Not that Matthew Smith
Jul7
Having one of the most common names in the world is tough.
While doing a vanity search, I found an article concerning Pennsylvania House Bill 1900. This bill is meant to prevent “political cyberfraud” which includes:
A knowing and willful act concerning a political website that is committed with the intent to deny a person access to a political website, deny a person the opportunity to register a domain name for a political website or cause a person reasonably to believe that a political website has been posted by a person other than the person who posted the website, and would cause a reasonable person, after reading the website, to believe the site actually represents the views of the proponent or opponent of a ballot measure.
Apparently a Pennsylvania State Representative, and fellow Matthew Smith, was one of the signers of the bill. At face value, it appears that the bill tries to restrict the registration of domain names that are also the names of political officials. As noted in the article, the Pennsylvania State legislature probably does not have the authority to enforce this bill, but it is troubling that this is on the minds of lawmakers. Hopefully, with the future influx of new Top Level Domains (TLDs), domain name problems will be a thing of the past.
Regardless, I wanted to make it clear that I am not that Matthew Smith. And, I wish him the best in his political career. Although, I do not look forward to having to pay the hosting fees for bandwidth if he runs for President in the future.