Top 25 Snatched Domain Names (.be)

I got the idea for making this list after the whole Facebook.fr / Facebook.be fuzz.

First, I realize sometimes these domain names are just not interesting enough: registering dozens or even hundreds of domain names is relatively difficult and time-consuming, and sometimes the hassle of purchasing a domain name with a country code extension that’s already been registered by someone else is all that and expensive to boot. That said, it’s mesmerizing to see start-up companies lack the ambition of preparing for an international roll-out, particularly with social networking tools which are fairly easy to scale into multiple countries and regions.

Second, I know Belgium comes across as just a small European country and negligible in that regard. Except I think Belgium is small but non-negligible, although I’m a little biased of course.

Here’s the top 25 of .be domain names that do not belong to whom you’d expect:

1. iPhone.be - registered in February 2006 by the company Virtualisers
2. Gmail.be - registered in December 2002 by the company Graphic Zone
3. Facebook.be - registered in December 2006 by an individual named Michel Koppedraaijer
4. WordPress.be - registered in December 2004 by the company Emakina
5. Twitter.be - registered in March 2007 by an individual named TO Crone
6. Amazon.be - registered in June 2007 by the company Amazon Insurance
7. Firefox.be - registered in January 2004 by an individual named G.A. Visser
8. Flickr.be - registered in October 2004 by an individual named Paul Molenaar
9. YouTube.be - registered in January 2004 by an individual named Michael Dowdell
10. MySpace.be - registered in December 2000 by the company Juxtra
11. Digg.be - registered in March 2002 by the company Kila
12. iTunes.be - registered in May 2003 by the company MADEurope
13. Zune.be - registered in March 2006 by an individual named Christophe Zune
14. SecondLife.be - registered in December 2003 by an individual named Patricia Calliauw
15. Blogger.be - registered in December 2001 by the company Cbel
16. Bebo.be - registered in January 2001 by an individual named Robert Mouton
17. Vista.be - registered in July 2006 by the company Virtualisers
18. Flock.be - registered in May 2004 by the company ATAS
19. Jaiku.be - registered in June 2007 by an individual named Uwe Dachmann
20. LinkedIn.be - registered in October 2005 by the company Edge
21. MovableType.be - registered in May 2004 by the company Parknet
22. Plaxo.be - registered in February 2004 by an individual named R.A. Van Baaren
23. Meebo.be - registered in March 2007 by an individual named Eugene Shamilton
24. Ask.be - registered in January 1997 by the company ASK sa
25. GoogleApps.be - registered in October 2007 by the company WestSite

Please note that I chose to include the date of registration and the (company) name of the registrant for context. The fact that this information is publicly available through basic WHOis searches is the transparant policy of DNS.be, the non-profit in charge of handling .be domain name management. I’m not showing anything that anyone could look up in 10 seconds.