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

[Milton L Mueller]

Exactly, DHS consolidated functions that used to be in separate departments (Customs, INS) 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marc Rotenberg [mailto:rotenberg at epic.org]
> Sent: Sunday, November 28, 2010 11:09 AM
> To: Milton L Mueller
> Cc: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: U.S. Government Seizes BitTorrent Search Engine Domain and
> More
> 
> As a US lawyer, it seems odd to me that the DHS would have
> this role. International law enforcement matters are routinely
> coordinated by the Dept. of Justice. ICE is a relatively
> recent creation, gathering powers that traditionally resided
> with Customs and the INS.
> 
> Marc.
> 
> On Nov 28, 2010, at 10:56 AM, Milton L Mueller wrote:
> 
> > 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!