Domain investor, blogger and Domain Name Wire publisher Andrew Allemann paid attention to a recent curious trend. More and more often publishers provide books with warnings that the web-sites mentioned there may be outdated by the time the book sees the light of day. In particular, Allemann said that he had discovered such a warning in the book “Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade” by US journalist Adam Minter, the reedition of which was recently issued by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
The book was first published way back in 2013. It is a profound documentary study of the waste processing industry and its economics. Its author refers there to numerous internet resources. The special warning reads that the references were relevant as of the time of its first publication but neither the author, nor the publishers are liable if the quoted sources have ceased to exist or their addresses have changed since then.
Such precaution may seem excessive, but at first glance only. To understand the validity of the publishers’ and author's concerns, one needs only to recall the recent scandal regarding a popular series of children's books Spy Dogs by British writer Andrew Cope. In his books he indicated the address of the web-site where he published supplementary materials for the fans of the dogs’ adventures during their secret missions. However, for unknown reasons Cope failed to extend registration of that site’s domain name. As a result, the domain changed the owner and was used for a porno site. The publishing house had to withdraw urgently most of the books from shops and libraries to prevent “Spy Dogs” from becoming an advertisement for content absolutely unsuitable for children.
