hpHosts: Impersonation = flattery?

They say impersonation is the sincerest form of flattery, wonder if ID theft victims believe that?

I happened across a few domains a few days ago, that piqued my interest. They piqued my interest because their Google entry appeared to be a direct copy of parts of the hpHosts site. Looking further showed that actually, they'd not copied the site - they were pointing to it in their A records. Certainly different.

The purpose of their doing this is still a mystery. SEO purposes perhaps? Maybe, but unlikely. Regardless, a small change has been made to the site to at least make it a little more difficult for them to get away with it, and further work is being planned to prevent it in future.

I've already had one of the domains, leke5.tk taken down by the registrar, and have come across a new one today that's not using the A records to point to it this time, cd-jjwghotel.com. The domains identified thus far are;

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Date    Domain    IP    Reverse    Description    Registrant    Registrar    ASN    Country
********************************************************************************************
2010/12/17_03:48    cd-jjwghotel.com    111.92.236.141    server111092236141.i-services.com.hk.    -    service@ad-aim.com    HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.    45816    HK
2010/12/17_03:48    www.cd-jjwghotel.com    111.92.236.141    server111092236141.i-services.com.hk.    -    service@ad-aim.com    HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.    45816    HK
2010/12/17_03:48    bucuobucuo.com    208.115.210.75    75.hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    Wang Guanjie / 133323033@qq.com    XIN NET TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION    46475    US
2010/12/17_03:48    xx.8fs.org    208.115.210.78    78.hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    lin bamin / 946890023@qq.com    Hichina Zhicheng Technology Limited (R1373-LROR)    46475    US
2010/12/17_03:48    00tk.net    208.115.210.74    hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    959528084@qq.com    HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.    46475    US
2010/12/17_03:48    www.00tk.net    208.115.210.74    hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    959528084@qq.com    HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.    46475    US
2010/12/17_03:48    wap.188208.com    208.115.210.74    hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    355335806@qq.com    HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.    46475    US
2010/12/17_03:48    ourmemorys.com    208.115.210.74    hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    shang fu lin / fpjiannan@qq.com    XIN NET TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION    46475    US
2010/12/17_03:48    dcp.kk5173.com    208.115.210.74    hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    Qi Kang / kangqiwang@yahoo.cn    MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE    46475    US
2010/12/17_03:48    188208.com    208.115.210.74    hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    355335806@qq.com    HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.    46475    US
2010/12/17_03:48    www.188208.com    208.115.210.74    hphosts.lstn.mb-internal.com.    -    355335806@qq.com    HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.    46475    US;

As an aside, the next release of hpHosts is in its final prep stage, and should be released within 24-48 hours.