About half an hour before the official announcement of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 2011 (which was awarded to Tomas Tranströmer) reports started circulating on Twitter that the winner was, controversially, the Serbian author, Dobrica Cosic. The source was http://www.nobelprizeliterature.org, which looked like this:
Smelling a rat, as the official site is nobelprize.org, I decided to check it out.
The first result was a probe from the Linux DNS lookup utility, dig, which revealed the following differences between the sites:
{% highlight bash %} martin@allusion:~$ dig nobelprizeliterature.org ; <<>> DiG 9.7.3 <<>> nobelprizeliterature.org ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 3516 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;nobelprizeliterature.org. IN A ;; ANSWER SECTION: nobelprizeliterature.org. 14400 IN A 67.205.43.34 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: nobelprizeliterature.org. 86265 IN NS ns2.dreamhost.com. nobelprizeliterature.org. 86265 IN NS ns1.dreamhost.com. nobelprizeliterature.org. 86265 IN NS ns3.dreamhost.com. ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION: ns1.dreamhost.com. 8989 IN A 66.33.206.206 ns2.dreamhost.com. 7503 IN A 208.96.10.221 ns3.dreamhost.com. 7485 IN A 66.33.216.216 ;; Query time: 183 msec ;; SERVER: 10.8.0.1#53(10.8.0.1) ;; WHEN: Thu Oct 6 11:56:24 2011 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 173 martin@allusion:~$ dig nobelprize.org ; <<>> DiG 9.7.3 <<>> nobelprize.org ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 27771 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;nobelprize.org. IN A ;; ANSWER SECTION: nobelprize.org. 3505 IN A 130.242.18.28 ;; Query time: 29 msec ;; SERVER: 10.8.0.1#53(10.8.0.1) ;; WHEN: Thu Oct 6 11:56:29 2011 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 48 {% endhighlight %}As is clear, the latter, authentic site is running on it's own independent IP address, while the former points to the commercial web host provider Dreamhost.
Secondly, here's a comparison of the DNS whois responses for the two domains. Firstly, for the fake entry:
{% highlight bash %} martin@allusion:~$ whois nobelprizeliterature.org NOTICE: Access to .ORG WHOIS information is provided to assist persons in determining the contents of a domain name registration record in the Public Interest Registry registry database. The data in this record is provided by Public Interest Registry for informational purposes only, and Public Interest Registry does not guarantee its accuracy. This service is intended only for query-based access. You agree that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this data to: (a) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations to entities other than the data recipient's own existing customers; or (b) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of Registry Operator or any ICANN-Accredited Registrar, except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations. All rights reserved. Public Interest Registry reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy. Domain ID:D163518199-LROR Domain Name:NOBELPRIZELITERATURE.ORG Created On:05-Oct-2011 15:13:54 UTC Last Updated On:05-Oct-2011 16:42:08 UTC Expiration Date:05-Oct-2012 15:13:54 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:Directi Internet Solutions Pvt. Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com (R27-LROR) Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED Status:ADDPERIOD Registrant ID:DI_18210988 Registrant Name:Gjord Halvorsen Registrant Organization:NPABL Registrant Street1:Brynjulf Bulls Plass 1 Registrant Street2: Registrant Street3: Registrant City:Oslo Registrant State/Province:Oslo Registrant Postal Code:0124 Registrant Country:NO Registrant Phone:+49.301000 Registrant Phone Ext.: Registrant FAX: Registrant FAX Ext.: Registrant Email:hgjorn@yahoo.com Admin ID:DI_18210988 Admin Name:Gjord Halvorsen Admin Organization:NPABL Admin Street1:Brynjulf Bulls Plass 1 Admin Street2: Admin Street3: Admin City:Oslo Admin State/Province:Oslo Admin Postal Code:0124 Admin Country:NO Admin Phone:+49.301000 Admin Phone Ext.: Admin FAX: Admin FAX Ext.: Admin Email:hgjorn@yahoo.com Tech ID:DI_18210988 Tech Name:Gjord Halvorsen Tech Organization:NPABL Tech Street1:Brynjulf Bulls Plass 1 Tech Street2: Tech Street3: Tech City:Oslo Tech State/Province:Oslo Tech Postal Code:0124 Tech Country:NO Tech Phone:+49.301000 Tech Phone Ext.: Tech FAX: Tech FAX Ext.: Tech Email:hgjorn@yahoo.com Name Server:NS1.DREAMHOST.COM Name Server:NS2.DREAMHOST.COM Name Server:NS3.DREAMHOST.COM Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: DNSSEC:Unsigned {% endhighlight %}whereas the official site is registered thus:
{% highlight bash %} martin@allusion:~$ whois nobelprize.org NOTICE: Access to .ORG WHOIS information is provided to assist persons in determining the contents of a domain name registration record in the Public Interest Registry registry database. The data in this record is provided by Public Interest Registry for informational purposes only, and Public Interest Registry does not guarantee its accuracy. This service is intended only for query-based access. You agree that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this data to: (a) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations to entities other than the data recipient's own existing customers; or (b) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of Registry Operator or any ICANN-Accredited Registrar, except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations. All rights reserved. Public Interest Registry reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy. Domain ID:D2213820-LROR Domain Name:NOBELPRIZE.ORG Created On:17-Oct-1998 04:00:00 UTC Last Updated On:19-Jul-2011 12:19:42 UTC Expiration Date:16-Oct-2013 04:00:00 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:Domaininfo AB, aka domaininfo.com (R29-LROR) Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED Registrant ID:DI-235-THE Registrant Name:Domain Name Department Registrant Organization:The Nobelfoundation Registrant Street1:c/o Dipcon AB, William Gibsons vag 1 Registrant Street2: Registrant Street3: Registrant City:Jonsered Registrant State/Province: Registrant Postal Code:43376 Registrant Country:SE Registrant Phone:+46.317202030 Registrant Phone Ext.: Registrant FAX:+46.317202039 Registrant FAX Ext.: Registrant Email:dms@dipcon.com Admin ID:DI-13-DEP Admin Name:Domain Name Department Admin Organization:Dipcon AB Admin Street1:William Gibsons vag 1 Admin Street2: Admin Street3: Admin City:Jonsered Admin State/Province: Admin Postal Code:43376 Admin Country:SE Admin Phone:+46.317202030 Admin Phone Ext.: Admin FAX:+46.317202039 Admin FAX Ext.: Admin Email:dms@dipcon.com Tech ID:DI-13-DEP Tech Name:Domain Name Department Tech Organization:Dipcon AB Tech Street1:William Gibsons vag 1 Tech Street2: Tech Street3: Tech City:Jonsered Tech State/Province: Tech Postal Code:43376 Tech Country:SE Tech Phone:+46.317202030 Tech Phone Ext.: Tech FAX:+46.317202039 Tech FAX Ext.: Tech Email:dms@dipcon.com Name Server:SUNIC.SUNET.SE Name Server:NS.NOBEL.SE Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: DNSSEC:Unsigned {% endhighlight %}While there is no guarantee that the information is genuine, journalists who wanted to pursue this further would only have to investigate this information on the registrant of the fake domain name:
Gjord Halvorsen
Brynjulf Bulls Plass 1
Oslo
0124
Norway
+49.301000
hgjorn@yahoo.com
The registrant has used the address of the official committee, so that's of no use. The name could, also, be fake. The only thing that would, probably need to be real there would be the email address.