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Editor's note: Domain names listed in this story may have been purchased with the intent of protecting the victim's name on behalf of the family.

The families and friends of the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings are learning the hard way that the "com" in dot-com stands for "commercial."

Not only have domain names related to the tragedy been bought by the dozens -- everything from vtmassacre.com to remember416.com -- but the names of the victims have as well.

Jarrettlane.com, kevingranata.com, liviulibrescu.com, down the list, they were all registered, with few exceptions, by what are called cybersquatters -- people who hope to sell the domain name for a profit. While one has a Web site with a racist comment, the others are "parked" -- they sport Web sites with generic content and a note that the domain name is for sale.

"Anytime there's a big media story, people run out and register domain names," said Christine Jones, general counsel for GoDaddy.com, the largest domain registration service, or registrar, in the world.

In fact, she said, it didn't take long for speculators to jump in. On April 16, "we were notified, I think, of the first domain registered here within 20 minutes of the [Virginia Tech] news breaking."

It took a little longer for the names of the victims to be released, so the dot-com versions weren't registered until April 17.

If the families of the victims don't want to pay for those domains ($499 is the price on one), they have one recourse: They can ask the United Nations for help.

Domain names on the Internet are an open field.

Anyone can register whatever he or she likes, such as abcd.com or wxyz.net (provided someone else hasn't taken it already, of course). Dozens of registrars such as GoDaddy.com charge about $6 to $10 a year.

Once you own a domain name you can create a Web site and use it for e-mail (e.g., john@abcd.com) by paying a Web hosting company as little as a few dollars a month.

The bottom line: Buying a domain name and creating a Web site that uses it is an inexpensive proposition.

Because of that, in the wake of an event like the Tech shootings, people often buy domains hoping to sell them for a profit, or to take advantage of the traffic they get by offering advertising.

It's not a very good business model.

"Luckily for all of those who have good taste," said Jeremiah Johnston, chief operating officer for domain-name marketplace Sedo, "there's not really a market for these kinds of domains."

In fact, Sedo takes a proactive approach in the wake of a tragedy, Johnston said, and blocks people from using its service to sell any related domain names.

"In the case of Virginia Tech, we've already blocked some 20 or 30 domain names that we were able to think of," he said, including campuskiller.com and attackatvirginiatech.com.

While you might make a case for owning vtmurders.com, the only people who might be interested in nicolewhite.com or juliapryde.com are their families and friends. Thus the names are effectively being held hostage to them. In the case of most of the Tech victims, it's by an anonymous person in Arkansas, Johnston said.

"I'm really disturbed to hear that people are registering domains that are the names of the victims," he said. "That's really taking the tastelessness to a whole other level."

(After being contacted by The Roanoke Times, Sedo removed all the domain names related to Tech victims from its listings.)

For the families, there's little legal recourse.

Whether a domain name is being used in bad faith is covered by what's called the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, or UDRP, which every domain registrar subscribes to.

Developed in the early days of the Web, it was designed to protect trademark holders -- to make sure that someone couldn't hold chevrolet.com hostage to the car company, for example.

Since then the interpretation has expanded, according to Jones, especially when it comes to celebrity names, "even though those are typically not registered trademarks," she said, because the value of the name is clear.

Unfortunately, in the case of the Tech victims, she explained, "I hate to say it, but most of these kids don't have any commercial value in their name. So even if their estates wanted to go after their name, they would have a tough time."

They would have to send their case to the World Intellectual Property Organization, a U.N. agency.

It sounds daunting, but the process is simply a matter of submitting a form to WIPO explaining why the current owner of the domain is using it in bad faith. That owner can then argue the case, and WIPO makes a ruling.

It handles such disputes at a rate of about 150 per month, with complaints coming from individuals, small businesses, and multinational corporations. The estate of Jimi Hendrix succeeded in just such a filing, as did Madonna and Ross Perot.

But whether the victims' families would have such luck is hard to say.

It might be worth a shot, Jones said. "Maybe a couple of them should try it and see what happens."