I often imagine parallels between the Internet and the Wild West.  We have this new territory we are exploring and inhabiting.  We are staking claims on new land and creating communities like cities which come and go.  Like many newly established territories before it, this one comes with an element of lawlessness.  It’s natural and is generally ignored, until it happens right on your doorstep

Last friday, through a compromised email address, someone hijacked and stole the Lissn.com domain.  After gaining access, they were able to transfer the domain to their own overseas registrar.  This happened shortly after sending out our newsletter, inviting our users to try the latest features.  The hackers redirected Lissn to a server in the Netherlands, kept our homepage, and replaced the login button with a message that read “Lissn is currently down for maintenance, sorry for any inconvenience,” further confusing visitors coming to try the latest features.

Websites are hacked and domains are hijacked every day.  It’s not a rare phenomenon, and like stealing a horse in the Old West, the crime often goes unpunished.  It’s too difficult and too time consuming to find and punish someone in this new, digital world inhabited by billions of people.  Despite its common nature, it took nearly 20 years since the birth of the commercial Internet for the first person to be convicted for stealing a domain name — just a mere 6 months ago.  A digital Wild West, indeed.

We have contacted the authorities and proper parties to get the domain back, but the legal process of reclaiming a domain name can take months and thousands of dollars.  Too much time and too much money for a lean startup where momentum is key.

In the spirit of lean startups and quick moves, we have simply moved Lissn to Lissn.in.  Lissn.in is where you can go to lissn in on live, public conversations. Lissn in on interesting people around the world.  Lissn in on conversations that interest you.  Lissn in!  It doesn’t have a bad ring to it, huh?  Perhaps a little forced rebranding isn’t so bad, albeit unorthodoxly.

Checkmate!

So, what can you learn from us?  If you own a domain, you can follow these steps to protect yourself:  Change your passwords frequently, especially your email address.  Never use the same password for anything.  Don’t use gmail or any free email provider for your domain admin contact.  If you are using gmail, turn on alerts for unusual activity.  Use a domain registrar with good security.  Some of the top registrars for security used by domain investors are Moniker, Fabulous, and Name.com.

My personal philosophy is that legal battles and revenge are a distraction.  Our time is best focused on innovating and making Lissn a thriving, beneficial online community.  With our new domain we are able to continue right where we left off with our backs to the past.  Onward!

If you didn’t get to try our new Convo Topics, Stages & Visual Lissners, come say hi in the Lissn Talk convo right now:

http://lissn.in/t/Lissn-Talk

Since the newsletter we’ve released a new feature, Chat Transcript!  Now you can see the full transcript, not just the last few things said.  We’re lissning!

Lissn Topics allow anyone to create a convo, which is a public forum for real-time discussions.  It allows 3 people to talk on stage and an unlimited number of people to Lissn in.  Watch as people enter a convo and see which convos are garnering the largest crowds.

Thanks to everyone who reached out to us during this domain fiasco.  The support we received was overwhelming, and we greatly appreciate it.

The best way we can say thank you is to continue working day and night growing Lissn and continuing to lissn to what you want.

Sincerely,

Myke Armstrog
Lissn Founder

Try out Lissn!  http://lissn.in