From the Archives: Hi-Tech Pirates Abscond with Log Internet Domain Name

SAN DIEGO—The Log has covered its fair share of bizarre news in its 50-year history. This bizarre story comes from the archives, specifically a Dec. 1, 2000, issue when it was reported “hi-tech pirates” had absconded with the Log newspaper website domain name.

The article published in a December 2000 issue of the Log reported the publication was temporarily using www.thelognewspaper.com after someone somehow stole the website domain of www.thelog.com. The following is from the article, written by the paper’s editor at the time, Jack Innis.

“Hi-tech pirates have absconded with the internet domain name of The Log newspaper, a 29-year-old recreational boating publication.”

The piracy occurred on Nov. 16 when bookmarked, hypertext links and web address commands worldwide began linking www.thelog.com to an Eastern European lumber company.

The Log has owned its domain name, www.thelog.com, since 1996.

‘We are a timber company located in the Republic of Moldavia,’ the new site read. ‘Please feel free to contact us with any of your timber wants!’

By following a lone link on that web page, viewers are routed to a mailbox addressed: thelog@lizardholdings.com. There is no other substance to the website. Moldavia or Moldova, is a former republic of the U.S.S.R.

Efforts to resolve the domain name theft through Network Solutions, The Log’s contracted domain-registry company, have been tedious. The piracy was initiated several weeks ago via email, Log Newspaper business manager Beth Peterson was told. Apparently, the newspaper’s domain name was reassigned on the strength of a single, fraudulent, email without further checking by Network Solutions, Peterson said.”

It’s unclear as to how and when the issue was resolved, but it is clear that it was, as the Log uses thelog.com domain to this day.