Lacey lays claim to Web domain names

City hopes to pre-empt Web pornographers

LIONA TANNESEN THE OLYMPIAN

LACEY -- Lacey has taken a pre-emptive strike against Web sites misusing the city's name.

Lacey bought 11 domain names for $19 each per year -- a total of $209 each year.

The purchase followed Tumwater's discovery in December of an adult site called Tumwater.com.

The owner wanted $4,000 for the domain name, but the city decided not to purchase it, Tumwater officials have said.

"It's money well spent to avoid that type of thing," said Lacey City Councilwoman Nancy Peterson, who is the chairwoman of the city committee that made the decision.

The city will direct users of the 11 Web sites to the city's official Web site as a convenience, said Steve Kirkman, a city spokesman.

The city could not purchase Lacey.net, Lacey.org and Lacey.com.

However, none of those Web sites brought up adult material.

"We were able to obtain all the other names that we were interested in," Kirkman said.

The city cannot buy every single combination of the word Lacey, but it bought the ones people are most likely to type in, Peterson said.

Peterson said she did not want a child who was doing research about the city to pull up a pornographic site.

Tumwater learned about the site after a parent called to complain that her child had stumbled onto it.

"We want people who are trying to find Lacey to reach us relatively easily," Lacey City Councilwoman Mary Dean said.

Liona Tannesen covers Lacey and courts for The Olympian. Reach her at 360-754-5427 or ltannese@ olympia.gannett.com.

Owned by Lacey

The City of Lacey bought the following domain names: cityoflacey.com, cityoflacey.net, cityoflacey. org, laceywashington.net, laceywashington.org, cityoflaceywashington.com, cityoflaceywashington.net, cityoflaceywashington.org, laceywashingtonusa.com, laceywashingtonusa.net and laceywashingtonusa.org.

The city's official Web site is www.wa.gov/lacey.

For more South Sound stories go to the South Sound section.

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