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Still More Sex.com
mark_wilkins writes "This morning the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court's dismissal of his claims against Network Solutions as a part of Kremen v. Cohen, Et Al.. This is the case in which Gary Kremen, the original owner of sex.com, sued Stephen Cohen and Network Solutions for transferring the sex.com domain to Cohen in response to Cohen's obviously fraudulent letter. While Cohen has fled the country, Network Solutions is still very much here and available to offer up any damages that might be rewarded. The case is going back to the district court for further hearings."
IIRC, NS didn't bother contacting the original (read: rightful) owner of the domain before transferring to Cohen. As such, NS *is* responsible.
To put it another way: You drop your car off at a mechanic. Someone comes in claiming to be you and wants to pick up the car. A second mechanic doesn't bother verifying the identity of the person picking up the car & hands over the keys. Wouldn't the shop be at least partially responsible to make restitution?
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
Network Solutions may be responsible for two reasons:
First, their security may have been so poor as to be considered negligent.
Second, they appear to have failed to take corrective action upon being notified of the problem.