For the week of October 29 - November 4, 2003

Williams quizzed about ‘cyber-squatting’ issue

Sun Valley mayor candidate
says move was ‘mistake’

---

By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

One of two candidates seeking to be the next mayor of Sun Valley publicly announced last week he has given up control of a political rival’s Internet domain name and believes the move to seize the name was a "mistake."

Latham Williams, president of the Sun Valley City Council and a candidate to replace retiring Mayor David Wilson, made the statement Wednesday, Oct. 22, at a political question-and-answer forum in Sun Valley.

Fielding questions from the press and the public with competing mayoral candidate Jon Thorson, Williams was asked by one audience member if he could effectively cooperate with state Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, in light of his move last year to take ownership of the www.clintstennett.com Internet domain name.

Williams contritely said he regretted the decision to take control of the domain name. "The Web site thing was a mistake," he said. "I shouldn’t have done it."

Williams last year admitted that he had paid $30 to register for and reserve through May 2004 the www.clintstennett.com domain name. Williams is a senior-ranking figure in the Idaho Republican Party, while Stennett is one of the state’s most prominent Democrats.

When pressed last Wednesday by local television talk-show host Gene Dallago on why he had not given up control of the domain name, Williams said he "de-registered" his ownership of the name the previous week.

This week, inquiries into the status of the domain name revealed that it is currently not available for registration.

Williams on Tuesday said he had confirmed with his registration service, www.dollardomainname.com, that his registration of the domain name had indeed been terminated. Williams said he had issued a request to the company to discover if the domain name is in someone else’s control or if it would instead be offered to the public for re-registration.

"I have no interest in running the Web site," Williams said Tuesday. "I just de-registered it. Where it goes from here, I can’t control."

Williams unequivocally stated that he has made no effort to facilitate the transfer of the domain name to one of his political allies.

He noted that if he discovers the domain name will be made available, he will offer to Stennett any information he obtains on how to re-register it. "I hope that Clint will go re-register it," Williams said. "I really hope he will do that."

Stennett could not be reached for comment on whether he has sought to register the name or would be interested in doing so.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.