Amstrad.co.uk...

[5MinuteRetro]

...so this is a weird bit of cybersquatting: https://www.amstrad.co.uk/

I'm kinda surprised Lord Sugar (or his sons) aren't all over it.

(Last time I visited this URL, perhaps a decade ago, I think it was some kind of semi-official tribute site, run by an ex-Amstrad chap, possibly by the name of Clive or Cliff.)

Update: Ah, this is the site I was remembering, by Cliff Lawson. Pretty sure either amstrad.co.uk or amstrad.com, or both, used to point here.

[PeterJ]

I read today that Sir Alan has purchased the name from Sky.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/lord- ... 00561.html

[5MinuteRetro]

I read today that Sir Alan has purchased the name from Sky.

Yeah, I was aware of that. My visiting amstrad.co.uk was just a random, unrelated thought. But it seems to be a potted version of Gov.uk. All the links (well, the ones I clicked) seem to end up at the legit Gov.uk website, so I'm really not sure what the point of this is? It's just really strange passing off for no obvious benefit to whoever's responsible.

[equinox]

Very scummy "SEO" spam tactics. I will report it to gov.uk, as it may infringe their copyrights etc.
(Our copyright infringement is the good kind!)

[5MinuteRetro]

Very scummy "SEO" spam tactics.

Sure, but what’s the point with this example? There’s no advertising that I can see, and no obvious scam vector (other than it being neither Gov.uk or Amstrad… all the links seem to lead to legit Gov.uk pages). It just seems of no benefit to whoever’s done it.

[equinox]

Sure, but what’s the point with this example? There’s no advertising that I can see, and no obvious scam vector (other than it being neither Gov.uk or Amstrad… all the links seem to lead to legit Gov.uk pages). It just seems of no benefit to whoever’s done it.

It has a link back to the company (at bottom right) so they get "trusted link juice" in search engines or something.
And who knows what else -- there might be secret bitcoin mining JavaScript or anything.

[SteveSmith]

Fwiw I hate domain squatters. Have you ever tried finding a free relevant domain name that's not something like rschhddhzzz.com since that's all that's left. The person who has it has turned it into a link farm with a message like 'Make me an Offer' at the top. Basically trying to get money for no effort and very little cost.

[equinox]

Fwiw I hate domain squatters. Have you ever tried finding a free relevant domain name that's not something like rschhddhzzz.com since that's all that's left. The person who has it has turned it into a link farm with a message like 'Make me an Offer' at the top. Basically trying to get money for no effort and very little cost.

Of course, we just have to say "prove you are using the Internet to do good work"
... lol
certainly the damn internet changed a lot since 1995 and 2005. I never thought I'd miss ****ing "bloggers"! Bring back Doctorow.

I have a ironic domain used for billing purposes. (my logo is better than most of the ZX sh*t)

[5MinuteRetro]

It's also interesting to me *how* a domain like amstrad.co.uk becomes the victim of cybersquatting in the first place. Sure, the brand has been dormant for a very long while but it's always been *owned* by someone -- and I believe most recently by Sky/Murdoch. You'd think an organisation like that would a savvy IT department with sufficient checks and balances in place to ensure that its digital assets -- even heritage ones -- are protected. Cripes, I've got decades-old domains that I've not used in almost as long that I have on auto-renew for a couple of quid a year. It's really not that hard.

[equinox]

It's also interesting to me *how* a domain like amstrad.co.uk becomes the victim of cybersquatting in the first place. Sure, the brand has been dormant for a very long while but it's always been *owned* by someone -- and I believe most recently by Sky/Murdoch. You'd think an organisation like that would a savvy IT department with sufficient checks and balances in place to ensure that its digital assets -- even heritage ones -- are protected. Cripes, I've got decades-old domains that I've not used in almost as long that I have on auto-renew for a couple of quid a year. It's really not that hard.

WE'd like to imagine that it's just a C64 nerd sitting around waiting for it
But in reality it's the same as the rest of the life.

Long ago the psychotherapist ask me "how come you got CL4.org? I thought org was only for charities"
No, I said, org is reserved for charities and suicides

the real question is how much can you put in the border (and HOW FAST.)

[equinox]

It's also interesting to me *how* a domain like amstrad.co.uk becomes the victim of cybersquatting in the first place. Sure, the brand has been ...

it's known as not-giving-a-f***-ism

The expensive part is buying the TLS certificate.

[clebin]

The links maybe legit now, but you wonder what the long game is. Very dodgy.

[Nitrowing]

I never thought I'd miss ****ing "bloggers"! Bring back Doctorow.

https://pluralistic.net/

[5MinuteRetro]

it's known as not-giving-a-f***-ism

The expensive part is buying the TLS certificate.

Well, yeah. As hinted earlier, I'm not sure this domain was every directly controlled by 'Amtrad', the company, so much as Cliff Lawson, an erstwhile Amtrad employee who seemingly ran it as a hobby/passion project. I'd guess that when he left/retired/lost interest, he just stopped paying the renewal fees. I'd further guess that, until recently, Sky/whoever didn't realise or much care that they 'owned' Amstrad. But now that the Amstrad brand is back with Sugar/his sons, you'd think they'd have an interest in this domain.

[5MinuteRetro]

Oh, and FWIW, www.amstrad.com *does* resolve to the Sky homepage. So, yeah, someone's been paying the renewal fees for *that* variant!

[equinox]

but you wonder what the long game is

sentinel

[equinox]

Well, yeah. As hinted earlier, I'm not sure this domain was every directly controlled by 'Amtrad', the company, so much as Cliff Lawson, an erstwhile Amtrad employee who seemingly ran it as a hobby/passion project. I'd guess that when he left/retired/lost interest, he just stopped paying the renewal fees. I'd further guess that, until recently, Sky/whoever didn't realise or much care that they 'owned' Amstrad. But now that the Amstrad brand is back with Sugar/his sons, you'd think they'd have an interest in this domain.

Yeah I am complaining about cybersquatting. If amstrad.co.uk was owned by (say) EON gas electric, i wouldn't care that much. I just hate the deliberate lying (let's pretend we are the government). do you remember the 1990s internet, where everybody was either an actual professor or a bored privileged child. loved those times. At least we were honest. I met lots of cool professors and privileged children. I get three honorable dinners a year out of this (and some cringe Nirvana tattoos)

[equinox]

Oh, and FWIW, www.amstrad.com *does* resolve to the Sky homepage. So, yeah, someone's been paying the renewal fees for *that* variant!

SO that your em@ailer can still call up granny

[equinox]

It's also interesting to me *how* a domain like amstrad.co.uk becomes the victim of cybersquatting in the first place. Sure, the brand has been dormant for a very long while but it's always been *owned* by someone -- and I believe most recently by Sky/Murdoch. You'd think an organisation like that would a savvy IT department with sufficient checks and balances in place to ensure that its digital assets -- even heritage ones -- are protected. Cripes, I've got decades-old domains that I've not used in almost as long that I have on auto-renew for a couple of quid a year. It's really not that hard.

The more layers of bureaucratic bullsh*t, the easier to ACCIDENTALLY NOT DO IT.
Do you remember when Microsoft lost microsoft.com? Someone bought it and transferred it to them for a laugh. (because we know the alternative would be painful legal struggles)
Ha ha. I remember it. (also that kid called Mike Rowe who registere mikerowesoft and was given an Xbox to shut him up)
What domains are you auto-renewing? I've been bitten yesterday about DMARC, f*** that I give, I'm supposed to be a programmer, but I do bad
sysadmin at the weekends.

[5MinuteRetro]

The more layers of bureaucratic bullsh*t, the easier to ACCIDENTALLY NOT DO IT.
Do you remember when Microsoft lost microsoft.com? Someone bought it and transferred it to them for a laugh. (because we know the alternative would be painful legal struggles)

Yeah, I guess. I'm just surprised that amstrad.com (actively renewed) and amstrad.co.uk (lapsed) weren't in the same renewal basket, as it were. But I don't actually care... I was just curious about how a relatively (IMHO) well-known URL like this ends up in clearly the wrong hands.

What domains are you auto-renewing? I've been bitten yesterday about DMARC, f*** that I give, I'm supposed to be a programmer, but I do bad
sysadmin at the weekends.

Oh, just a couple of ancient single-word .co.uk domains that I never did anything with, and probably never will. More just habit now to renew them because letting them lapse means they're gone forever. Would folks consider that cybersquatting? That's a semi-serious Q, incidentally. I bought them with good intentions, in the late 1990s -- because I did once intend to do something with them -- but I have just sat on them since. They were just single-word English words... nothing related to any particular brand of the time, or even now really. Around the same time I did also own a very short and common single-word .co.uk that I let lapse. It then became the brand of a bank that was, for a while, pretty popular. I've always regretted letting that one go, which is perhaps why I still sit on my others!

[equinox]

Renewing your old domain out of pure sadness is not squatting.

In YE OLDE DAYS I had "home pages". I've kept it for years (well it's complicated. I also sub-host some other sh*t) -- now in 2024 I have a sad teenage girl who is learning JavaScript and I think THIS IS JUST LIKE THE 90S AGAIN. When she gets a clue I will give her an SFTP account. join my webring and sign my guestbook

[5MinuteRetro]

Renewing your old domain out of pure sadness is not squatting.

Well, that's my take -- there's no malicious intent behind me sitting on these old domains, and I'm definitely a bit sad.

Also, in the very unlikely event someone really wanted one of my dormant domains, I'd probably consider selling/transferring it for a charitable donation or something.

...now in 2024 I have a sad teenage girl who is learning JavaScript and I think THIS IS JUST LIKE THE 90S AGAIN.

Heh, I have teenage boys. Thinking about it, one of my dormant domains could be right up their existentialist street.

[toot_toot]

According to Whois, the domain is owned by a Benedict Sykes since 2018. The company he is a part of is SEO focused, the link is at the bottom right of the page https://www.vanillacircus.co.uk/

The main site looks like a complete copy of the UK Government site, but for log ins and stuff, it does redirect to the main UK govt site, so it doesn’t look like it’s being malicious in trying to take login details.

The only thing I can think of is that as part of the Vanilla Circus SEO link juice strategy and there are pages hidden away with SEO text linking back to their clients sites and Google just thinks that Amstrad.co.uk is an official Government website and therefore boosts the ranking of the site and any SEO backlinks created on the pages hidden from the general user (but not Google).

Anyway, considering that from that Yahoo article Alan Sugar thinks the brand name is worth a fortune (hmmm), I wouldn’t be surprised if Amstrad.co.uk just disappears in its current form.

[5MinuteRetro]

The only thing I can think of is that as part of the Vanilla Circus SEO link juice strategy and there are pages hidden away with SEO text linking back to their clients sites and Google just thinks that Amstrad.co.uk is an official Government website and therefore boosts the ranking of the site and any SEO backlinks created on the pages hidden from the general user (but not Google).

Anyway, considering that from that Yahoo article Alan Sugar thinks the brand name is worth a fortune (hmmm), I wouldn’t be surprised if Amstrad.co.uk just disappears in its current form.

Seems reasonable, as a guess. I've always considered SEO snake oil, though equally I imagine in a world awash with SEO ninjas, some SEO is better than no SEO -- so perhaps I've just contradicted myself!

[SteveSmith]

I've just done a diff of the root pages, and apart from the word Gov being replaced with Amstrad, and a few id's being different, the only real difference I could see was that it's loading script from pagead2.googlesyndication.com and googletagmanager.com. So maybe they're just getting enough ad revenue to cover the domain squatting.