U.S. Government Seizes BitTorrent Search Engine Domain and More

[Milton L Mueller]

Not so odd, Marc, because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is part of DHS. 
Customs would be the primary agency involved in transnational counterfeiting enforcement actions. 
Recall ACTA and related negotiations. Interesting that this can go on without COICA. 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: NCSG-NCUC [mailto:NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Marc Rotenberg
> Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2010 8:26 AM
> To: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: [NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS] U.S. Government Seizes BitTorrent
> Search Engine Domain and More
> 
> According to the New York York Times, it was the Dept of
> Homeland Security (the same agency that brought us
> airport body scanners) that seized the BitTorrent site and others.
> This seems odd since it is the US Dept of Justice that would
> typically investigate copyright matters.
> 
> Note also that this action took place prior to Senate action
> on COICA.
> 
> Marc Rotenberg
> EPIC
> 
> -----------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html
> 
> U.S. Shuts Down Web Sites in Piracy Crackdown
> By BEN SISARIO
> Published: November 26, 2010
> 
> In what appears to be the latest phase of a far-reaching federal
> crackdown on online piracy of music and movies, the Web addresses of
> a number of sites that facilitate illegal file-sharing were seized
> this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the
> Department of Homeland Security.
> 
> By Friday morning, visiting the addresses of a handful of sites that
> either hosted unauthorized copies of films and music or allowed
> users to search for them elsewhere on the Internet produced a notice
> that said, in part: "This domain name has been seized by ICE -
> Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant
> issued by a United States District Court."
> 
>   * * *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Nov 27, 2010, at 1:57 AM, Alex Gakuru wrote:
> 
> > Does this mean *all* search engines with links will be shut down
> > anytime, including 'Big G'?
> >
> > On 11/27/10, Alex Gakuru <gakuru at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Why complained earlier on expectations that cash strapped ccTLDs
> especially
> >> in Africa/developing cannot afford parallel servers, databases and
> time
> >> costs to enforce third parties IP/copyrights/trademark etc interests.
> It
> >> somehow 'feels' safer NOT to register a .com now?
> >>
> >> On Sat, Nov 27, 2010 at 7:34 AM, Robin Gross <robin at ipjustice.org>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> The latest info that I've seen is that Verisign assigned new DNS
> servers
> >>> at the Registry level, and then locked the domain so that even the
> >>> Registrar
> >>> can't update it.  So now it looks like it may have been VeriSign who
> >>> "seized" them.  No word on ICANN's role in this situation, if any.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Nov 26, 2010, at 8:29 PM, Marc Perkel wrote:
> >>>
> >>> So was it ICANN that actually did the seizing?
> >>>
> >>> On 11/26/2010 7:25 PM, Michael Haffely wrote:
> >>>
> >>> The concerning part about the report from today is that the domain
> owner
> >>> never received any complaint or due process before the domains were
> >>> seized.
> >>> It appears that no Cease and Desist, warrant, suit, or other
> criminal
> >>> complaint was brought up before the domain was taken.  What if (for
> an
> >>> example) this behavior is taken up by the Patent and Copyright
> "trolls".
> >>> What happens to an individual/nonprofit/organization when they have
> their
> >>> domain yanked out from under them?
> >>>
> >>> If ICANN is to seize domains from their rightful owners by demand of
> a
> >>> law
> >>> enforcement agency we need to have a clear, *rapid* appeals process
> to
> >>> prevent abuse by corporations, law enforcement agencies, and
> governments.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -Mike H.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 8:46 PM, Andrew A. Adams <aaa at meiji.ac.jp>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Very similar moves are happening in the UK, with Nominet (UK non-
> profit
> >>>> with
> >>>> the .uk (and .gb) country-code delegation) engaging with the UK's
> SOCA
> >>>> (Serious and Organised Crime Agency *) to remove 1200 "sites
> engaged in
> >>>> selling counterfeit goods" recently and now doing a more explicit
> deal
> >>>> with
> >>>> the police to take down the DNS registration for sites "alleged to
> be
> >>>> involved in criminal activity".
> >>>>
> >>>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/25/nominet_crime/
> >>>>
> >>>> (*) The SOCA is a rather dodgy organisation, IMHO. When it was set
> up
> >>>> the
> >>>> then home secrewtary made a big thing of it not being actually
> police
> >>>> and
> >>>> therefore not bound by the requirements that the police have to
> respect
> >>>> the
> >>>> human rights of citizens. THat's a recipe for a secret police
> operating
> >>>> extra-judicially and here we see exactly that kind of approach.
> >>>>
> >>>> I am very worried by these kinds of moves. Zittrain's "The Future
> of the
> >>>> Internet" and Mueller's "Networks and States" concerns about
> censorship
> >>>> becoming the norm not the exception online seem to be coming true.
> While
> >>>> I'm
> >>>> not in favour of criminals having free reign, the trouble is that
> all
> >>>> the
> >>>> hard won freedoms such as due process, balance of rights, etc. seem
> to
> >>>> be
> >>>> being thrown out in the digital domain.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Professor Andrew A Adams                      aaa at meiji.ac.jp
> >>>> Professor at Graduate School of Business Administration,  and
> >>>> Deputy Director of the Centre for Business Information Ethics
> >>>> Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan       http://www.a-cubed.info/
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> IP JUSTICE
> >>> Robin Gross, Executive Director
> >>> 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
> >>> p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
> >>> w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> regards,
> >>
> >> Alex Gakuru
> >> http://www.mwenyeji.com
> >> Hosting, surprise yourself!
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > regards,
> >
> > Alex Gakuru
> > http://www.mwenyeji.com
> > Hosting, surprise yourself!