That is apparently what happened to the former Web address for Garden State Cable, the cable television system acquired by Comcast Corp. in February 2000. Comcast has referred the matter to its attorneys, spokesman Robert Smith said. I have learned it is not uncommon for an individual or company to purchase recently expired domains and, while offering them for sale, also using them in barter, or for payment, as referral sites to adult Web sites, Smith said. As it turns out, a Web address that attracts any sort of regular traffic may have value to the operator of another site, who can simply redirect that traffic after gaining control of the domain name. It s fairly effective, Penn s Wagner said.
Some businesses aggregate such traffic for resale.
There is always the chance, too, that the original owner will have second thoughts about letting the domain go and will pay to get it back. It s legal blackmail. It s predatory, but it s legal, said Ken Hirsch, a partner at a Web site called Daily Expired Domains. The name of the game in the Internet is traffic, Hirsch said. That may include buying any interesting Web addresses that show up on the expired lists, he said.