VioletBlueVioletBlue

Sex.com: a url worth dying for?

Blogger, podcaster, SF Chron columnist, and sex educator Violet Blue writes:

In a twist worthy of a James Ellroy novel, con man Stephen Cohen — who forged a letter convincing Network Solutions to give him possession of the URL sex.com (via VeriSign) and whose whereabouts are still unknown — can now add “gangland murder attempt” to the new chapter in his real-life, sex.com neo-noir crime drama. When the URL’s owner, Gary Kremen, had the courts order Cohen to return Sex.com and pay him $65 million in damages, Cohen fled to Mexico — after he’d had the URL for three years, allegedly making $500,000 a month selling banner ads to other online porn sites. Come to think of it, the whole story (now 11 years in the making) could only be written by Carl Hiassen to have a fitting and sensible end — especially when you throw in a history that includes a convicted felon, a private investigator with a Stanford MBA, a Match.com startup dot-commer (now former) tweaker, a daughter caught smuggling 202 pounds of marijuana, a bizarre bid to buy Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and the operator of a Mexican shrimp farm. Don’t forget the Tijuana assassination attempt.

Now, Cohen is on the lam again and his lawyer in Mexico was attacked in a old-school Mafia-style whack attempt last week, injuring the lawyer’s cab driver and a young boy. Think Cohen will show up for his San Jose court date next February? Yeah, sure.

Link.

Reader comment: Gavin Brown says,

British tech journo Kieren McCarthy (Link) has written about the incredible
story of Sex.com. More info on the book: Link.