ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Out of the loop citizens searching for the St. Petersburg library website got an education they hadn’t expected when they saw the assortment of links served up by Google in response to their query.Three years ago the public library switched to its current www.SPLibraries.org domain and this past July it decided not to renew its previous and unused URL. Unfortunately for surfers who chose to use Google instead of check local sources for the correct address, an adult webmaster snapped up the domain, transforming it from a place where people could find thousands of books to a place where people could find “1000’s of sexy women and teens wearing bras and exposing all.”
The city had no idea anything untoward had happened to its discarded URL until a St. Petersburg Times reporter contacted a representative and asked them about the Bra Babes site and its relationship to the library.
Google has since updated its registry, but in the meantime, city spokesman Muslim Gadiwalla conceded that “We can’t just go out and buy all of them.”
Indeed Gadiwalla is correct, although some may think that adult webmasters are doing their best to buy mainstream domains. Even Florida Governor Jeb Bush had his domain experience true free market independence in 2002 when it was turned into a porn site.
