Aletheia

Owner worried about negative impact on young son

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4231962/


The Associated Press
Updated: 3:03 p.m. ET Feb. 10, 2004WASHINGTON - The Whitehouse.com Web site, one of the best examples that the Internet isn't always what it seems, is getting out of the pornography business. Its owner says he's worried what his preschool-age son might think.

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"He'll be going to kindergarten next year," said Daniel Parisi, who started the Web site in 1997 that is frequently confused with the official government site, www.whitehouse.gov. Parisi, 44, said he worried that his son's classmates might taunt him about the family's business.

Parisi's decision to sell the Whitehouse.com name and more than 100 derivations comes amid signs pointing to a rebound in the market for reselling Web addresses. A Florida man sold men.com in December for $1.3 million.

Parisi said he doesn't know yet how much the names will fetch; he claimed the Whitehouse.com site, it advertises pictures of "hot interns" and once included a "first ladies" section, earns more than $1 million each year in revenues and said he's invested more than $7 million since 1997.

The site currently features a picture of Democratic front-runner John Kerry with the message, "Our candidates are better looking."

One company expressed early interest. Bob Roberts, a vice president at National Fruit Product Co. of Winchester, Va., which makes White House applesauce and apple juice, said he would contact Parisi to discuss a deal. The company previously fought Parisi in federal court over trademark claims to force him to surrender the disputed Web address.

"We just feel bad when our customers type in the address and they get hit with these pictures," Roberts said. His company's G-rated Web site is www.Whitehousefoods.com.

Parisi said his site, operated by a European company that leases the Web address from him, draws more than 2 million visitors each month. It has been a rallying point for critics who worry about children stumbling onto pornography online.

"Every time our kids were doing homework about the White House or the presidency, they would type in dot-com," said Parry Aftab, who runs the WiredSafety organization. "It's always been the poster child for where our kids can get into trouble with porn by accident."

Officials at the White House, the General Services Administration and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration refused comment on the pending sale. The GSA assigns federal Web addresses; the telecommunications agency regulates U.S. policies on Internet addresses.

Nine months ago, President Bush signed a law that bans the use of misleading Web addresses to lure children to view material harmful to minors.

moonstrucksoul

i don't really know how a k-6 grader would find out that a classmates dad was a pornagraher, but i guess that having the WhiteHouse site would be a hit for marketing his site, and millions of people have been duped to his site, and alot of them minors. So, I conclude that his duty was not to his family name, but to, all families that do not want to be exposed to pornagraphy.

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japhyryder

Now people looking for porn will be looking at applesause...odd change... atleast they both taste can good. I always add cinnamon to mine.

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Cynthetiq

interesting that people realize the "errors" of their ways... from Prince to Vanity, Madonna to Sinead O'Connor.

Hindsight is always better than 20/20

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KungFuGuy

$1 million gross per year? dam i'm in the wrong business...

illesturban

lol no shit. that's crazy. good money; REAL good money.

rrf

aww, what a nice man, worried about his son... (sarcasm)
what a fucker

Jam

thats funny... the us government allows whitehouse.com to be porn, but microsoft wont allow mikerowsoft.com to be his own non pornographic site... funny indeed

GakFace

Yes, I must say.. A little cinnamon in my porn is a lovely touch.

Jam: Thats a great comment.

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Snakebyt

to your porn or applesauce?