U.S. Shuts Down Web Sites in Piracy Crackdown [telecom]

Nov 27, 2010 1 Replies
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U.S. Shuts Down Web Sites in Piracy Crackdown



By BEN SISARIO 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."



In taking over the sites' domain names, or Web addresses, the government effectively redirected any visitors to its own takedown notice.



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***** Moderator's Note *****

Somebody please tell me why Immigration and Customs Enforcement is involved with video piracy.



Bill Horne Moderator



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Just a guess -- but it _is_ a long-standing part of the assigned duties of "Customs" to seize (a) "counterfeit", and (b) copyright and/or trademark infringing goods being brought into the country.

And, as a part of their _enforcement_ powers against smuggling, and (not so incidentally) other forms of unlawful importation of proscribed items, there are long-standing provisions in law providing for the seizure of assets used in criminal enterprises. Over the years, Customs has owned a *LOT* of vehicles (planes, automobiles, trucks, and ships, among others), with a history going back _long_ before the days of "Prohibition".

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