By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Sefas Tamim Foundation
QUESTION: Company X owns a competitive website to Company Y. Can company X purchase on GoDaddy (or any other domain platform) an alternative but very similar name to Company Y and redirect it to their own website? For example, if Company Y owned CompanyY.org can Company X buy CompanyY.com?
ANSWER: The prohibition of Gneivas Da’as – deceptive behavior – strikes at the very heart of the Torah’s mandate for ethical conduct, and its implications are both profound and far-reaching. The great sage Shmuel’s declaration in Chullin 94a is unequivocal: this prohibition knows no boundaries between Jew and Gentile, establishing a universal ethical standard that speaks to the very essence of human interaction.
When we examine the Torah commandment “Midvar Sheker Tirchak” (distance yourself from falsehood), we encounter a fascinating three-way debate among the Rishonim:
- Some limit it to judicial proceedings
- Others view it as strong guidance rather than outright prohibition
- The Chofetz Chaim, whose ruling we follow, sees it as a sweeping prohibition against ALL forms of deception.
But here’s what’s absolutely crucial to understand: Gneivas Da’as stands apart as an undisputed prohibition! The debate between the Sefer Yereim and Ritvah (who consider it de’oraisha) and the SMaK (who deems it rabbinical) only serves to highlight its fundamental importance in Jewish law.
Most striking of all is the Shaarei Teshuva’s position (3:181): even the normally permissible avenue of lying for peace (Mutar L’shanos Mipnei HaShalom) is completely closed when it comes to Gneivas Da’as. This represents an extraordinary elevation of the requirement of truthfulness and transparency in our dealings with others.
The message is clear and powerful: Gneivas Daas – deception, in any form, undermines the very fabric of human relationships and corrupts the neshama itself. We must vigilantly guard against even the slightest breach of it.
I checked with three prominent Poskim who all agreed that this is clear Gneivas Daas: Rav Forsheimer in Lakewood, Rav Hershel Ausch in Williamsburg and Rav Shmuel Fuerst from Chicago.
The halacha based upon the Rishonim and Achronim (Tosfos, Yad Ramah, Chedvas Yaakov, Bais Efraim) is that it is definitely forbidden to lie in writing as well, and certainly for G’neivas Daas.. Indeed, because it involves an actual “action” many Poskim rule that it is even worse than lying merely with the mouth and certainly for Gneivas Daas too.
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3 Responses
One possible exception: If after they click they see clearly that they entered the other company website, not the one they were looking for, and the whole gimmick was just to get them in the door. By the time they’re buying anything they know who they’re buying from.
Annoying? – yes. (Might even lose some customers? – possibly.)
G’neivas Daas? – probably not.
And BTW – Perhaps there’s more G’neivas Daas in our frum world than we think. Every time they wrote in an ad something like “The best quality”, “Best Value” etc. if it’s not true, isn’t it G’neivas Daas?
This seems rather very obvious. Would anyone have ever thought otherwise?
I recently faced a similar quandary to this.
A neighbor of mine was on the front porch of house (we lived in a dense development) talking to someone about how in the near future they are changing from having applications go through separate portals for their different divisions/camps (eg. xcamp.com, ycamp.com, & zcamp.com) they would be merged to a single domain (eg. xyzcamps.com).
Now this neighbor was being far from discreet, on the contrary I was concerned he might wake up half the children on block. I don’t say this to criticize him, rather to point out that he had no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Having come out of my home at that time to go learn, I heard this grand announcement and checked the Who.is registry to see whether he bought the domain yet or not (I have worked in the camp industry in the past for a number of years in past).
I quickly found that I could buy up every possible combinations of the domain for a few dollars.
I was sorely tempted to buy them up and see what offer they might make, but decided against it for a number of reasons.