SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - (Business Wire) President George W. Bush today signed into law bi-partisan legislation that provides Go Daddy and other Web companies much needed tools to take illegitimate Internet pharmacies offline. The legislation is aimed at stopping rogue pharmacies from operating online and helping to prevent the purchase of drugs without a valid prescription through the Internet.
The new law requires online pharmacies to comply with state laws in which they do business, as well as publicly display its compliance and registration with the Drug Enforcement Administration. This allows federal agencies to provide Go Daddy and other Web companies a list of legally-approved pharmacies. With this information, Web companies can more quickly spot illegitimate pharmacies that often target teenagers. Also, Web-based pharmacies can dispense controlled substances only if they have a valid prescription. Patients must also have been examined at least once by a healthcare provider.
“Go Daddy helped shape this legislation because we needed the tools to shut down unscrupulous online pharmacies,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “Prescription drug abuse among teenagers is at epidemic proportions. Now we can help by shutting down companies that sell dangerous, illegal drugs on the Web.”
How serious is the problem? Last year, Go Daddy's 24/7 Abuse Department suspended more than 1,300 different Web sites tied to rogue pharmacies. This year, without the new law, Go Daddy was on pace to see that number increase by nearly tenfold.
Earlier this year, Go Daddy General Counsel Christine Jones testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security about how quickly illegitimate pharmacies are proliferating on the Internet and the important role lawmakers have in stopping the rampant drug problem online.
U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI), the bill’s lead sponsor, and Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) have commended Go Daddy for its support of this legislation, both in Committee and on the House floor.
The original bill was named after Ryan Haight, a California teenager who died after overdosing on Vicodin which he obtained on the Internet. Go Daddy has supported "The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act" since its inception.
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About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.
Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans and Web site design and hosting packages, as well as a broad array of on-demand services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce Web site hosting, blog templates and blog software, podcast packages and online photo hosting. The Go Daddy Group, Inc. has more than 31 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every second. GoDaddy.com is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world’s largest hostname provider according to Netcraft Ltd. During 2007, The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all domain names registered in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi.
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