As some of the regular readers of this blog know, I am currently renovating our home. Hopefully we'll be moving in within the next threee weeks.
One of the final external jobs was to put up a boundary fence between my property and my neighbour's.
That's when the problems started yesterday.
My neighbour has been very good and extremely patient whilst living next door to a virtual bomb site for a year now. There have been no complaints, no problems and we've all got along fine.
As soon as the boundary fence stared going up yesterday, all hell let loose.
I had asked my builders to err on her side when placing fence posts and luckily he'd followed my instructions. The net result was that we actually sacrificed a few inches to accommodate my neigbours requirements to move stuff betwwen the two houses. I do try to be reasonable.
However, she came out to see how things were going and screamed at the bulders that I was stealing her land!
Once all of the posts were in though, the builder was calmly able to demonstrate the reality, that we had actually given her more space than she previously had. All calmed down,
Boundary disputes are extremely expensive in the UK - one of the few things that every householder should try very hard to avoid. My work in the surveying industry has taught me that!
So, when I first insured my buildings last year, I added on legal protection with an extra provision for covering boundary disputes.
If the neighbour couldn't have been placated, then I could have expected a legal letter and huge expense in defending my boundary. Two sets of surveyors, a land surveyor acting as an independent arbitrator and of course, tons of legal fees.
As it happens, it wouldn't have cost me a penny, but the neighbour doesn't have such cover and probably doesn't have the cash to fight the case. There's nothing like being prepared.
Why do I mention this?
Simply because the Snowe Bill, if successful, will put our virtual property in similar jeopardy.
There is no insurance to protect against a domain dispute.
Many domianers don't have the funds needed to get professional representation in the case of an unprovoked attack from somebody wanting to "legally" steal domain investments.
Think about it.
Domains could be worth considerable sums of money. That could be a few hundred pounds to some and several million to others.
Why should you sit back and let someone take your property?
The simple answer is that you can't. Visit the ICA web site at
http://www.internetcommerce.org/ and read up on this ridiculous Snowe Bill.
Understand the threat.
Then take the appropriate action - whilst you still can!
