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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."
From sex.com to prisonrape.com. A fitting end to this story.
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couldn't he have just paid off the right people in the Mexican government to get them to look the other way??
He was living in a MANSION in mexico. How hard did they even look for this guy.
... where turnabout is foreplay.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
It's only "illegal" to the US. The Mexican Govt. probably doesn't consider it illegal to go to another country at your own will. And on that note, the US govt. doesn't mind illegals as long as they pay taxes. Funny huh?
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
Maybe the time is right to invite Mexico to become U.S. States 51-54?
If it was part of the U.S. the following benefits would be realized:
- Easier extradition of criminals
- Better environmental laws there would help get toxic cleanup started
- Consistent employer laws to better protect employees
- Great real estate opportunities!
Donald Trum, call your office.
Cogito Ergo Sum
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...
Yes - I think it was Verisign. This is a DNS entry which could have been fixed in a few minutes. This is not like he absconded with the website and couldn't be reached. The website is an address in a nameserver! People should understand this. The issue is beauracatic bungling and Verisign was doing a lot of this back then.
It's a little more complicated than that. The Mexican government has gone out of its way to try to get special protections for Mexican nationals living and working (often illegally) in the US. Of course, this isn't surprising considering the Mexican economy heavily depends on the funds sent back home from workers in the US.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
From what I've read, the Mexican government doesn't care as long as you have money and don't cause trouble. If they think that they can score brownie points with the USA by expelling you, you have a problem.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
That's no different than the way most western countries work. The US doesn't have laws or custom's officials to stop you from walking across the border into Canada or Mexico, it's just when you try to come back in that you have to go through US customs.
FWIW, the Mexician government doesn't like its citizens coming up to the US any more than the US governemnt does; they are losing potiential workforce and it just looks bad for them.
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
...or is this a case of somebody crossing the border to get INTO Mexico?
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.
FWIW, the Mexician government doesn't like its citizens coming up to the US any more than the US governemnt does; they are losing potiential workforce and it just looks bad for them.
Unfortunately that is not true, hell, their economy depends upon the money being sent home from workers in the US.
Add to that the fact that by having so many people leave the country, it actually benefits the government further by removing a large number of lower class persons who might just vote for the other guy in the next election or worse.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
It's not like he can't run a web site from behind bars. Every prison library has computers and Internet access nowadays. I'll be surprised if he is not still raking in dough from online ventures -- overseas if not domestically.
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
"arrested on an immigration violation by Mexican authorities and turned over to agents of the U.S. Border Patrol,"
OK, so let me get this straight: he was deport from Mexico to the United States?
I think I need to go lie down now...
The funny part is, the grandparent was marked insightful while being completely untrue. The mexican governement encourages their citizens to illegally go to the US. They give them instructions on how to do so.
Don't you think that the US government tries to protect the rights of US citizens working abroad?
Specifically, what do you think the guys in Mexico City, Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Matamoros, Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Puerto Vallarta and Tijuana are getting paid for? Only Russia plays host to as many US consulates.
From the parent:
"FWIW, the Mexician government doesn't like its citizens coming up to the US any more than the US governemnt does; they are losing potiential workforce and it just looks bad for them."
Really?
Doubtful. There's not that many choices in Mexico except the PAN and the PRI. The PAN party has been historically week since the Revolution and probably will always will be. Mexico has a very skeptical culture and is very resistant to political change since the days of dictator after dictator.
The fact that PAN managed to snag the presidency astounded everybody. Look for the PRI to win back that seat in the next election.
This is /.
... as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly relieved...."
Anything having to do with a breakdown or interruption at sex.com:
"...I felt a great disturbance
-Styopa
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.
But the grandparent wasn't too bright either, really. Hoping the finer^Wblunter points of sarcasm would be appreciated on slashdot. Sheesh.
This signature is not in the public domain.
Wow, there's a US Consulate in Tijuana? Considering San Diego is a very short jaunt away, I'd thought there wouldn't be one there. Interesting :)
Meanwhile, a New Hampshire Sherriff is charging illegal immigrants with trespassing. Why? Every time his department finds one (and he finds himself running into a LOT of them), he finds they're not here legally and calls the INS- the INS says "sorry, we don't have time to pick them up." So they're part of a revolving door.
That revolving door runs off tax dollars. Guess what? Illegal immigrants don't pay a dime in taxes (not even sales in NH) and he's having to spend an increasing amount of time dealing with them. So he and the DA decided to throw them in jail and charge them $50 a pop, and wouldn't you know- a bunch of "immigrant rights" activists threw a hissy fit.
Please help metamoderate.
Wow ... you're uninformed.
You're right on the first point (they get a whole lot of money sent home), but you're wrong about the elections.
Mexico changed its election laws this summer, so it now allows absentee ballots from the US
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...bringing back everyones favorite website, jailbabes.com
There really was once a website called "Sex.com" that wasn't pornography? Huh, there's a first time for everything, I suppose.
Actually, since 9/11, the US has had officials at border crossings watching the people leaving. For me, they say "Are you an American citizen?" I say yes, and I can go on. Now if I were of another race, it might be more significant. But anyways, the point is there are people on the border.
Your lack of faith in "diversity" is disturbing, citizen-unit. Stop questioning and return to your simple life of mass media induced stupor!
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.
Have I fallen into some kind of alternate universe?
If so, is it the one where Spock has a goatee, or do I get treated to Nana Visitor in tight leather pants?
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
I salute you sir.
In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes and flawed car analogies.
Please reread my post and you'll see that I did say the original owner was the victim.
No, actually you said the opposite. Please count your negations. This is what you wrote:
you can't deny that the original owner wasn't a victim.
Butler County Ohio started sending bills to the INS for housing illegal immigrants in the County Jail (usually picked up for other crimes)
That said, don't expect any action on this anytime soon. Bush can't come down against illegals because a lot of his heavy supporters rely on illegal workers to reap profits off of low wages, but he can't come down in favor of letting them in either, because a good chunk of the rest of his supporters are opposed to having illegals in the country at all and want stricter immigration laws.
It's an interesting situation.
What?
You can also find the same document, with an english translation, distributed by a joint US/Mexican Government Commission, borderhealth.org. Does this mean that the US government is promoting illegal Mexican immigration into the US? No, and the existence of the document doesn't mean that Mexico is either, they are simply trying to protect their citizens, just as the US is.
http://www.borderhealth.org/view_article.php?id=15 0
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050410/
I don't see how that would pan out at $50 / per. You mention throwing them in jail, and it takes hours to arrest and process somebody as I understand it.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=16664 0&cid=13896515
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
So, it's not the Bush administration that wants to give welfare and drivers licenses to illegal immigrants? Last I checked, these guys are conservative republicans.
WTF is right. But don't start barking "Liberal scum!!!111" just because you want someone else to blame.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
As well as the U.S. economy depends on foreign labour.
The "state of the art" in streaming video that we had in 1995-96 was basically a tiny postagestamp-sized jpeg multipart/x-mixed-replace slideshow -- which the dominant netscape browser supported perfectly, but IE no longer does -- pushed out by our "exclusive" sun sparc video server boxes.
This was hot tech and this guy Steve Cohen approached us about getting our stuff setup in Mexico for sex.com. I'm not exactly sure about all the details, but we ended up with some sort of deal where we would provide a dozen video servers + installation & support in exchange for rights to the video feeds he was going to operate with the talent in Mexico. We also paid a bundle to setup a microwave link across the US/Mexico border.
So then he turns slimy: Mr. Cohen failed to provide the promised feeds (guess he wanted to be exclusive). And he never payed for our expensive equipment either. My boss flew down there to talk things out and apparently back then Mr. Cohen was cozy with the federalis and had him thrown in jail for a few days before he could fly back out. I then get a call from El Slimeball wherein he tries to BRIBE me into a) not remotely disabling the servers since I was the admin, and b) coming to work for him in sunny Mexico (enticing me with pathetic stories of how the blowjobs flow freely from his slutty girls.)
I guess he didn't know that his techs had already locked me out, or maybe he thought I had some backdoors, but I couldn't stop him remotely; all I remember finding was some useless hostbased rlogin accounts. I also wasn't about move to mexico, and I was (*gasp*) loyal, so I declined the hefty bribe (by not giving my account info for the wire transfer).
Anyway - that's my little anecdote of the famous Steve Cohen asshole. Hope there'll be a live jailcam video feed. :)
Power to the Peaceful
FYI: Having sex in Mexico is not an offense, seems to be where you live it is.
My brother is a tad dark skinned but still all white bread inside, and one time the family went down to Del Rio and walked over the border to go shopping. On the way back it was "Citizen... citizen... citizen... citizen?"
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
What is that, like a double-wide?
Just junk food for thought...
or have you missed every crime / car chase movie ever made? If you are running from the law, you run to MEXICO.
Haven't you even seen the greatest movie of all time, Convoy ? The genius part is that they use the CB as a narrative device, but I digress, Long story short guy is being chased by smoky (thats what us CBers call Johnny Law, aka CHiPs, aka Oinkey the pig, the fuzz, the cops dammit) and had to make it across the border of.... you guessed it.... Mexico.
There is even a song about this subject, the magnificent "Ride Like the Wind" by one of the greatest musicians of the century (catch him now at the Stardust Lounge, off the strip, shows at 8 and 11), the inimitable Kristopher Kross !
And I've got such a long way to go,
to make it to the border of mexicol.....
yeah, you know the one..
music lover since 1969
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.
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
I am well aware of their election law changes, as well as the ability for Mexican nationals within the US to go to official polling places in the US... the fact that they are elsewhere and with a higher quality of life makes political or social revolutions much less likely.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
You didn't work for Seth at IEG, did you?
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
I've been watching the mods go up and down on my post; I'm amazed that so many moderators want to weigh in on it.
It isn't easy to draw a clear line between sarcasm and trolling. I think though the thing about trolling is that it doesn't really make a point; it's just attention seeking. I'll leave it open to people to judge whether I really believed in the point I was making.
I don't make a practice of mocking all conservatives or conservative views, but bear in mind that both ends of the political spectrum have their lunatic fringe. My right wing friends would be wise to remember this. Here we had evidence that there are people so misguided as to think Mr. Cohen, a criminal sleazeball, is somehow being treated shabbily because he's rich. Or somehow if we can't catch a 100% of poor illegal immigrants we should give a pass to fugitives whose mailing address we have, provided the address turns out to be mansion. I don't paint the entire right with this viewpoint, but you guys on the right'll have to bear you own cross. Maybe I'm an old liberal dog with bad teeth who can't resist snapping at a little red meat, but I don't feel the obligation to let this kind of foolishness pass by without comment.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Short term it probably does cost more. However word gets out, I wouldn't be surprised if less illegals showed up in that town in a few years because they know they will be fined.
I'm not sure if this is a good plan, but I could see how it could work.
I needed to change servers for a company I was working for back in 96 or 97... of course I didn't have any of the domain registration information, because the guy who had all the info got fired. So what was the high-security way to get access to change my domain registration information? I had to fax a request on company letterhead! Yes, that is right, anyone could steal anyone elses domain name, simply by making a faxed request on company letterhead! Of course, I was not stealing the domain, I really was authorized by my employer to make the changes. But it was SIMPLE beyond comprehension.
Yes, I know those were the 90s wild west days of the Internet, but come on? Company letterhead as a security device? I am shocked that domain highjacking wasn't far more of a problem than it was!
You should be a politician.
"you know that its happening and are trying to mitigate some of the dangers it causes."
Then, instead of wasting their time with these types of things, perhaps they should try preventing the people from leaving, maybe by improving their country?
The truth is far more sinister than you'll ever admit, but if nothing else own up to the fact that the Mexican government encourages it's citizens to go to the US.
It is also in the bests interests of Mexico that the illegals don't die either. A dead worker doesn't send home any money.
arresting officers if conjugal visits were allowed in prison. The office replied, "Conjugal visits? Not that I know of. Now, a minimum security prison is no picnic. ... You see, the trick is, kick someone's ass the first day or become someone's bitch. Then everything will be all right. ..."
hmmm.... looks like your mistaken.
Government Sponsered Border Crossing Pamphlets
Illegal immigrants don't pay a dime in taxes (not even sales in NH) and he's having to spend an increasing amount of time dealing with them. So he and the DA decided to throw them in jail and charge them $50 a pop
Uh, how do they not pay sales tax? Do they whip out their illegal-immigrant card at the supermarket and say "I'm not a citizen, please remove the sales tax from this purchase" ? Get a clue.
Meanwhile, the INS, police, court-appointed lawyers and the various bureaucrats involved COST tax dollars. Not to mention the cost of jailing them, food, overhead and whatnot. Hardly balanced out by a $50 fine.
Go read _Nickled and Dimed_; your cheap walmarty goods and meals at restaurants are being subsidized by the low cost of labor (under minimum wage, mind you) that can be extracted from "illegals."
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
New Hampshire has no sales tax.
Correct the only thing they are supposed to do, according to the state department, is give you a list of lawyers that can help you and contact your family in the states.
members are seeing something, your seeing an ad
No sales tax in NH is simple. No one pays it.
Live Free Or Die, thats how they do it up there.
Get a clue
You can read my response in this posting:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=166640&cid=138 96062
And by the way, did you listen to that radio interview that you are linking to? It includes an interview with a high Mexican official who basically states what I surmised; that the pamphlet is an attempt to save some of the hundreds of lives that are lost each year when Mexicans try to cross the border into the US. It is not about encouraging illegal immigration into the US. It is also distributed by the US for the same reasons.
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
>>> As well as the U.S. economy depends on foreign labour.
This is an assertion that is often made, even in regard to illegal aliens. I'd like to see it proven one way or another. If illegals were rounded up and deported we'd soon find out if the country could still function or not.
If it couldn't, which I seriously doubt, we could increase the LEGAL avenues for foreign workers to enter the U.S. for a limited time, under controlled conditions.
"Cheer up! The worst effects of what we're doing won't be felt until after we're all dead" - Ashleigh Brilliant
If 'the people' in Amendment 2 are 'the state' then Amendments 1, 2, 4, 9, and 10 benefit the state, not you.
Here is a link to an article that discusses the jobs program and some of the problems that towns in Mexico are having due to loosing workers to the US.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2 005/10/27/MNGQFFEGB41.DTL
Why do you think the truth is sinister? Do you have any facts to show that the Mexican government encourages illegal immigration into the US?
To me it would seem like they would be loosing the people that are willing and able to go out and work, the workers that you would most want to keep to help build your economy.
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
You're wrong.
Among other things, illegals contribute about $7 billion/year to Social Security that they'll never collect.
Cite.
hang brain.
...in England.
Of Course. It was on Channel 4, I was it maybe 4 months ago. Of course, they'd have to redo it to show it in the States, becuase - being made for English television - the producers tossed in titties pretty much everywhere they could (English TV is really awful, but is also TOTALLY FLIPPIN' SWEET.)
BUT, They covered the whole story in all its grand silliness and buffoonery from the start. "The Letter" that was sent to transfer the domain name was so horribly done, and with about 30 seconds of fact-checking pretty much anyone could have seen that something was just not right with it.
Anyhow, If anyone knows of a torrent of this thing out there, I'm sure people would find it highly entertaining.
s'wut i sed.
...that you've been arrested.
It's strange though, I am sitting here at work in Baltimore, not in Tijuana.
Stephen Michael Cohen
New Hampshire has no salestax, Mr. Knowit A. Dipshit.
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. They're not even spending the money here, they wire it home to Mexico or whereever.
Please help metamoderate.
Good to see people held accountable.
tone
I'm going to go out on a limb here and make the over/under 17.5 on the number of distinct replies explaining the folly of your post.
The sex.com trade is a dangerous business...
Isn't it obvious? It has different porn now.
I guess you haven't heard about the pamphlets the Mexican government hands out suggesting the best places to cross, what to bring, and how to evade US Border Patrol.
Me and my uncle - we grabbed the gold, and we high-tailed it down to Mexico."
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
How can the INS have time to pick up illegals when they don't exist anymore? The law enforcememnt part of immigration is now handled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the administative part of immigration is now handeled by Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Support the Chagossians
stationing officers on their side of the border, redirecting people around the Minuteman project volunteers. They weren't telling people not to cross, they were telling them (essentially) how to evade our law enforcement and our Neighborhood Watch. Or demanding that illegal emigrants be given Driver Licenses or preferably full legal status? Sounds like they're trying really hard to keep people from crossing.
You're right though, I should have read more of the thread before posting. My bad on that one.
"Cohen forged a letter to Internet authorities to gain control of the address, which he transformed into a highly profitable site for pornography ads."
Thus depriving the original owners of the ability to turn sex.com into... a highly profitable site for pornography ads.
Really, aside from the technical aspects of Network Solutions screw-up here, who gives a rat's who owns this domain? it's going to be a sleaze-fest whoever has it.
Funny you should mention that... I was going to post a lengthy article about that very same thing, then decided "what good will factual information do... this is slashdot, after all."
So, in short... After a run-about with Cohen in federal court in the late 1980's (where my wife represented the defendant that Cohen filed against), he appeared again in the late 1990's with a letter from his attorney, asking that we turn over one of our domain names (sexbytes.com) because it violated his trademark on the word "sex". All that is explained here, for the most part with other bits being available here.
Anyway, Cohen went away after I wrote him a nice letter reminding him of our 1980's encounter and let him know I was adding a few "very interesting" questions to the deposition Gary Kremem was going to be taking of him. He went away like a puppy dog with his tail tucked between his legs... and I lived happily ever after, seducing woman after woman, as explained here.
Illegal immigrants pay payroll taxes... that they will never benefit from. The input/non-output feature of this more than makes up for a lack of income taxes from them - which they would most likely not pay under current pay levels that illegal immigrants receive.
------
[insert funny
http://www.eff.org/Spam_cybersquatting_abuse/Cyber squatting/Kremen_v_NSI/20020123_eff_amicus_brief.h tml
http://downloads.sex.com/corporate/lawsuits/pdf/25 80.pdf
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/cyberlaw/kremen cohen72503opn.pdf