Bush library searches for Web site name
AUSTIN – While President Bush’s advisers were taking offers on an ideal spot for his library and museum, they probably should have paid more attention to the virtual real-estate market.
Officials finally settled on Southern Methodist University in Dallas to house the $250 million complex.
But online, some of the very best addresses are gone — snapped up for a mere fistful of dollars by squatters who have no connection to the library yet hope to make fun of the president, protect him or simply cash in on his name.
At one time, the Bush Library Foundation owned the easiest Web site to remember: www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com.
But whether on purpose or because of an oversight — foundation spokesman Taylor Griffin wasn’t sure — it lost that domain name last year. Illuminati Karate, a Web company in Raleigh, N.C., picked it up for less than $10.
Since then, offers have come in to buy it, although company officials won’t say who or how much. And they’re coy on what they plan to do with such a recognizable site.
Having lost such an obvious choice, the foundation is hunting in other e-territories for accessible and memorable Internet brand.
The group has registered a few, such as GWBPresidentialLibrary.com, and is “looking at other options†before making a final decision, Mr. Griffin said.
GeorgeWBushLibrary.gov might work, since government sites aren’t open to the public, as well as sites ending in “edu.†That’s what his father’s library at Texas A&M University uses, BushLibrary.tamu.edu.