For a Mere $200, ‘Boston2024.Sucks’ Could Be Yours
A billboard near Fenway Park overlooking the Mass Pike is doing what, in theory, billboards ought to do: turn heads. But this one’s doing it with a distinct—if not a tad crass—Bostonian panache.
“NEW YORK . SUCKS” the sign proclaims. It’s a clever marketing ploy for the Vox Populi Registry, which allows people to buy a “.sucks” domain for a target of their choosing. In 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) sought to increase the number of domains and have since issued roughly 700 new domains, like .boston (Globe property, sorry) and .dad. As reported by Beta Boston in an excellent explainer, ICANN will receive $100,000 from Vox Populi and $1 for each of the first 900,000 .sucks addresses it sells, despite ICANN’s intellectual property division calling the business practice “predatory, exploitive, and coercive.”
While most .sucks domains cost around $200, some come at a premium. A sampling of still-available Boston domains:
- MartyWalsh.sucks: $2,000
- Snow.sucks: $2,000
- HamiltonNolan.sucks: $200
- MBTA.sucks: $200
- BuckyDent.sucks: $200
- WhiteyBulger.sucks: $200
Just hours before bid organizers are set to debate opposition leaders in a highly anticipated televised debate, you can give your disdain for the beleaguered Olympic effort at Boston2024.sucks for a paltry $200.
