I used to work for a company that owned over 300 domains for one brand – the variety of the profanity was astonishing. They were an awesome company to work for. They’re protecting the perception of their image and brand. All it takes is one disgruntled employee to go register a couple slandering domains. This is nothing new, people. When it comes to N. America’s #1 passion: porn food, people will do anything to protect their best interests.

Slander can be dealt with through courts. Domain name squatting is usually done for money by people with more money than creativity, trying to profiteer by re-selling domain names.

Here, it makes it harder for someone that wants to publish information. If there are any legitimate concerns about Splenda or its parent company, activists would have a hard time finding a compelling domain name. This is money vs. free expression.

It makes business sense, but it’s still sleazy.