The former website of Congressman Ed Perl mutter, a first-term Democrat from Golden, has been changed into a pornographic adult sex and dating service.
According to his spokesman, Scott Chase, Perlmutter’s campaign website,, went dormant after he was elected last November. The staff allowed the domain registration to expire.
Someone bought the domain name and put up a bikini-clad woman directing visitors to a variety of adult sex and dating sites.
The only contact listed on the Web page, without clicking on the services themselves, is Sedo, a Cambridge, Mass., domain name and website “parking” service.
The small type at the bottom of the page states that Sedo doesn’t own the domain name, but offers assistance in buying and selling domain names, websites and other services.
Perlmutter’s staff says it has contacted Sedo to buy back the domain name.
“We became aware of it a couple of months ago and contacted them two or three times,” Chase said. “We wanted to buy it back but each time we called the price went higher.”
Chase said Sedo wants $1,200 for it.
“We’d like to buy it back, just to shut it down,” Chase said. “But we’re not going to be blackmailed by some pathetic cyberspace squatters. Evidently, they’ve done this to hundreds and hundreds of websites and put the exact same information up.
“There’s case law that prevents taking a website like this and directing it to their own website. One of our campaign lawyers has sent them a ‘cease and desist’ letter,” he said.
However, Sedo’s chief operating officer, Jeremiah Johnston, said his company never owned the domain name. It merely brokered the sale to a man in Germany, who owns the name and who receives income from the sexual services advertised on it, he said.
Even though Sedo is headquartered in Cologne, Germany, Johnston said the German buyer has no connection to Sedo.
“This content violates our policy and we’re shutting down these sites as quickly as we learn about them,” Johnston said. “I just learned about this website today when I returned from lunch. We plan to shut it down this afternoon.” The website was blank Friday evening.
When asked about Chase’s comment that the price goes up each time Perlmutter’s staff called about repurchasing the site, Johnston said, “He’s negotiating with the guy in Germany.We never owned the site.”
Chase said Perlmutter is aware of the site but isn’t focused on the dilemma.
“He basically thinks it’s pathetic that these guys are allowed to be in business,” Chase said.
