Jail Time for Misleading Domain Names

Bootsy Collins writes "The Miami Herald is running a story on the first-ever prison sentencing (and, for that matter, prosecution and conviction) under the Federal Truth in Domain Names Act. This act, combined into the larger Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act (PROTECT) of 2003, made it a violation of U.S. Federal law to use a misleading domain name with the intent to deceive someone into viewing obscene material -- larger penalties if attempting to so mislead minors, but up to two years even if adults are the object. In the case in question, a man was convicted for registering thousands of domain names which were close misspellings of popular web sites for kids. Attempting to surf to those sites would redirect to a site entitled 'Dorm Sex Party.' Before being arrested, the convicted typosquatter made about a million dollars for the referrals." He's been on Slashdot before.

Comments

Re:finally...

[Anonymous Coward]

goatse.cx != goatsex
goatse = GOATSE
(G)uy
(O)pens
(A)ss
(T)o
(S)how
(E)ev eryone

goatse is thus perfectly appropriate.

no you wouldn't

[segment]

Been there done that. There is no money worth staying in prison for. I know guys who defrauded banks for millions who would have turned the other way if it meant saving their families the embarrassment, and hardships they'd suffered by being locked up. So you mean to tell me you would put a price on your wife and kids, family, dignity? If so, then you my friend will be a lonely sad person in the future. "making you a bitch" is reserved for prisons, not white collar places, you'd have to be in a USP for something like that to happen. Club Fed as we called it is Camp Cupcake, think of a college with no chicks, and no gates (for the camps), for the lows, same shit. Medium - High you'd run into things here and there, but what your thinking of via conditioning you've seen or read about is limited to high security prisons, and state prisons. Club Fed is as they call it Club Fed.

Re:no you wouldn't

[LostCluster]

The federal prison system also has a lot fewer violent people behind their bars. Yeah, they have a "Supermax" where the Oaklahoma City bomber meets the Unabomber and they become friends, but that's the rare exception for the Federal system.

Most federal criminals are white-collar offenders. Afterall, typical murderers, armed robbers and rapists all end up in a state prison, not a federal one. Most federal crimes involve business transactions gone fraudlent. Since the feds have a lot more non-violent offenders, and the ability to transport offenders from state to state, they can group all of the white-collar criminals together into a Club Fed situation in a way that the states just can't.

Re:no you wouldn't

[segment]

actually you're wrong. Colorado ADSX is called Supermax because it's a 24/7 lock down. There is no contact with anyone, no other contact period. Your mail even, is scanned and shown to you. Think Hannibal Lecter like shit, and you have your ADSX. There is also a Supermax in Baltimore, that one however allows for one hour worth of rec time. Put it like this, ADSX is pretty much your pre-coffin place to go. All of the higher ups like the Aryan Nation, Nation of Islam, terrorist from the original WTC bombing go there. There is no however meeting up to plot anything between anyone in Co., Lompoc, Lewisburgh, Atlanta USP would be the clubfeds of choice for that activity. USP Allenwood is another place for high profilers, a lot of gov spies end up there. Hanssen is there, and ironically the medium custody (lower than the USP security wise), is a lot more dangerous. In places where people have a mandatory life, most just want to go on and live the measley life because they know there is nothing left. In the medium security places, you're likely to find the most violence. People there are frustrated waiting for their day to come, and there is a lot of jealousy especially when it comes time for someone to go. Someone is liable to try to kill you because you're on the way out, and they have about 10 to go.

Again, I say this out of experience. The lower security places called FCI's, are where people go for lower class cases, but keep in mind that as time goes on, people get their classifications lowered, so you end up seeing people who have done 20 years in a camp or a low who are on their way out in as much as 10 years. For the most part though, you won't find anyone with a 10 year sentence in a low, and someone with more than 5 years in a camp (no gate prison). So it goes like this... ADSX/Supermax = Kiss your ass goodbye. USP = 10+ years mainly violent cases, drug cases, ^*other, Mediums 10-* years (most violent), FCI's (low security) mainly on mil bases 1 month - 10 years, Camps = 1 month - 5 years. Heavy white collar crimes no security risks. Pedophiles, sex offenders, anyone with violence could never go to one of these because you have to have what's called community custody, and you don't get that if you pose a threat to society.

So while offtopic, this is club fed 101.

Re:Why would he want to mislead children?

[Bootsy Collins]

The deal he had with the porn sites had him getting paid for referrals. Not for referrals that actually sign on, but simply the number of referrals. So he was screwing over the people who were paying him, as well.

In fact, that's apparently why he targeted the kids. According to his admission, it wasn't that he had some thing about making kids see porn. It was that kids were more likely to make spelling errors, so they were more likely to come across his typosquatting websites; so if he targeted kids, his referral numbers would be higher.

No, it's the concept of variable sentences

[Sycraft-fu]

Most crimes do not have one and only one possible sentence. Generally, the court has leeway. The law perscribes maximum and sometimes minimum sentences for a given crime. This is so there is some additonal deterrence for repeat offenders. You do something once, you are likely to get a sentence quite a bit under the maximum. However if you are back in court for the third time on the same offence, they can hit you with a harder sentence.

No, that's not the first jail sentence

[rahard]

No, that's not the first jail sentence. Here, in Indonesia, there was one case of domain name squatter that resulted in jail time. The person who did this registered a competitor domain name. He was sentenced to jail. It was treated as unfair competition. He went to the slammer for 3 months!

-- b

Re:Conflicting Feelings

[nacturation]

Don't forget the 1 count of child porn he pleaded guilty to. It's not just the 49 counts of redirect sites he was sentenced for.

Re:Conflicting Feelings

[senzafine]

If you look for research on the effects of exposure to pornography at a young age - you'll answer your own question. Children aren't capable of seeing consequences for alot of their actions. And there is actually alot of evidence that shows that exposure to pornography at a young age tremendously increases the chance for addiction to it at a later age.

Shielding kids from pornography isn't the same as shielding them from sex. Pornography != sex.

That said...isn't shielding young kids from pornography similar to shielding them from drugs and alcohol?

Uh, no

[autopr0n]

It's not a felony to register domain names, it's a felony to use those domain names to mislead people into looking at porn.