CLPEX Chat Board

Ok, two postings in one month, go figure. I have another topic that I think everyone should be aware of. I admit I am fast on the clicker and I found this out by mistake. I was trying to look up a SWGIT document (Scientific Working Group on Imaging Technologies) for those of you that are not familiar with the acronym. I typed swgit.COM instead of swgit.ORG. To my surprise, a site popped up that listed many of the topics that SWGIT talks about. Strangely enough our SWGIT logo did not pop up. After scanning the site a bit, it was apparent that a vendor is using the domain name. After a little more research, I found out the vendor is also using a domain name of SWGDE.com (Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence). Also imagine my surprise when this website started to provide links to other legitimate organizations such as the IAI, and then provided vendor links and a contact section where you can get more information. Obviously when it comes to forensics, integrity and ethics are paramount to the profession. These are what the scientific working groups stand for. I can assure you that these working groups would never endorse a vendors product or provide links to vendors where you can get additional information. You decide if you could do business with a company that would go to these lengths.

They're not in any business other than domain name holding. Putting some sort of legitimate looking content on it is a ploy to avoid being attacked (by SWGIT, for instance) with an accusation of "passive domain holding." Their theory is that short domain names have special value that will increase as domain names are consumed and that they can one day sell it for real money. They've hidden their identity through TUCOWS, but interested buyers can contact them through privacycontact.com. The Web is full of this trash that fouls search engine results with sites that look like good targets but have nothing to offer.