4 ms·

Am I an extortionist criminal for charging Hess a high price to extract oil from my land? After all, the world needs oil. Should I just have my land taken?

gpm 7y ago
No. You would be an extortionist if you told Hess that they better pay you money for that oil on your land (that they don't even want), or you're going to auction it off to terrorists who you happen to know will use that oil to create aerosol bomb's and blow them up. That would be a really good way to go to jail for a really long time in fact.
- huffmsa 7y ago
  The guy who owns this domain definitely didn't say he's going to be immediately selling it to North Korea if M$FT doesn't bite. You'd better tread lightly with the libelous claims here. He's simply putting it up to auction. Which is legal for oil, as it is for a domain name.
  - gpm 7y ago
    > O’Connor said he hopes Microsoft Corp. will buy it, but fears they won’t and instead it will get snatched up by someone working with organized cybercriminals or state-funded hacking groups bent on undermining the interests of Western corporations. I think I'm well covered... and no, it isn't, not if you know the person who is going to buy it is going to use it criminally.
    - crooked-v 7y ago
      A person can be reasonably confident that their immediate sale of an item is going to go to someone who will use it responsibly... while still worrying about its disposition five or ten years down the line. (Microsoft has already let this problem sit for 26 years, after all.) That still doesn't mean the person has any particular legal or moral responsibility to monitor their original customer indefinitely just because there's a future risk.
      - huffmsa 7y ago
        Microsoft has been living rent free on this guy's good will.
- Zenbit_UX 7y ago
  You've been commenting dramatic responses all over this thread like this guy has personally done you harm in the past. What gives? Your arguments aren't rational they're emotional and sensationalist and they seem to have no actual proof. You've taken the article as definitive proof that this man, whose done nothing with the domain for over 20 years out of concern for the general public, to be some sort of extortionist or criminal sympathizer. What's your angle here?

gpm 7y ago

No. You would be an extortionist if you told Hess that they better pay you money for that oil on your land (that they don't even want), or you're going to auction it off to terrorists who you happen to know will use that oil to create aerosol bomb's and blow them up. That would be a really good way to go to jail for a really long time in fact.

huffmsa 7y ago
The guy who owns this domain definitely didn't say he's going to be immediately selling it to North Korea if M$FT doesn't bite. You'd better tread lightly with the libelous claims here. He's simply putting it up to auction. Which is legal for oil, as it is for a domain name.
- gpm 7y ago
  > O’Connor said he hopes Microsoft Corp. will buy it, but fears they won’t and instead it will get snatched up by someone working with organized cybercriminals or state-funded hacking groups bent on undermining the interests of Western corporations. I think I'm well covered... and no, it isn't, not if you know the person who is going to buy it is going to use it criminally.
  - crooked-v 7y ago
    A person can be reasonably confident that their immediate sale of an item is going to go to someone who will use it responsibly... while still worrying about its disposition five or ten years down the line. (Microsoft has already let this problem sit for 26 years, after all.) That still doesn't mean the person has any particular legal or moral responsibility to monitor their original customer indefinitely just because there's a future risk.
    - huffmsa 7y ago
      Microsoft has been living rent free on this guy's good will.
Zenbit_UX 7y ago
You've been commenting dramatic responses all over this thread like this guy has personally done you harm in the past. What gives? Your arguments aren't rational they're emotional and sensationalist and they seem to have no actual proof. You've taken the article as definitive proof that this man, whose done nothing with the domain for over 20 years out of concern for the general public, to be some sort of extortionist or criminal sympathizer. What's your angle here?