Domain name theft is no rare occurrence, and the numerous incidents that have made the tech headlines including the theft of Adios.com, have went unprosecuted, this may change after the recent arrest related to the theft of popular website domain name p2p.com.
On Friday July 30th a New Jersey man, Daniel Gonclave, was arrested on suspicion of stealing the rights to p2p.com and selling them to Mark Madsen, who coincidently plays for the NBA team the Los Angeles Clippers. The full extent of his arrest includes theft by unlawful taking or deception, identity theft and computer theft.
Was is Domain Name theft?
The illegality of domain name theft is no different from any other form of theft.
Basic definition of theft
1.–
(1) A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and ‘thief’ and ‘steal’ shall be construed accordingly.
A domain name is essentially a piece of real estate online, hacking into an account and selling it unlawfully is no different from breaking into a house and stealing a vase off the mantel piece. In the present case Daniel Gonclave is accused of hacking into the previous owner of the p2p.com domain and transferring all rights to himself, the p2pcom domain was then sold by himself on ebay to Mark Madsen for $111,000.
Why is Domain Theft so common?
Many entrepreneurs make a living from buying and selling easy to remember and desirable domain names, at the time of the theft the p2p.com domain was valued at $200,000, therefore in any situation where there is money or items of value there is also a black market equivalent; criminals hacking and stealing popular domain names and selling them on to unsuspecting buyers.
What now?
This is the first case of its kind and it brings to light to lack of law protecting people online and although many domain name registry companies have safeguards in place it is evident that many unlawful registry transferrals are slipping through the net. Perhaps the biggest safeguard would be to issue domain name owners with title deeds, similar to when you buy a house? Fingers crossed the p2p.com case will bring to light a suitable solution for this online criminal activity.
