Star naming controversy

There is a controversy over the act of naming a star. The controversy exists between the scientific community, mainly astronomers, and private star naming companies. Private star naming companies, trying to meet consumer demand, name stars for people; while some members of the scientific community object to this as an un-offical act.
How it works is private companies accept the name of a consumer's loved one, associate it with the telescopic coordinates of a star, and then send a certificate, to the consumer, attesting to the fact that a star has been named. The star names are then kept in a registry in either a digital or book form.
There are three types of private star naming companies involved in the controversy. First is the "for profit" companies. These companies sell star naming services to consumers for a fee which includes a small profit. Next is the "non-profit" companies which are usually associated with the astronomical scientific community. And finally there are those companies that offer their star naming services for free in the hope that consumers will buy add on products associated with astronomy.
As opposed to the private star naming companies are various astronomers associated with the scientific community. These astronomers believe that only the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has the authority to officially name stars. Further, these astronomers believe that the private star naming companies dupe consumers that are unaware of the IAU's star naming conventions into buying a product that has no scientific validity.
The private star naming companies rebut the astronomers objections to commercial star naming by noting that disclaimers are placed on their web sites. These disclaimers inform consumers that star naming is not recognized by the scientific community and that commercial star naming should be viewed as a symbolic novelty gift.

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