Fergus Cassidy

Brought to book

WEARY from the dreary demonising of the internet by those who are most threatened by it, it was heartening to see the tables being turned.

When it comes to dealing with a digital world book publishers have been very slow in getting their own digits out. If foot-dragging was an Olympic sport, book publishers would be on the winner's podium, with the record and movie businesses by their side. Lest it be forgotten, this is the same book industry which frothed at the mouth when Xerox arrived. Pulp fiction at its finest.

So last week it was great to see a major publisher having to eat humble pie straight from the online oven.

In April 2000, Penguin Putnam first published a book called Katie.com. It is a harrowing account by Katherine Tarbox, who was thirteen when she was abused by a predator using the web to mask his real identity and purpose. The book has been very successful and there have been several reprints. Tarbox subsequently became involved in educating and campaigning on child safety issues.

But perhaps Penguin Putnam thought that the bursting of the dotcom balloon was the end of the internet story, because they didn't give a second thought to who owned the domain name which matched the book's title.

Their first thought was girl.com, but it was then a porn site and considering the nature of the book, they opted for the author's name and published Katie.com. The woman who owned the domain doppelganger was Katie Jones, a UK citizen. Her husband bought the name in 1996 as a birthday present and she was delighted to have her own-name dotcom address.

Following the success of the Katie.com book, Katie Jones' life was severely disrupted and she took down her web site and replaced it with an open letter to the Penguin Putnam.

She wrote: "Since your book was published, my life has been completely invaded by its presence. Friends and colleagues have contacted me asking if it was me that was molested. Strangers have emailed me with upsetting stories of their own experiences. Other have contacted me asking me to put dubious content on the site, and countless other intrusions".

Jones appealed to Penguin Putnam asking "to admit that you have made a mistake here". She described herself as a "young woman with a young family and very few resources... . I'm not a powerful corporation, I am just one person, but I believe I have the right not to have my website and name used in this way".

For four years the publishers ignored her situation and repeated requests. In one book reprint, a slip was added explaining that the title was not to be confused with the dotcom address. But the book's title stayed the same.

Recently, Jones received a call from Katie Tarbox's lawyer, which Jones described as "very unpleasant". She also said the lawyer "tried to convince me that I should donate the domain name to them".

The standoff finally came to an end last week when the publisher announced it was renaming the book to 'A Girl's Life Online' explaining that "this is an important book about predatory paedophiles on the internet and how we can protect our children. We changed the title to keep focus on this issue".

Katie Jones responded in her blog: "I cannot tell you how pleased I am! Of course they should have done this four years ago and saved us all a load of grief, but I am thrilled that they've finally realised the consequences of their actions and admitted fault".

She also thanked people for their support and said that "this sudden change of heart by the publisher is largely to do with the support this issue has received from the online community".

She might be right. The day before the publisher relented, a posting appeared on Slashdot, a 40ft juggernaut in terms of web traffic. The book also received many negative reviews on Amazon's sites, all mentioning the disputed domain name.

As an epilogue, Katie Jones said that the issue "is, and always has been, so much bigger than me individually, and the resolution is very important to domain name owners out there".

And so say all of us.