Fearing Koch Brothers Black Ops Movement, Tech-Savvy OWS Geniuses Fork Over $8K to Buy Domain Name

Obviously they were planning ahead.

Occupy Wall Street, seeking a more formal Web presence for the coterie of protesters who have set up camp in downtown Manhattan, is acquiring the domain name occupywallstreet.net for $8,000, according to parties on both sides of the transaction.

“The unincorporated association known as Occupy Wall Street” will take possession of the domain, said the protester who negotiated the deal, Jake DeGroot, 26 years old. It will become the most official online home of the leaderless movement, which has spread its message through a loosely organized network of websites, Twitter accounts, text-message alerts, email lists, Tumblrs and livestreams.

To some of those occupying Zuccotti Park, the domain purchase is a strategic move.

“We would hesitate to use the term branding, necessarily, because of the corporate connotations to that,” said DeGroot, a theatrical-lighting designer who lives in Queens, “but there are advantages to the identity of the movement. It’s important that we have a full, robust Web presence and strategy.”

Amazing how these deep thinkers forgot to go and register a domain for $9 a year. Instead they pay $8000. Fucking idiots. The guy who sold it to them is a real gem.

The domain is being sold by Mark R. Ellis, 53, of Sarasota, Florida, who makes a living buying and selling domain names. He registered occupywallstreet.net on Sept. 23, six days after the occupation of Zuccotti Park, and listed it on at least two domain resale markets for $10,000.

Ellis said he owns “thousands” of domain names, paying about $9 a year for each. Some are famous names like johnnydepp.com, and others are devoted to his beliefs, which include that 9/11 was an inside job.

In a wide-ranging phone interview, Ellis also volunteered alternative scenarios for the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and John Lennon, claimed to have written Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and predicted Israel will attack Iran next year on Purim. “Everyone, as soon as they talk to me, are like, ‘what ship did the aliens give you?’” he said.

Ellis described himself as sympathetic to Occupy Wall Street, calling capitalism “extinction-causing software,” but said he has no plans to join the protests. Regarding the sale of occupywallstreet.net, he said, “It’s not about the money for me.” Asked why he didn’t hand over the domain name for free, Ellis said, “Because I’m a businessman.”

The paranoid lunatic occupiers, after six weeks of this nonsense, finally made use of their 847 committees and figured out the evil Koch Brothers might plunk down $9 out of their ill-gotten billions to surreptitiously hijack the movement that the whole world is watching.

The protesters hope to have a working version of occupywallstreet.net ready in two or three weeks with plans to add a blogging platform and news aggregator over time. But purchasing the domain name was seen as an urgent matter.

“One of the things hanging over our heads through this negotiation,” DeGroot said, “was what’s to stop the Koch brothers — or News Corp., for that matter — from getting it themselves?”

Clearly the Koch Brothers didn't think the $9 was worth it. Here's how they discovered the urgency of foiling Big Koch:

Mic Check! Im Drew from internet. We would like to propose tonight the purchase of occupywallstreet.net for the use of all of us. It is time sensitive because the person who owns it desperately wants to sell it and will sell it to anybody but we have put a stop on that for the day. I realize that this is a weird situation, but we would rather that you own it than say the Koch brotherss. The amount is $8,000. Just so everyone knows, we are about to take a temp check, not on the proposal, but on having it being addressed now based on the time situation.

Dude should've held out for $100K and told these retards the Koch Brothers are willing to match any offer.

By the way, at the WSJ link you'll notice these folks are swimming in cash. It'll be fun seeing them divvy it up after Bloomberg finally clears Zuccotti Park.