I just saw this and had to get this out so quick. It's a little example of how our world is so complicated, so intertwined that we have to be very careful when we do a protest. The CEO of GoDaddy, Bob Parsons, recently posted pictures and video of a trip he took to Africa where he hunted elephants. Actually, let me qualify this a little bit, just to make sure I get both sides right. According to Parson, he was on a safari and his party was asked by a group of farmers to hunt some elephants that were threatening their crops. The video and pictures show Parson hunting at night, shooting and killing an elephant. He poses next to the elephant. The next day the villagers, dressed in GoDaddy hats and shirts, are seen cutting up the elephant for food.

To many people the photos and video are harsh to look at. Obviously, PETA was not happy with this and they issued a statement denouncing Parsons. People heard and saw the photos and videos and sent in letters. Parsons did issue a statement, saying in that part of Africa elephants are not in danger.

His posting was done on his blog and website, so this was something not officially with GoDaddy but as the CEO of the company, it would seem he would be aware that posting those pictures might have controversy. Now, it has to be remembered this is the same man who made domain names 'sexy' by having the risque ads during the Superbowl.

Now, full disclosure, I used to work for GoDaddy. I was one of the people you called up for help. That being said I was a low ranking person. I had no stock in the company, no emotional ties to it. It was a job, a relatively good paying job but it was a job. I never went to the lavish parties they throw during the holidays and I met Parsons twice as he cane through the call center.

When I heard about the PETA complaint on the news some of the comments people made alluded to the fact they said they would never do business with GoDaddy. I thought that rather odd since to me GoDaddy is kind of like ATT. They have a T-Mobile ad where T-Mobile talks about how slow the service is with ATT, however ATT is trying to buy T-Mobile, so the ad is a little silly in retrospective because they are dissing the home company. I put my old GoDaddy skills to work and found that PETA has a little problem. Their domain name is registered with GoDaddy!

Domain ID:D23000-LROR

Domain Name:PETA.ORG  
Created On:26-Sep-1995 04:00:00 UTC  
Last Updated On:25-Oct-2010 21:26:21 UTC  
Expiration Date:25-Sep-2016 04:00:00 UTC  
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-LROR)

This isn't hard information to find, it is information anyone with intermediate skills on the internet would be able to find. The question I would have for PETA is if they are so outraged by the video and pictures why haven't they moved the domain name? I do know a domain name move can take time but I would figure they would have mentioned this in a press release. My other question would be if they are hosting through GoDaddy also. Actually I just answered the question because it seems that hosting is with another company. So unless the Who Is information is incorrect, GoDaddy has the domain and PETA hasn't moved it.

That's why corporate protests are going to get harder in years to come because large companies have so many little companies in so many diverse areas. If someone wanted to boycott GE for its practices on taxes (making over 5 billion in the US and not only paying no taxes for it but they got a REFUND for 3 billion) it would be such an endeavor it would be close to impossible to do in a meaningful way. Almost seems like a definition of too big to fail.

While I can sympathize with PETA, and I can get all into the privacy versus public life of the CEO, when people like PETA call for people to protest they have to put their money where their mouth is and so an effort they are cleaning their own house. If Parsons in their mind is that bad, then they should move their domain name to another company. While GoDaddy is the largest registars in the world, they aren't the only company that holds domains. Since a domain name is owned by the person or company, they have the right to move the domain name.