73 Comments - Downstate GOP Faithless - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:50 pm: huh, it sure does! Nothing like having a group capitalize on your good name - Take that - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:50 pm: Sounds like a scummy thing to do. - Aldyth - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:50 pm: You must be perceived as a threat. - Take that - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:51 pm: Total scumbags. - A guy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:51 pm: And yet there isn’t even one ounce of confusion that you’ve arrived in the wrong place. lol - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:52 pm: Isn’t that something every non-partisan think tank does? - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:52 pm: At least now we know how IPI used that Rauner money. - Dirty Red - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:52 pm: Is it even legal for them to use the name like that? - Jake From Elwood - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:53 pm: That’s low, even for the IPI. Was www.lowclass.org taken? - 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:54 pm: Smart on their part. And sort of a compliment I guess, like the sincerest form of flattery or something. - Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:54 pm: Hey Rich, The domain is “owned” by DomainsByProxy.com, a company out of Scottsdale, Ariz. http://whois.icann.org/en/lookup?name=capitolfax.org That company is used when a domain owner doesn’t want people to actually know who owns it. Both Republican and Democratic organizations make frequent use of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domains_by_Proxy But apparently a cease-and-desist could get the company to cough up the goods on who holds the name (Any guesses?) I wonder why they own it, and why they don’t want anyone to know it. - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:55 pm: Dirty tricks, Tillman? Or were you just thinking about Rich when you were filling out the domain name paperwork. Better yet, you were trying to protect Rich from hackers. - burbanite - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:56 pm: Arizona huh? - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:56 pm: capitolfax.net is taken as well. It was registered on 2/15. capitolfax.org was registered on 2/12. - Corporate Thug - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:56 pm: Gotta beef up those hits somehow! I’m sure the IPI is totally data/results/free-market driven when it comes to their social media and web employees. Don’t get enough clicks this month? Tune up you’re resume and start looking for a new gig. - Anonymous Redux - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:56 pm: Intellectual property? Who owns the content? Must be afearin’ your blog, eh? - Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:57 pm: And DomainsByProxy.net also “owns” capitolfax.net, as Anonymous says. http://whois.icann.org/en/lookup?name=capitolfax.net - Amalia - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:57 pm: omg, hilarious! - DuPage Bard - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:57 pm: It used to be the trolls would buy the name then make you buy it from them at an exorbitant amount. Doesn’t seem to be the case here. Pretty scummy if you ask me for a “non-partisan” think tank with “objective” journalists. - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:59 pm: ILPundit, maybe you can get away with total Richard move. But I agree. - 360 Degree TurnAround - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:00 pm: Ahh, the Illinois Theft Institute or Illinois Plagiarism Institute. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:00 pm: Ooops! capitolfax.net was also registered on 2/12. Apparently I need to read more carefully. Apologies! - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:05 pm: Could also be a redirect. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:05 pm: Wonder if anyone is glomming off the IPI address like this? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. - Andy Nymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:06 pm: You can buy illinoispolicy.xxx for the bargain price of $99.95 and redirect to your site. - Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:07 pm: You’ll be surprised to know that John Tillman owns illinoispolicy.org, illinoispolicy.com and illinoispolicy.net. - Former Hoosier - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:08 pm: Have seen this happen during an election when the side that was loosing bought the unused domain to re-direct voters to their web site. After some significant push back, they stopped the shenanigans and gave up the domain. Dirty tricks for sure. - Jeanne Dough - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:08 pm: The misspelled capitalfax.net takes you to the IPI site as well. - Rockford's Finest - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:09 pm: Totally noticed this before. Tricky, tricky. - lake county democrat - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:10 pm: Even if you don’t have a registration, you have “common law” trademark rights in Capitol Fax and would be well within your rights to demand they stop. - Team Sleep - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:12 pm: There are enough attorneys who comment on this site that I’m sure you could take care of this problem with little-to-no fanfare. Kinda like when Bill Gates “bought out” Homer Simpson. - Senator Clay Davis - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:12 pm: Wow, what a completely classless thing to do. - 360 Degree TurnAround - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:12 pm: Would illinoispolicy.xxx be an adult website? Policy after dark? - @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:13 pm: If you move quickly, you can still grab capitolfax.fashion for just $24.60! – MrJM - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:13 pm: === It used to be the trolls would buy the name then make you buy it from them at an exorbitant amount. Doesn’t seem to be the case here. Pretty scummy if you ask me for a “non-partisan” think tank with “objective” journalists === A couple of things. 1) It is usually immoral business types (Rauner like cough, cough) that glob onto similar domain names to steal business. Not surprising that this MOE is being used by IPI. 2) IPI is neither think tank nor non-partisan. It’s a right-wing business propaganda arm. - Mama - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:15 pm: First the FIOLA request, now they are stealing the name of your company. Boy Rich, someone must really love you. /s - Century Club - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:16 pm: Ask for a cut of their front page ad revenue! - SheeshHecukaCupajava - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:18 pm: Sheeeeesh! - Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:21 pm: In Chicago, waiting for a real storm (of buying up domain names and redirecting them). - Beaner - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:27 pm: What other Illinois news services websites are being redirect to the Illinois Propaganda Institute? - Name Withheld - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:28 pm: Maybe it’ll be the new StateHouseChick landing page. - Ghost - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:30 pm: Fyi thats illegal. They passed a copyright protection law which prohibits taking a web adress that uses another companies trademarked or copyrighted name. - sal-says - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:31 pm: Perfect; Assuming it’s IPI: It NOW has to try most anything, including plagiarism (it IS copying the capitolfax name) to get attention and page hits. Probably to be expected from a propaganda site. And, the ‘domain name owner’ buys a service to hide the ownership of the domain name. Shocking. C’Mon, owner: Own Up - Fess Up. - Louis Capricious - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:35 pm: Talk about poor judgment on the part of IPI. It isn’t just that somebody over there (and it’s hard to imagine that such an audacious move wouldn’t need to get reviewed/approved by the guy on top), but that they figured this wouldn’t blow up in their face. Or it just never occurred to them that it might. Either way, wow. It’s way past time we see them sweat. - Wensicia - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:36 pm: Revenge of the Nerds! - Louis Capricious - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:37 pm: Whoops, excluded phrase: ” … over there (and it’s hard to imagine that such an audacious move wouldn’t need to get reviewed/approved by the guy on top) thought this was a good idea … “ - Politix - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:40 pm: They’re obviously exploiting the blog’s popularity. Some may take it as a compliment. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:41 pm: I bet you Arizona Bob had something to do with this… - Mama - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:44 pm: This can’t be legal. Right? - Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:45 pm: So whatcha gonna do about it Rich? - Mama - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:46 pm: Have they set up a Blog like this one at the redirected sites? - Keyser Soze - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:46 pm: I don’t see any advantage to someone having that domain. Anyone who wants to find this site knows how to get here. - Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:47 pm: Typical grifter play. - Stuff Happens - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:47 pm: If you don’t know the difference between capitol and capital, you might be the kind of reader IPI wants. - lurks - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:50 pm: It’s simple: the success of Capitol Fax will “trickle down” to IPI. - Former Hoosier - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:51 pm: So, what if we all ask IPI why, when searching for capitolfax (.org), we are redirected to the IPI site? - U-Turn Agenda Victim - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:52 pm: IPI is so fraudulent. - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:55 pm: The Little Birdie Reporting Service is now reporting on a just completed phone call between CapitolFax owner, Rich Miller, and the Illinois Policy Institute’s John Tillman. Here is the transcript: Miller: “Dude, what’s up with buying a domain name similar to my site and directing it to your site?” Tillman: “Umm, umm, umm, what do you mean?” Miller: “A subscriber just told me about it and when I used the similar URL, your IPI site popped up.” Tillman: “Umm, umm, I’m sure it’s a mistake. Umm, I mean it’s, umm, like a link from your site to ours.” Miller: “Dude, this is no link. This is a redirect from a domain name similar to mine to your IPI site. This is no mistake.” Tillman: “Umm, umm, I was trying to protect you from the corrupt union bosses who would use the similar name to protect the political class.” Miller: “Dude, you’re full of it. If my cardiologist hadn’t told me to stay calm, you would have ‘@*^()&# problems’ with me. You old me an apology and must take down the redirect.” Tillman: “Umm, umm, I’ll talk to Rauner, I mean our IT guy and see what we can do. Remember to stay calm. Don’t get too excited. Things will work out, yea that’s it, things will work out. Bye Rich.” - former southerner - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:07 pm: I do believe the modern right wing conservative movement traces it roots back to the “Watergate Plumbers” given the signature ineptitude but aided by the fact that the fearless leaders are still more capable than the majority of their goofy followers. This would be hilarious except that IPI will get a free pass on this transgression by their wild eyed followers. Maybe our outgoing song for the day should be Joan Baez singing One Tin Soldier since the line, “Do it in the name of heaven you can justify it in the end” fits the thought process of a lot of current miscreants. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:17 pm: Is “raunerstooges.com” taken? - Six Degrees of Separation - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:32 pm: There is a process to retrieve website domains from those who cybersquat. Almost always, a trademarked name will win one of the disputes working through ICANN. The downside is that the process will cost about $1000 per domain name challenge, unless the defendant bails early. https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/help/dndr/udrp-en - Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:37 pm: FS, that wasn’t Joan Baez. “The Legend of Billy Jack” was recorded for the flick by Jinx Dawson and Coven, a kind of pre-goth band out of Chicago that dabbled in witchcraft and satanic themes. One-hit wonders, go figure. When I see someone try to put that goofy tune on Joan Baez, I just go berserk! - James Knell - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:41 pm: Somebodies have too much time & money on their hands… as if that weren’t already obvious… (giggle). - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:54 pm: Now www.capitolfax.org is RickRolling us. - Norm DaPlume - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 6:09 pm: I was sure that Anonymous @5:54 was joking until I clicked on it. At least someone has a sense of humor. - Anon - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 6:10 pm: Think I’ll run out and buy capitolfaxxx.com - Educated in the Suburbs - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 6:26 pm: capitolfa.xxx surely! - Diogenes in DuPage - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 6:32 pm: Ha. Love the new re-directs. Takes you to music video of “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Priceless. - anon - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 6:38 pm: LOL rick rolling….a classic. This is the best thing to come out of that group…maybe ever! - AC - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 6:44 pm: Rickrolling was unexpected, and funny! - Rufus - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 7:54 pm: @- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:54 pm: +1 :^) - Anonymous - Friday, Sep 11, 15 @ 8:54 am: LOL www.capitolfax.org now directs you to Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up — YouTube video - Liandro - Friday, Sep 11, 15 @ 1:51 pm: I think the whole thing is funny, lol. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.