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Sex.com Hijacker Captured in Mexico
Revvy wrote to mention that Stephen Cohen has finally been brought to justice. From the article: "Cohen, a multiple felon and longtime con man, had been on the run since before 2001, when a judge ordered him to pay a San Francisco entrepreneur for hijacking the Internet address Sex.com. In 1995, Cohen forged a letter to Internet authorities to gain control of the address, which he transformed into a highly profitable site for pornography ads. Cohen, who had been living in a Tijuana mansion, was arrested on an immigration violation by Mexican authorities and turned over to agents of the U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Marshals Service, according to Deputy Marshal Tania Tyler."
He was living in a MANSION in mexico. How hard did they even look for this guy.
In the nineties, it wasn't about just any domain name. Keyword domain names were worth millions at least. Someone had the foresight to get sex.com (which you can't deny is and was an incredibly profitable keyword on the web) fast and lost that opportunity. He fought to keep the domain and pointed out the errors in NSI's policies and even when demonstrated to them he was the rightful owner, they did nothing to undo their mistake.
The real perpetrator in this case is NSI for essentially violating their agreement with the original owner to keep his domain in his control, but you can't deny that the original owner wasn't a victim.
-Neil
I've nothing to say here...
couldn't he have just paid off the right people in the Mexican government to get them to look the other way??
Maybe he did? If they turn him in, they get the money AND brownie points with the US.
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
Probably he stopped paying.
AH yes - Network solutions was bought by Verisign. It was really Network solutions who screwed up. They didn't even follow their own poliies on lame names back then. There was a lot of crap going on.
How is this different than someone stealing your identity and going to the bank and withdrawing your money and the bank says what? You don't have any money anymore because we gave it to someone else? Bullshit. It is the Banks responsibility to ensure they are dealing with who they think they are dealing with and ditto for Network Solutions. As I said before, Network Solutions could have fixed the problem with a simple DNS change and that only takes a few minutes. For Network solutions to hide behind their own error and refuse to correct things until a Judge orders them to is just bullshit.
IMHO Network solutions should be held liable because it was their error.
Oh, yes, there's definitely a double standard in here somewhere. I mean, Mr. Cohen is a fugitive from justice while those braceros just want to send enough money back to their families so their kids can get ahead, but Mr. Cohen is rich. Rich guys with light skin shouldn't be treated as common criminals.
...
As the inimitable Mr. Boortz would say, the rich are responsible for creating prosperity, not those dirty laborers creating cheap agricultural surpluses. You need only look at their relative pay and their value to society will be made plain. And so the first seats in the lifeboat should rightfully belong to the rich. You might go so far as to say that they are entitled to them. Don't you love that word "entitled"? It's so redolent of nobility (feudal nobility, not that sticky romantic kind). I also love the word "privelege": rich people have a privileged status in our society, because they are law unto themselves (privilege: form the latin prvus, single, alone + lx, lg-, law).
Bringing the wealthy under the same laws as the rest of us is of course the ultimate double standard, because it takes so much more effort. We should expend the same effort on everybody, no matter what their ability and resources to evade are. It's cost efficient. You get many more people into prison that way. And everybody knows that the higher the number of people behind bars is, the greater your objectively measurable progress against crime is. We should not ask governments to make extra effort to bring the wealthy to account, when the result could only be fewer people in prison per dollar spent. As we've been told repeatedly, the government has too much "hard work" on its plate already.
Excuse me, was I ranting?
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Just because he registered sex.com to take advantage of a profitable opportunity doesn't mean he can't be a victim. He didn't try to squat (in this case) on what might be a trademarked name just to squeeze money from a corporation. He registered a name with the intent to make money. Nothing wrong with that. That someone else took it and that NSI refused to admit thier mistake and make it right makes him a victim.
I'm pretty sure that guy gets in trouble, too. They don't just pat him on the head and send the bank teller to prison.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
What astounds me is that it took until 2000 for him to get the domain back. 5 years!!! Sweet mother of crap. And another 5 years for them to find the damn guy. I wonder if that $65 million judgement is even close to the amount of money that Cohen raked in via sex.com. Also - Tijuana? Are you kidding me? You're fleeing from the law, and you go to Tijuana? That's like being wanted for murder in Detroit, and fleeing to Windsor. For all his con-man smarts, he clearly ain't all THAT smart.
"Maybe the time is right to invite Mexico to become U.S. States 51-54?"
First off, there's 31 states in Mexico, not counting the Distrito Federal. Why are you arbitrarily cutting them down to 4?
Secondly, they hate us. A good deal of them are still screaming bloody murder about the last war we had with them 160 years ago and cheer what Pancho Villa did up here. We're mutually convenient neighbors but not necessarily friends.
"Easier extradition of criminals"
Perhaps, perhaps not. Besides, the only way you're going to stop people from fleeing south to avoid extradition is to extend the US down to Tierra del Fuego.
"Better environmental laws there would help get toxic cleanup started"
First off, guess which one of us signed Kyoto. Second, a lot of their problems with toxic waste are because we put it there.
"Consistent employer laws to better protect employees"
Ignoring details like whether they'd all be "right to work" states, what makes you think Mexican labor laws will be adjusted "up" instead of US labor laws being adjusted "down?"
"Great real estate opportunities!"
Yeah, that's what they said last time. Not much prime real estate in Arizona or New Mexico, though.
Ahh well, he could probably afford it. The police in Mexico get paid peanuts, hence the corruption. Gringos are an easy target.
In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes and flawed car analogies.
If you cannot disinguish them, maybe you should decline your mod points. Why someone would bother modding a post down when there are many other good posts to mod up defies logic at the best of time, but the parent was deliberately funny damnit.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
... wussies that we are, this guy would just get some prison time (since internet fraud isn't regarded a class A felony) and a fine (not even coming close to what he earned).
I really hope they take away all his money and he gets 30 years. It's about time these criminals get what they deserve.
It may be a double standard, but if it is, then it's the same double standard that the USA exposes, though. Think about it - the USA does have a problem with Mexicans entering the country illegally, but how much does it do to prevent US-Americans from illegally entering Mexico? Pretty much nothing.
So, yes, Mexico may have double standards, but you're not exactly in a position to look down on them for it.
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
I think, by definition, if they guys he bribed turned him in they weren't the right guys.
Ah, You see I neither know nor really care about the NH tax structure.
My point is that they're doing absolutely nothing to contribute to the NH public; they pay no property, wage, or sales tax...pretty much the only way the government gets any money from you.
My point is that you're ignoring the reality here. They contribute low/under minimum wage jobs, from restaurant staff to janitorial services, (traditionally), to keep your costs down. If restaurants had to pay minimum wage, or heaven forbid a livable wage, the cost of your meal would triple. Low costs for menial labor let all kinds of businesses save money, and if they were paying higher, that cost would be passed on to you, Mr. Consumer.
They're not even spending the money here, they wire it home to Mexico or whereever.
Well then the sales tax thing doesn't even matter according to your argument, huh?
I guarantee that they're spending money on food, clothing and shelter here, and sending all they can to support their families abroad -- and you'd do the same for your family in the same situation. I hope, at least.
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer