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First Ever Criminal Arrest For Domain Name Theft
Domain Name News writes "Until recently, there hasn't been a case of a domain theft where the thief was caught and arrested. However, on July 30th, Daniel Goncalves was arrested at his home in Union, New Jersey and charged in a landmark case, the first criminal arrest for domain name theft in the United States. 'Cases of domain name theft have not typically involved a criminal prosecution because of the complexities, financial restraints and sheer time and energy involved. If a domain name is stolen, the victim of the crime in most cases would need experience with the technical and legal intricacies associated with the domain name system. To move the case forward, they would also need a law enforcement professional who understands the case or is willing to take the time to learn. For example, the Angels told us that in their case they called their local law enforcement in Florida who sent a uniformed officer in a squad car to their home. The first thing you can imagine the officer asked was, "What's a domain?"'"
Back in 1995, I was working as a salesman at Circuit City and sold a VCR to Steve Cohen, the guy who stole sex.com. He was bragging to me about how he'd been offered a million bucks for it but wasn't going to sell. Then he ended up returning the VCR. What a tool.
Start a happiness pandemic
The first thing you can imagine the officer asked was, "What's a domain?".'"
Why can't they be smart and well-versed in all things, like IT Professionals?
The first thing you can imagine the officer asked was, "What's a domain?".
Right before the cop knocked your pocket-protector-wearing geek ass out.
THL phish sticks
Quoth TFA:
Drill baby drill - on Mars
The first thing you can imagine the officer asked was, "What's a domain?"
I get it! Cops are all dumb, lazy, and technically illiterate!
Seriously, everyone. I know we all resent cops, but to imply that a whole department can't find a single officer who knows what a domain is is ridiculous and insulting. Let's try to keep our government/authority-hate at least sort of grounded in reality.
Those who anthropomorphize science and/or nature already believe in an intelligent designer.
sex.com
Is anybody else in shock that there is actually a website devoted entirely to Domain Name News?
Opposite of extrex.
"Sleazy Well-Funded Ex-Attorney Domain Name Speculator Pushes Arrest Of Crooked Hacker." Seriously, the victim here is a cybersquatter.
The first thing you can imagine the officer asked was, "What's a domain?" I get it! Cops are all dumb, lazy, and technically illiterate! Seriously, everyone. I know we all resent cops, but to imply that a whole department can't find a single officer who knows what a domain is is ridiculous and insulting. Let's try to keep our government/authority-hate at least sort of grounded in reality.
Officer A: So then I pull up to this house, knock on the door and this 50 year old woman answers the door. I think I got the wrong house but you know those tech nerds ... ... where will it end?
Officer B: Still living in his mother's basement?
Officer A: Yeah, dude's whiter than paste and has maybe 90 lbs of meat on him. So I'm cuffing the guy and putting his head down so he gets into the car and the kid feels like a noodle and I say, 'Ya know you should try illegally downloading P90X.' and you can imagine the first thing he asked was, 'What the hell is P90X?'
Officer B: Hahaha, those hacker nerds, man if only they got laid more often instead of stealing a 'domain'--whatever that is.
Officer A: Yeah, now they expect us to police virtual property too
There, now everybody's made fun of everybody. Feel better?
My work here is dung.
Several references to "Angel's" in TFA should be "Angels'," meaning the possessive form of the plural proper noun Angels.
So much for my positive karma... [sigh]
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Mind you, I heard the story from the person who had the domain name stolen and then returned. The story may have been embellished for effect. But it's still darn good.
Someone I know owns a highly profitable and highly desirable domain name for shall we say, marital aids. He got smart and registered it in the early days and it's very much a thriving site. One day, someone stole it along with about a dozen other highly profitable domains.
This gentleman contacted some of the other victims and they were willing to help out with catching who did this and with getting their domains back.
The thieves were employees of Network Solutions and had planned on skipping the country very soon after the incidents. However, the victims pooled their money and hired a 'bounty hunter' to track down and find the thieves. He did, and for a little extra money the domains were returned without question.
The person who told me the story has been silent on what happened to the thieves. He's leaving that to the imagination but I have a feeling they're at least quite sorry that they tried this stunt.
I think that was much more satisfying than going through the court systems, etc. Not that I endorse taking the law into your own hands but when the courts aren't set up to deal with this type of crime sometimes you have to deal with it through side channels.
I thought it was worth noting that it took a former DOJ prosecutor and investor to "bring this guy down", and even then, it was an uphill battle.
Model 551, Chambered in 6mm
And this is why businesses shouldn't email out customer passwords in emails.
I get angry every time I get an email sayign "thanks for joining, your password is : xtyzseh85". REALLY? Like I just didn't enter that on your site. Also it suggests that the password is stored in clear text in their database, a big worry.
What if you forget your password, you might ask? Well then you email out a temporary password, and set a flag in your database that the person is required to change their password when they log in. This vastly reduces the window of opportunity a thief would have (technically they could follow the "forgotten email?" path on the website, and intercept the emailed temporary password. Maybe the solution is temporary passwords sent by text to account holder phone, or one of those "what is your favourite colour?" questions before the password email is sent).
Second issue - people using poor passwords. These people clearly had the keys to their $100k+ accounts available behind a paper screen door. Should we blame Yahoo! for this?
Note that the crime is still entirely down to the criminal who did it, and not the people for having poor passwords, nor the registrar who allowed the domain transfer in good faith (although there must be questions asked about their notification procedures, the owners should have got an email about the transfer, and thus should have been able to get this sorted out BEFORE the domain auction was finished).
This may come as a real shock to a lot of Americans, but it used to be that if you and your attorney could make a reasonable argument to a general district court judge that a crime had been committed, YOU could bring criminal charges. You and your attorney would be the prosecution.
*Cue platitudes about our litigious society*
The general posse comitatus approach was superior to what we have today. It had its abuses, but people tend to not grasp just how utterly powerless they are today to get wrongs corrected, to fight back against corruption, etc. In this day, it is literally impossible to bring charges against the powerful without the support of other powerful people who are sympathetic to your argument. Back in the day, if a powerful man were hiding behind his wealth and cronies, 20 armed men could haul him out of his house, shoot up the sheriff if he were on the take, and dump the SOB in a court if they had evidence.
"Don't do the crime, If you can't do the time." "S/he ain't worth the time." The latter one simply means if you're thinking about hurting someone for whatever reason make sure s/he is worth the time you might have to serve. Wet crimes are done by individuals for their own gain. There's no degree of separation between them and the crime. It's their hormones talking. In this case the guy stole a domain with a sexy name. The idea of the name had to juice him up to the point where he got stupid enough to try to pull it off first hand. A crime involving an amount over $X will usually put you in a different arena with much stiffer penalties. Petty criminals with drug habits shoplift all day every day and just wind their way in and out of court without much of a care. The real criminal profits are tied to our inability to rationally handle classes. Corporations routinely push the boundaries of criminal activity by playing off individual tied to criminal activity against the legal entity that is the corporation said criminals work for. Our inability to distinguish criminal activity by a class of people or an entity of a different class order is a virulent criminal ecological niche. Most corporations are also very adept at stealing or defrauding small amounts from each customer in a large customer base and thereby reaping huge criminal gains while forcing investigations for small $ amounts or calling for class action suits.
ideopath @ play
How is a local enforcement officer involved in a case of trademark/licensing/brand/virtualspace?
Isn't this something that would have FBI jurisdiction, if anything - unless the "crime" requires the help of the Interpol/Europol...
Questions:
- How is this a theft? (I'm sure that Cisco didn't accuse Apple of "theft" for the iPhone name...)
- How is this relevant in the XXI century? Surely it would take another couple of centuries before judges and juries would know anything about digital technologies... (no offence, but while I can understand the crime of falsifying financial transactions, I don't see a "theft" here... more like a joyride instead...)
Have fun, the night is still joung!
Can I put a spell on those who can't spell?
Your wheels are loose and they're losing their grip, good you're there.
Asking a question about the ethnicity of a name does not automatically make one a racist. If he would have followed up with "because Hispanics are known for stealing" then that would be a racist statement. Simply inquiring about someone's name is not racist in and amongst itself.
"But this one goes to 11!"
The fact that so few domain criminals are arrested is frightening at the least. I know of at least 20 domains stolen this past year which had open market value of over $10,000 and not a single charge could be brought forward on any of the thieves. Daniel must have been uber-stupid.
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
Asking a question about the ethnicity of a name does not automatically make one a racist.
I know. Calm down people. Go have some beers and make up.
Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
we had a domain stolen a few years ago at a board i mod. it was active and we lost all traffic instantly. like tfa it was also a p2p domain and also an email diversion. to get back up the admins registered "p2p-zone.com" and felt lucky to get it, but it wasn't the same. i was so po'd i wanted to throttle the arrogant nyc prick who did the snatch. instead i handed it off to the cops and eventually got it back through negotiation, but it took many months. it was our identity for years and we felt terrible when it was taken from us. what a pita. unfortunately because of the time that passed and a new name we were forced to adopt, we have never formally reincorporated it. we resolve to it but it really isn't "us" anymore as far as the public's concerned.
- js.
So you mean to tell me that some hacker swiped a domain from a known and self proclaimed squatter, and I'm supposed to care!? I should hand this Goncalves guy a metal (even though he may very well be a bragging fool). At the very least, I'm not going to feel sorry for Mr and Mrs Angel.
Racist, my ass. I've never seen or heard the name Goncalves used anywhere except in reference to this one guy. Surely the name isn't unique - it came from somewhere. GP posted, apparently wondering where it DID come from. Your post satisfied my curiosity about the origin of the name. Thank you for that.
Beyond the origin of a name, there ARE TIMES when it helps to know an ethnic background. People all the time make reference to the fact that this an Ameri-centric board. Knowing ethnic background can tell as much about a person as knowing his nationality. If questioning Goncales' name is racist, then every bastid who identifies himself as American, or European, or Asian is a racist as well. Posters sometimes identify themselves as Protestant, Catholic, or Wiccan to help make a point, or to help understand a point. They must all be bigots of one type or another as well.
Again - thanks for the info, but try not to judge the question. GP might be racist, but the question is neutral.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Seriously, you tell the average person that your domain name was stolen and they'll look at you like your speaking Martian.
Big Fucking Deal, someone implied that a Police Officer may have as much of a grasp of how the internet works as the average person.
When the Police send a uniformed Police Officer to your location after telling the police that your domain was stolen I would imagine that one question that would be asked would be "What is a domain?". This is not a jab at cops for being dumb, because they tend not to be dumb.
There is more story here than the last 3 words in the summary, but you wouldn't know that from reading the comments.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Actually, it would be a stereotyping statement, not a racist statement. If he followed your statement with, "and I hate Hispanics" - that would be racist.
I love my sig.
The parent article wasn't saying that the AOL-hacking Paypal-record-falsifying thief was a poor victim. It was saying that the domain name speculator who the thief ripped off was in the scummy cybersquatting business himself.
Domain names are supposed to let people who have actual interesting content make it findable and memorable by people who want to use those sites. Most of the "domainer" industry isn't taking names that are already in use (except by buying them right when they expire, taking advantage of sloppy or abusive registrars' renewal systems) - they're taking names that sound like they ought to be interesting, usually as search terms, and parking them with advertising pages or possibly putting up low-value content redirecting people to other web sites, either for the ad banners or a cut of those sites' advertising revenue. Sometimes the names they come up with are variants on existing businesses' domain names, or variants on product names, and often enough they're used by SEOs or other search space spammers as well.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
According to Slashdot in every piracy article, this isn't "theft," because you're not taking anything physical. So I'm confused about the headline. Help me out, Slashdot.
Well, if you really want to get technical, "I hate Hispanics" would be more along the lines of bigotry, not racism. If he would have followed up with "because Hispanics are inferior to Caucasians" then you would have a textbook racist statement. However, a stereotypical statement with the inference that one ethnic group is inferior to another could still be considered racism.
"But this one goes to 11!"
It's not racist, it's just -completely- off topic.
Bill Clinton is making up words now?
If this were 1940s Germany, the same people that are cops now would be concentration camp guards.
Indeed. They are "only enforcing the laws" and "Don't like the laws? Cheang them... Blaw, blaw, blaw". No moral compass at all, they might as well be replaced with robots.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
If the MP/RIAA can sue over theft of their intellectual property, why can't we? About damn time.
The game.
Best story I've seen on /. in a while..
As one who has quite a few domains myself, its nice to know there is even a slight chance of getting justice and the name back should some scumbag decide to hacksteal it.
PPN
And you find that okay? I'm not even going into the psychological damage that girl got when a friend (not even lover) got killed in front of her eyes.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
+5 Insightful? What the hell?
Raising questions of ethnicity that would be irrelevant to anything but a racist sentiment is, in fact, racist. Take your rules-lawyer morality and shove it up your ass.
Having a policy like loser pays legal bills of both sides would go a long way to making the court system fair. Right now its often richest guy wins because he can outlast the poor guy.
The richest would still win because they could still outlast the poor guy because they would still be paying out the arse for the best lawyers around while the poor guy couldn't afford to. The whole point of "loser pays" is that you only get paid if you win, and thus only makes the situation you're talking about worse. Because ask any lawyer -- no matter how much of a slam-dunk you think your case is, there's always the chance that you will lose in court.
Right now poor people cave in to the rich because they cannot afford the cost of a lawyer, even a cheap one. The odds of them winning and the reward for winning are not great enough to justify that expense. If they thought they'd certainly win and get enough out of winning, they'd stay the course even in the current system.
Now imagine that the poor person had to pay the rich guy's legal bills! Exactly how sure of your case would you have to be to risk having to pay millions of dollars in legal fees if you lose, when hiring your own el-cheapo lawyer for a few g's is already an onerous expense? Nobody would dare fight the rich in court! Even with obvious modifications, like limiting the expense to at most what you yourself spent, that means doubling the cost, again an onerous situation and completely defeating the purpose when the whole premise is that people can't afford to fight legal battles!
Whereas this does nothing to discourage the rich from using their dollars to sway justice in their favor. What, like the rich would care that they have to spend a little extra paying the poor guy's rinky dink lawyer after spending ridiculous sums on their own lawyers?
"Loser pays" solves nothing. It was an idea created by those who benefit from the current system and wanted to make it even more lopsided, sold as a reform to help make the courts "fair." It's anything but.
The enemies of Democracy are
I never understood the relevance of the cedilha. Doesn't it basically make the "s" sound? Seems kinda redundant to me. There might be a nuance that I am not picking up on, but I live in a Brazilian/Portuguese neighborhood and I've yet to get a good explanation.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Aren't domain names imaginary property? Certainly can't touch them. Somebody thinks of them first and boom, he gets to control it for eternity — not even for 75 years (or whatever the hated music copyright lasts nowadays)... So, why don't we see objections to the use of the term "theft" in this discussion?
Is it because many more slashdotters own domain-names, which they dread losing, than those, who have written a song worth copying?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Goncalves is Portuguese, which is technically not "Hispanic". Many ignorantly group it as such, but all Federal employment forms I've encountered track is as European extraction. So what's your point?
"Loser pays" solves nothing. It was an idea created by those who benefit from the current system and wanted to make it even more lopsided, sold as a reform to help make the courts "fair." It's anything but.
I disagree
If I was poor and had to pay legal bills to a lawyer upfront, I'd probably not even try even if I knew I was right as either I couldn't afford a good lawyer or maybe if I was lucky an inexperienced one.
If I knew I was right and the loser pays, I'd get a good laywer and the playing field is now even.
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
A single S in Portuguese implies a Z sound, depending on the presence of vowels and consonants around it (for example, S always has a Z sound when between vowels). Cedilla always has the S sound regardless of the surrounding letters. It is somewhat redundant, I will give you that, but in terms of strict necessity, it is similar to the case of C and K in English, you could do without C in English by using S and K depending on the circumstance. But I bet it is still being used out of some arcane inheritance from French or German or something.
www.meneguzzi.eu/felipe
domain names want to be free!!!
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
You are everything thats wrong with society today. No wonder Texas is the laughing stock of America. Good luck in hell shithead.
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
I wish i had some mod points to mod this funny
I just want to say that there is a big difference in statement between "a teenager sneaking to his daughters room" than a "a naked teenager high on acid and potentially dangerous sneaking to his daughters room"
The first one definitely implies that it's harmless (what teenager didn't sneak to the room of his teenage-love?). Being shot in that context is a world of a difference than being shot in the case what you described. Your original post, however, implied the harmless version.
Oh, and just for the record. The guy being black was totally irrelevant and you could have left it out. The fact that you didn't leave it out tells a lot more about you than you think. (Including even the typical "I have friends of all races", how cliché )
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
He saw a strange name and was curious. Pull your head out of your own.
Then he should have asked for whether the name "Goncalves" is a hispanic or other. He was asking about Goncalves' ethnic background
Something to consider.
Uhhhh... no. Not something I will be considering.
Stop being so overly sensitive. You and excessive political correctness are destroying the ability to just ASK NORMAL QUESTIONS without offending someone.
Bunch of crybabies.
So if I meet someone and they tell me their name, and I ask about their ethnic background, that makes me a racist? Boy am I glad I don't live in the same messed up world you do.
"But this one goes to 11!"
I suppose it does change the story a bit, but not much. Most people have a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality about intruders on their property at night. I've almost been shot when I was younger by my own family for trying to come in through a window after I'd lost my keys.
As for the racial bit, it's a proven fact that Blacks commit crimes at a much higher rate than any other race in the US, especially against White females. So it's entirely relevant in the context. As for my commentary about interracial relationships, there's a big difference between friendship and respect, and diluting one's bloodline. My Black friends understand that, and wouldn't date a White woman. And they respect the fact that I am neither attracted to nor would I date anyone but a White woman. So on and so forth for other races. Simply because one has pride in one's heritage does not preclude respect for others.
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
I am everything that's wrong with society today? A working, tax-paying citizen who happens to disagree with you? Who points out that morons like you and your ilk are being consistently modded up or not modded, while dissenting voices are modded down?
Yep, I'm the cause of unemployment, corrupt and bloated government, human rights abuses, a pointless war in Iraq, millions of illegal immigrants sponging off an already flawed system, and a host of other problems that I could go on about all day. Okay, following that logic, if I'm the cause of all those problems, I'll fix them. ASAP. Of course, you might not like the way that I solve them, but you've now given the responsibility over to me. Thanks, I've been wanting to do something for a while now.
Seriously, you are a venomous moron. And Texas is the laughing stock of the U.S.? Get real. Bush is not from Texas, for one. Texas has some of the largest non-government technical industries in the country (think petroleum and medical). I believe the butt of most jokes about a particular state are either West Virginia or California. Hell, California can't even pay their welfare recipients, yet they're passing video game legislation.
And I'm going to hell, as you have emphatically stated twice now. That one's going to keep me up at nights. Are you one of those guys or gals that stands around outside concerts and passes out literature about how listening to Marilyn Manson or whomever is going to send us straight to hell? What is it with you and hell? As a Christian, I personally find people that run around telling whomever they don't agree with that they're "going to hell" or "good luck in hell shithead" pretty goddamn offensive. I think God has better things to do than send people to hell for defending their property or having a certain opinion or musical taste.
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
Is making out OK too? ^^
(No men please! ;)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.