{"id":4610,"date":"2018-06-19T14:41:08","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T11:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ugmirror.com\/?p=4610"},"modified":"2018-06-19T14:41:08","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T11:41:08","slug":"man-goes-to-prison-for-attempting-to-hijack-web-domain-at-gunpoint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/19\/man-goes-to-prison-for-attempting-to-hijack-web-domain-at-gunpoint\/","title":{"rendered":"Man goes to prison for attempting to hijack web domain at gunpoint"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Internet domains are becoming\u00a0increasingly desirable<\/a>, especially as the web becomes crowded and it becomes harder to find memorable addresses.<\/p>\n

However, one man unfortunately took this to a violent extreme. Iowa resident Sherman Hopkins Jr. has been\u00a0sentenced<\/a>\u00a0to 20 years in federal prison for attempting to steal control of doitforstate.com (which doesn’t currently point anywhere) in an armed robbery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Hopkins pleaded guilty to invading a home in June 2017 and demanding that that the victim (Ethan Deyo) transfer the domain through GoDaddy while pointing a pistol at his head.<\/p>\n

When Deyo asked for the mailing address and phone number he needed to complete the domain, Hopkins pistol-whipped and tased him several times.<\/p>\n

Deyo managed to get control of the gun and shoot Hopkins, but only after Hopkins had shot him in the leg.<\/p>\n

While it’s unclear exactly why Hopkins was willing to turn to violence, the domain was potentially useful.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Motherboard<\/em>\u00a0noted<\/a>, it’s a reference to a meme emerging from Iowa State University where you were supposed to shout “do it for State” while watching students do things they’d invariably regret.<\/p>\n

The site had been used up until a month after the incident. At first glance, it looks like Hopkins was determined to ride that bandwagon without paying Deyo, and didn’t stop to think about what a forceful domain transfer would involve.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, that’s why this sort of case is likely to remain rare going forward.<\/p>\n

Few people are so desperate for a domain that they’re willing to threaten someone’s life, and the record keeping is going to deter anyone who knows how domain transfers work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n