Stephen M. Cohen

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For other persons with a similar name, see Stephen Cohen.

Stephen Michael Cohen is an American entrepreneur who gained notoriety after fraudulently acquiring control of the domain name sex.com in 1995.[1] He was later implicated in involvement in running controversial peer-to-peer service EarthStation 5.[2]

Cohen was born in Los Angeles[3] and attended Van Nuys High School in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles. [1]

In 1975, Cohen was convicted of grand theft and check-kiting.[4] In the 1980s, he operated a paid-membership bulletin board system (BBS) called the French Connection, geared toward swinging and other sexual topics,[3][4] and by the late 1980s, he organized swinger get-togethers at a home in Orange County, California. In 1990, he was arrested for operating a sex club in a residential zone. He relocated the enterprise and charges were dropped.[4]

In 1991, he was convicted in a bankruptcy fraud scheme in which he forged documents and assumed other identities. He was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, and was released on February 1, 1995.[4] This was about the time the world wide web began a sustained period of rapid growth.[5]

Sex.com

Cohen allegedly fraudulently obtained the lucrative Internet domain name Sex.com on or about May of 1995 from the original registrant, Gary Kremen, who had registered it in May 1994. Cohen obtained the domain by means of an allegedly forged letter purported to be from Kremen's company, "Online Classified", which stated that Kremen had been dismissed and the firm was abandoning the domain and that Cohen could have it. Network Solutions, the registrar, accepted the letter at face value and transferred the domain to Cohen, an action that would prove grounds for a later civil suit by Kremen against Network Solutions.[6] It is estimated that Cohen earned US$100 million between October 1995 and November 2000 from his ownership of sex.com.

In April 2001, the court ordered damages of $65 million be paid to Kremen. Cohen then fled to Tijuana, Mexico where he was arrested on October 28, 2005.[7] As of 2005 the amount of damages owed to Kremen had increased to $82 million with interest.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Blue, Violet. Sex.com: A URL - All Crime And No Sex SF Gate, 2006-12-21. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  2. ^ Anderson, John Ward. Techno-Rebels in West Bank?: File Swapping Firm Claims Odd Hide Out, Washington Post, 2004-02-22, pp. A29 via washingtonpost.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
  3. ^ a b McCarthy, Kieren. Sex.com and a web of intrigue: Two men’s battle over a domain name shows how far the net has come. The Sunday Times, 2007-05-27, via timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  4. ^ a b c d Bicknell, Craig. The Sordid Saga of Sex.com. Wired, 1999-04-15.
  5. ^ Ward, Mark. How the web went world wide BBC News website, 2006-08-03. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  6. ^ Kremen v. Network Solutions, Inc. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. James Ware, District Judge, Presiding. Argued August 13, 2002. Submitted July 25, 2003—San Francisco, California. Filed July 25, 2003. Before: Alex Kozinski and M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges, and James M. Fitzgerald, District Judge. Opinion by Judge Kozinski. [1]
  7. ^ a b Dineen, J. K. Updated Nov. 4, 2005, 1:10 p.m. ET. "Sex.com thief faces justice after hiding out in Mexico for four years". Court TV News. [2].

External links

  • (BIC) Bicknell, Craig. April 15, 1999, 3:00 AM. "The Sordid Saga of Sex.com". Wired. /Tech Biz/Media. [3].
  • (BOY) Boyle, Matthew. December 8, 2005, 4:33 PM EST. "Sex.com, drugs and a rocky road: Tracking down the millions owed after the theft of a tangled web domain". CNNMoney.com. /Fortune/News/Technology. [4].
  • (DIN) Dineen, J. K. Updated Nov. 4, 2005, 1:10 p.m. ET. "Sex.com thief faces justice after hiding out in Mexico for four years". Court TV News. [5].
  • (GLA) Glasner, Joanna. August 14, 2002, 2:00 AM. "Sex.com Takes Aim at Registrar". Wired. /Tech Biz/Media. [6].
  • (SWA) Swartz, Jon. Posted March 31, 2005, 8:33 PM. Updated 1 April, 2005, 8:21 AM. "Appeals court upholds Sex.com ruling". USA Today. /Money. [7].
  • (VIO) Violet Blue. December 21, 2006. "Sex.com: A URL -- All Crime And No Sex". SFGate.com. /Open Source (Column). [8].