank branches and other services. The Albertsons chain has online services in Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Orange County, Calif., and Portland, Ore., with expansion to San Francisco expected within a week or so. Safeway is testing an online service through stores in Vancouver, Portland, Ore., San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif. In New England, the Stop & Shop chain has partnered with Netgrocer on kiosks that allow shoppers to order items not found in the store. The orders are then delivered directly to shoppers' homes.

Motley Fool forgets to renew UK address

The British arm of personal finance Web site Motley Fool indeed looked a little foolish over the weekend, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Staff members had forgotten the registration for www.fool.co.uk ran out on Friday, but they were unable to renew it until the British online registrar opened Monday morning. Company spokesman Bruce Jackson told the newspaper: "There have been a couple of problems, but we are still in business and we hope to get the Web site back up as soon as possible. We are feeling pretty sheepish here though." When asked if the company had an "Office Fool" award, Jackson said, "We don't usually, but we probably will this week."

Military may limit tech work to U.S. citizens

The Pentagon is set to ban foreign citizens from a broad range of computer-related defense work, according to the Los Angeles Times. The policy, which would go into adoption in June, would extend to all work considered "sensitive but unclassified," such as payroll processing, software production, inventory maintenance and e-mail support. The policy would have a broad effect on the defense contracting industry in high-tech areas such as Silicon Valley. The industry says the Pentagon proposal could lead to a worker shortage for some jobs because there would not be enough qualified U.S. citizens to fill them. Annalee Saxenian, a University of California at Berkeley professor who has studied the impact of immigrants on the technology industry, told the newspaper: "You can easily create a critical manpower shortage. There's probably no company in Silicon Valley that doesn't have from 10 percent to 40 percent of their workforce who are foreign nationals."

Injured kitty has hit Web site

A Web site in Britain dedicated to an injured cat is getting about 12,000 hits a day, according to the BBC. Frank the cat was hit by a car in Cambridge at the end of January, breaking his pelvis. His owner, David Donnan, happens to be the managing director of Internet firm Igentics, so he decided to test out some of the company's software via a site built for Frank. Its popularity grew quickly. "People like cats and are working away all day in stressful environments and with the click of a mouse can see a nice furry animal," Donnan said. A Google search for "Frank the cat" delivers Donnan's project as the top result. Video of the kitty, as well as his X-rays and information about his recovery, can be seen at www.cathospital.co.uk.

(Compiled by Joe Warminsky in Washington.)