Guam News Factor Seeks Public Response To Apparent Attempt At Censorship.

GUAM - Within hours of posting the Guam News Factor story "Imposter! Guam News Factor Copy Cat Site Preparing To Launch," all information regarding its domain name has been restricted from public access and the site has changed its appearance.

Guam News Factor reported yesterday that the domain name "guamnewsfactors.com" was registered to EC Development and that the administrative and technical contact for the website was John Calvo. The Factor story questioned Mr. Calvo's intentions in creating a website that so closely resembles ours, given that his family owns KUAM and www.kuam.com, both of which cover news and events on Guam.

Click here to view the full registration information (PDF) that was captured from Network Solutions' whois search results yesterday while the information was still public.

The deliberate attempt to mimic the GuamNewsFactor.com site went so far as to recreate our logo, select a domain name almost identical to ours and try to design a home page that looked similar to ours. If anyone had searched for Guam News Factor on the internet, they potentially could be misdirected to this imposter website without their knowledge and not by their choice. The Factor views this attempt as a conscious effort to censor GuamNewsFactor.com by misleading the people of Guam and attempting to shut out an alternative voice in local media.

Click here for a larger screenshot of the imposter website.

Since Guam News Factor posted our story yesterday, Mr. Calvo or someone authorized to access the domain name information has restricted the registration information to private access only. Yet, the imposter website is still live with a home page that has been changed to a default under construction page. So, while www.guamnewsfactors.com no longer opens to a home page designed to look identical to ours, it still has the potential to mislead people.

Information acquired by Guam News Factor shows that the imposter website domain name was registered on May 8, 2009, nearly one month before the Guam News Factor story forced this most recent attempt to hide the identities of those responsible.

Serious questions still remain.

What was the intention in registering a domain name nearly identical to GuamNewsFactor.com and building a website intended to look exactly like ours? Was it to mislead the people into believing it was our website? Was it to direct them away from Guam News Factor? Was it an attempt at a form of censorship that would shut out or diminish access to GuamNewsFactor.com because Mr. Calvo disagrees with the way we cover the news and issues important to Guam?

Given Mr. Calvo's family affiliation with KUAM, it is important that these issues are publicly clarified so that any perception of an attempt to censor GuamNewsFactor.com by misleading people away from our website can be addressed definitively.

We also believe it is important for Mr. Calvo to shut down his imposter website completely so that the people of Guam can be reassured that the dangerous line of censorship, by which a select few might seeks to control the news and information the people of Guam have a right to know, is never crossed.

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Dan Lay   |2009-06-07 09:42:57 If the Calvos want to fight, let them do it in private and do not involve the public. KUAM news is not a good source for news---poor writing and incomplete facts. Their web page stinks. Guamfactor news, regardless of who owns it, is nothing more than a news source looking for a fight with sensationalism. The public does not need it. Guam has 4 sources of news and none of them do a good uncensored job. So Calvos, do your fighting alone and do not involve the Guam public.I also feel that guamnews factor is a silent barrage to support a calvo in the upcoming election. Reply | Quote 3   4

ilovemango   |2009-06-15 09:02:34 Regarding Guam having 4 news sources, all of which don't do an unbiased job of reporting: Well, I guess it's just like the national media, huh? Or did you miss the last presidential election? The Calvo's are doing it in private--by hiding behind their reporters and false websites!! News Factor could be way more sensational. I'd hate to hear what you do for fun. Reply | Quote 4   1

unbelievable  - come on calvos   |2009-06-08 04:42:47 why do they have to control everything? can't they just let some people try to inform the public here on Guam. The calvo and their family are like a big octopus with their big tentacles covering everything on Guam. Gross. Reply | Quote 7   2

POOP  - POOPSHOOT     |2009-11-27 12:42:16 what kinda "news site" has smileys? Reply | Quote 1   0

FreelanceGen   |2009-09-30 21:33:37 Any ethical and trustworthy organization would shun such an act. Reply | Quote 0   0

Tha Mastah Operatah   |2009-12-02 20:14:14 "Ahihihiii!" Silly Calvos. Reply | Quote 0   0

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