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Guy Robs Someone At Gunpoint For Domain Name, Gets 20 Years In Jail (vice.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the domain-hijacking dept.

Yesterday, 43-year-old Iowa man Sherman Hopkins Jr. was sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempting to rob a domain name from another man at gunpoint in 2017. As Motherboard reports, "this may be the first time someone has attempted to steal a domain name at gunpoint." From the report: Last June, Hopkins broke into the home of 26 year-old Ethan Deyo in Cedar Rapids, Iowa one afternoon and demanded that Deyo to log on to his computer to transfer the domain name for "doitforstate.com" to another account. According to Deyo's bio on his personal website, he is a web entrepreneur who previously worked for the web hosting service GoDaddy. After seeing Hopkins enter the apartment, Deyo locked himself into his room and Hopkins kicked in the door. Hopkins kicked in the door and "pistol-whipped" Deyo, held a gun to his head and used a stun gun on him during the encounter. While he attempted to wrestle the gun away from Hopkins, Deyo was shot in the leg, but he eventually gained control of the firearm and shot Hopkins multiple times in the chest. It's unclear why Hopkins wanted the domain name or who he was transferring the domain name to.

6 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. wait, what? by war4peace · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "guy robs" ...
    "Deyo was shot in the leg, but he eventually gained control of the firearm and shot Hopkins multiple times in the chest."

    That doesn't count as "robs", but "attempts to rob".

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  2. Re:Bad movie script by FFOMelchior · · Score: 5, Funny

    Plot for Taken 4. Terrorists steal Liam Neeson's domain name.

  3. Public Registration Information. by NoSalt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is why it is a bad idea to have public registration information. It should really only be available with a court order; yet many domain name registrars charge you a fee to keep your information safe.

  4. ICANN should stop requiring physical address by Utopia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is precisely why ICANN should stop requiring postal and/or phone number in the WHOIS records.

    1. Re:ICANN should stop requiring physical address by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Informative

      I just use a PO box. It's not just your domain registration that makes an address public. It's a registration of businesses or charities, many things you do with the government. For a while Garmin GPS systems had business registrations programmed into the address database, and you could just type "Perens" in, and it would lead you to the address of my LLC, which was my home at the time. Now my business no longer has my name, and uses a PO box. Anyone who tried could find me anyway.

      --
      Bruce Perens.
  5. Re:So small caliber weapon? by MoralCharacter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard something about this before - he probably shot himself with smaller bullets to build up a resistance to larger ones.