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Costa Mesa City Councilman Allan Mansoor is suing an unnamed party in federal court, claiming his personal website was taken over after he failed to renew the domain name registration and it has since been converted into reviews of pornographic movies.

In the suit filed Wednesday, Mansoor claims his internet domain name, AllanMansoor.com, was "hijacked" and repurposed as a website to advertise pornography, according to his complaint.

"We're just trying to get to the bottom of this and trying to get my website back," Manssor said.

The defendant added the title "Allan's Adult Reviews: Best Porn Site" to the domain name, the complaint says. Paired with each review is a "Join for just $1" subscription tab. Mansoor said in his complaint that he believes the defendants are compensated by porn websites each time someone views a review or clicks the join tab.

Mansoor is seeking damages and the transfer of the domain name. The complaint states Mansoor believes the defendants are "familiar to him and live in Orange County" and could be acting on behalf of someone.

The website was originally used for political purposes from 2002 through 2016, when an unknown party acquired the domain name and used it to disparage Mansoor, the suit says.

"Defendants acted in bad faith by appropriating the domain name to operate a website titled 'Allan's Adult Reviews' with the intent of disparaging Plaintiff's good name, embarrassing him, and profiting from his goodwill by diverting people from Plaintiff's website," the suit states.

Mansoor failed to renew the domain registration in 2015, causing it to expire. He said in his complaint that he thinks the first published review on the converted site occurred in January 2016.

The content displayed on Mansoor's site is not found anywhere else on the web, the suit said, leading him to believe his website was specifically chosen to host the reviews.

Mansoor was elected to the City Council last year after serving a stint in the state Assembly and on the Costa Mesa City Council from 2002 to 2010, gaining national attention for his tough stance on illegal immigration.

"Each of plaintiff's political campaigns was contentiously fought, and in more than 12 years of holding public office, as well as in his prior career as an Orange County sheriff's deputy, he has been outspoken on many controversial public issues," Morgan wrote. "While plaintiff has many supporters, he also has many detractors. There are many people, known and unknown, who would like to embarrass him as retribution for his public actions."

Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 or lcasiano@scng.com

Source: Costa Mesa councilman sues over personal website converted to host porn reviews