While You Were Eating Your Turkey, Homeland Security Was Seizing 9 Domains
Several sources are reporting that Homeland Security has seized domain names associated with peer-to-peer file sharing sites and those that allegedly deal in counterfeit goods.
The domain was seized without any prior notification to the domain owner and without going through the court system.
The seizures were apparently conducted by a branch of Homeland Security known as ICE.
Some of the seized domains include one that was a “search engine” type of site called Torrent-Finder.com, several were sites that allegedly sold counterfeit goods:
2009jerseys.com
nfljerseysupply.com
lifetimereplicas.com
handbag9.com
and several others were sites that were involved in the transmission of music transfers:
RapGodFathers.com
OnSmash.com
DaJaz1.com
Each of the sites now carry the following on the domains:
“Willful copyright infringement is a federal crime that carries penalties for first time offenders of up to five years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, forfeiture and restitution.”
At least one of the ceased domains is back up and operating on a .info extension: rapgodfathers.info
The bill would still be passed by the full Senate, House and signed by the President before going into effect.
You can read more about this here
You can also read the US government position on this issue here on a previous seizure
Now the
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Imagine if they did that to the New York Times or Fox News because they allowed some music files or news files to be downloaded that belonged to another person or company.
Seems very excessive. There should be a due process with penalties, but seizing property is absurd and more evidence of the fascist state we are turning into.
Apply for your foreign citizenship before it is too late. Oops…..I forgot…..the United States is the only industrialized country that does not let it’s natural born citizens hold dual-citizenship. If you get citizenship somewhere else your U.S. citizenship is revoked and you are no longer an American.
Very nice of the Govt, huh? Let’s not even talk about having to pay taxes for you earnings in two countries either — double taxation. In other words, don’t leave the U.S. unless you want to be penalized by losing your U.S. citizenship and having to pay double the taxes you are now.
If that is not taking away freedom, I don’t know what is. God bless America, land of the free!
Chilling.
@You Know Me
Are you sure about this?
“…the United States is the only industrialized country that does not let it’s natural born citizens hold dual-citizenship. If you get citizenship somewhere else your U.S. citizenship is revoked and you are no longer an American.”
I have a couple of friends that are natural born US and have dual US/Italian citizenship.
PS:
I just found the answer. Yes, you can have dual US citizenship and be natural born US:
http://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html
If the bill that was passed by the Senate committee goes into law, it won’t matter where you live, where your domains are hosted or what registrar you use:
http://www.thedomains.com/2010/11/18/senate-panel-pass-law-allowing-seizure-of-domain-names/
WikiLeaks’ effect?
“Imagine if they did that to the New York Times or Fox News”
===
The new CEO of ICANN is from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Imagine if web-sites vanish that oppose an ICANN (IANA) policy
Will Fox News report on those events ? Will they have a clue ?
Will there be a re-birth of NON-Internet communication like books and DVDs?
is the Web still free? I believe that it isn’t
The problem is you think you still have rights… time to smell the coffee folks
Those three Govt departments need to employ a decent art director and designer. Awful logos.
Frightening. The precedence was set when Obama first decided to fire the CEO of GM, then reinforced when he demanded/negotiated that BP create a $20 escrow account without following due process. BP knew their liabilities would exceed $20B, but will now use the defense: “This was negotiated with your president as the limit of our liability.” What next? “We believe your website is likely to violate a crime, therefor you must deposit $50,000 in escrow.” It’s beginning to sound like the movie Minority Report where they had a Pre-Crime unit to apprehend those believed likely to commit a crime.
1 down. Millions left to take down.
What’s next?
A new U.S. Senate bill would grant the president far-reaching emergency powers to seize control of or even shut down portions of the Internet.
news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20007418-38.html
“.the United States is the only industrialized country that does not let it’s natural born citizens hold dual-citizenship. If you get citizenship somewhere else your U.S. citizenship is revoked and you are no longer an American. ”
POTENTIALLY EXPATRIATING ACTS
Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1481), as amended, states that U.S. citizens are subject to loss of citizenship if they perform certain specified acts voluntarily and with the intention to relinquish U.S. citizenship. Briefly stated, these acts include:
1. obtaining naturalization in a foreign state (Sec. 349 (a) (1) INA);
2. taking an oath, affirmation or other formal declaration to a foreign state or its political subdivisions (Sec. 349 (a) (2) INA);
3. entering or serving in the armed forces of a foreign state engaged in hostilities against the U.S. or serving as a commissioned or non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of a foreign state (Sec. 349 (a) (3) INA);
4. accepting employment with a foreign government if (a) one has the nationality of that foreign state or (b) an oath or declaration of allegiance is required in accepting the position (Sec. 349 (a) (4) INA);
5. formally renouncing U.S. citizenship before a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer outside the United States (sec. 349 (a) (5) INA);
6. formally renouncing U.S. citizenship within the U.S. (but only under strict, narrow statutory conditions) (Sec. 349 (a) (6) INA);
7. conviction for an act of treason (Sec. 349 (a) (7) INA).
Thansk David and Einstein — I am wrong on that it seems. I checked on this inititally in 2002 and then again in about 2007 I believe and it was still illegal.
It appears they changed the law as stated in the text of the site of the link you sent:
“The US State Department — once quite combative in its handling of dual-citizenship claims — has changed the way it handles these cases in recent years, and it is now much easier to retain such a status without a fight than it used to be. ”
I must say that does give me some hope, to that end. Thanks for correcting me or I would have continued believing this.
Isn’t rampant trademark violation a reason for ICANN to deaccredit the Registrar? Somewhere the RAA has been violated. If Registrars don’t do anything, ideally they would be liable . . . You’re blaming the wrong entity, people. Its the Powers-that-be ICANN, Verisign, and the major Registrars who steamroll anybody for profit, including thumb their nose at government, including violate trademark. No rights being violated here.
a wee bit more than 9 !
Homeland Security shuts down dozens of Web sites without court order
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/homeland-security-shuts-dozens-sites/
‘The Homeland Security Department’s customs enforcement division has gone on a Web site shutdown spree, closing down at least 76 domains this week, according to online reports.
While many of the web domains were sites that trafficked in counterfeit brand name goods, and some others linked to copyright-infringing file-sharing materials, at least one site was a Google-like search engine, causing alarm among web freedom advocates who worry the move steps over the line into censorship.
All the shut sites are now displaying a Homeland Security warning that copyright infringers can face up to five years in prison.
According to a report at TorrentFreak, the search engine that was shut down — Torrent-Finder.com — neither hosted copyrighted material nor directly linked to places where it could be found. Instead, the site opened new windows to sites that did link to file-sharing materials.’
RAWSTORY.COM
Seizing an instrumentality used in the commission of a crime is not an unusual concept.
If you sail into Biscayne Bay in your speedboat, and have 100 kilos of cocaine aboard then, yes, your boat is going to be seized along with the cocaine. They are not going to offload the cocaine and say, “Here’s your boat back.” Such seizures can be challenged, but there is no principle under which law enforcement is barred from seizing otherwise perfectly lawful things if they are being used to commit crimes. You can perfectly lawfully own a handgun. No, you don’t get your gun back after being arrested for mugging someone with it and awaiting your trial.
On the “dual citizen” off-topic thing, this is a perennial source of confusion for some folks. Each country has the basic sovereign right to define who are its citizens. No country has to respect such determinations made by other countries. Many US citizens obtain Irish or Israeli citizenship, as those two countries have very broad definitions of who can be one. If you have an Irish grandparent, you can obtain an Irish passport. If you are Jewish, you can get an Israeli one, under their law of return. As neither Ireland nor Israel require revocation of other citizenships, it does not influence your status as a US citizen one bit, and the US is not obligated to recognize these other citizenships.
The issue comes up in certain legal situations such as the case of Jonathan Pollard, a US citizen convicted of espionage. Mr. Pollard also holds Israeli citizenship, and Israel has requested the US to release “their citizen”. The US does not do so because, while US citizens may be entitled to hold non-US citizenships under the laws of such foreign countries, the US will apply US law in determining whether you are a US citizen. It only makes sense, if you think about it, that US courts are only in the business of determining who is or is not a US citizen.
There will be some interesting theater in this area, as one of the agenda items of the next House session will be to propose legislation under which persons born in the US would not be considered US citizens, in contrast to the plain language of the 14th Amendment.
One final frequently-misunderstood fact is that naturalized US citizens are required to revoke their prior citizenship. Whether the prior country of citizenship itself recognizes such revocation is up to them.
“one of the agenda items of the next House session will be to propose legislation under which persons born in the US would not be considered US citizens, in contrast to the plain language of the 14th Amendment.”
John, at what point if ever do we realize that times change, during the writing of the 14th amendment were illegals dropping newborns and sucking the system dry…er, no. It wasn’t until the 1965 immigration act which lead to the abuses we see today. If the 14th amendment protected these illegals it should have been good enough in 1965, wasn’t than and isn’t now, imo.
Josh, US v. Wong Kim Ark was decided in 1898. The issue at that time was the “Yellow Peril” posed by Chinese laborers in the western US, in response to which the Chinese Exclusion Act, and similar legislation was passed. The 14th Amendment has meant the same thing since then. The only “statutory” category of birthright citizenship is that applying to Native Americans born in areas under tribal sovereignty.
But, yes, we’ll waste time on it. Incidentally, if you have some way of proving the citizenship of a baby’s father, you might qualify for a spot in medical history.
Ben Franklin had the same complaint about Germans:
http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf2/letter18.htm
“Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation, and as Ignorance is often attended with Credulity when Knavery would mislead it, and with Suspicion when Honesty would set it right; and as few of the English understand the German Language, and so cannot address them either from the Press or Pulpit, ’tis almost impossible to remove any prejudices they once entertain. Few of their children in the Country learn English; they import many Books from Germany; and of the six printing houses in the Province, two are entirely German, two half German half English, and but two entirely English; They have one German News-paper, and one half German. Advertisements intended to be general are now printed in Dutch and English; the Signs in our Streets have inscriptions in both languages, and in some places only German”
But, back on the subject of bizarre law enforcement – Willie Nelson was arrested in Texas today for possession of marijuana. It doesn’t get any more pointless than that.
My thoughts are, I am all for freedom of expression, but if you knowingly commit a crime than you better expect to have the instruments and devices that you used to commit or perpetuate a crime taken away from you. The lines are sometimes blurred, but you ain’t never going to beat the feds, so better play by their rules. To better quote Bob Dylan “The only way to live outside the Law is to be Honest”. And yes, I have dual citizenship as a natural born US person, or at least I did last time I checked.
Are online music traders and counterfitters terrorists? I thought homeland security was to protect against terrorists. Instead they are like the secret police. Well there’s gonna be no stoppig them, they have already been given guns and more than we have, so let’s look on the positive. This is going to be good news for ccTLDs, especially .co coz it is currently regarded as the closest alternative. Funny everyone is so worried about the Columbian government. What’s the difference really? It’s a coin flip at worst.
@ Louise
Dumb and Dumber ….
(Quote)
government intervention sounds like a good alternative! I say, go get ‘em! (Unquote)
://howardneu.com/blog/social/ENTERTAINMENT-INDUSTRY-IS-PUSHING-HARD-FOR-PASSAGE-OF-LEAHY-BILL.php?post_id=90&pgtitle=ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY IS PUSHING HARD FOR PASSAGE OF LEAHY BILL&category=social
I say, go get ‘em! … what a kiss-up ugly mentality you have, louie
I guess this issue was featured and raised
so we could hear your bright fascist comments NOT!
I know Mr Rodgers is your hero,but really.
P.S. And your photo is ugly too.
The point is not that the government seizes your speedboat when it’s being used to smuggle drugs – though that’s the sort of thing that they will say to placate the populace. The point is that the property is seized without any sort of court process, or even without any proof that a crime was committed. That means they can take your business just like that.
Small comfort that you can get it back if you have any money left after the seizure to hire a lawyer. By the time you get it back, you may be bankrupt. If you have a going business on a domain name, it will be gone by the time you get it back.
On top of this is the obvious conflict of interest. Police departments enrich themselves by seizing property, and there are already know cases of the funds being used for various amenities for the police themselves. Likewise, the government can enrich itself by seizing property without any due process.
Americans don’t seem to realize it, but they have less freedom than many countries of the world already…and it’s getting worse. Having lived in China, I can attest that in some areas, China actually allows more individual freedom than the US. And, believe me, I don’t like China. But at least the Chinese know when they’re getting screwed.
Hello Mike,
This sets a dangerous precedence!!! Not only for domainers but american citizens as well. This whole protect against terrorism campaign is being morphed into areas of question? Whats Next ???
Gratefully, Jeff
This is not about Miami Vice and Cigarette Boats full of illegal aliens & chemicals.
This all about KANGAROO COURTs
UDRP “Laws” made up as 5 people decide.
UDRP Lawyers making a fortune preying on people tagged as Domainers
Kangaroo Courts and laws made up by Australians and New Zealanders and applied in the United States by clueless NON-Netizens
U.S. Citizens are told everyone “plays by the rules”, except the Russian Mafia that freely walks across the borders escorted by the I* insiders who like to travel to Moscow and make a big name for themselves with NASA and Space groupies.
It is all about double and triple standards. YOUR privacy and information belongs to the government. The I* insiders and the government have their own rules. THEY do not go thru TSA pat-downs. They have their own air force.
The I* insiders make the laws as they go along to suit their needs. YOU are their pawns. THEY like it that way. You decide to continue to play??
With all due respect to John coz, regarding thespeedboat example, which now everyone’s hung up on….
Realistically a speedboat full of drugs is pretty cut and dry. There are 0 tolerance laws on drugs and it’s easy to confirm via rapid field test that the suspected drugs are in fact drugs.
Regarding seizing a domain name, perhaps the domain was not being used in a manner which threatened national security? There is no rapid test for this, rather it must be argued in court. Ok if ownership of the domain is taken by Johnny Law, however the dns should remain the same while the business owner gets to attempt to prove they are innocent. The domain. Should remain in police custody until a decision is made. That would be fair by previous American standards.
WIKI on KANGAROO COURTS
Be careful what you wear to ICANN Meetings…
“In 2008, Singapore’s Attorney-General applied to the High Court to commence contempt proceedings against three individuals who appeared in the new Supreme Court building wearing identical white T-shirts bearing a palm-sized picture of a kangaroo dressed in a judge’s gown.”
“wearing identical white T-shirts…”
===
Everyone knows that THREE people “wearing identical white T-shirts” is a VIOLATION of the ICANN laws for Vertical Integration and Collusion and Conspiracy covered by a PDP proceeding resulting in a Multi-Stakeholder
witch hunt.
All gTLDs operated by people “wearing identical white T-shirts” are to be seized along with their $5,000 chi hua huas NOT approved by Taco.Bell.
If the US Authorities first concentrated on shutting down all the web sites in US and worldwide pertaining to child pornography without any court action or due process then they would have standing applauds from virtually everyone.. Instead to concentrate on dodgey handbags and music file sharers (not withstanding the rights or wrongs) under the umbrella of Homeland Security seems somewhat misplaced in the order of priorties..
@John
I read about Willie’s arrest as well the other day, thought to myself, what tipped them off lol
As for immigration and such, Ill chose to not debate with a lawyer
Drudge has this on the homepage, which means this move is about to get A LOT more attention….
How’s that ‘hope and change’ working out folks?
Kinda like this https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush
Transparent all right, but not in the way it was promised.
Cue the apologists..
KANGAROO.COURT
://ezralevant.com/2008/01/kangaroo-court.html
“…just returned home from my session at the kangaroo court, called the Alberta human rights commission….
…
When the Western Standard magazine printed the Danish cartoons of Mohammed two years ago…
I am here at this government interrogation under protest. It is my position that the government has no legal or moral authority to interrogate me or anyone else for publishing these words and pictures…”
I think people need to be more concerned with the cases where a domain is seized when someone who is using the domain under a lease or some type of partnership is doing something illegal and the domain owner ends up having their asset taken. I narrowly missed losing a valuable domain when the FTC shut down one of the most successful tax relief companies in the US. Thankfully I declined their offer to lease my site. You wouldn’t necessarily know that a successful and well respected company is committing massive fraud. (Anyone lease a domain to Madoff??)
You don’t even have to lease a domain or a site, just selling leads can put you in jeopardy. And I think its entirely possible that might be extended to parked domains and the PPC ads leading to the sites of theses fraudsters. My point, is that you should always know as much as possible about who ultimately is using the data that is originating from your site. Partnering with the wrong company can be disastrous.
What a con game! None of these are ICE seizures. They are all fake sites put up to mimic (and not very well) the real ICE seizures. What’s the clues? All of these sites are hosted at carohosting, including the google analytics and piwik analytics that the creator wanted to track how well his viral news article was. Official seized sites are no more than a single 640×480 JPG (with no visitor tracking). Not knowing anything about the original site content of these fakes, perhaps the site owners are trying to bilk their subscribers and blame it on the Feds. For the real seizures (and for the con artists, the real graphic), visit: http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1006/100630losangeles.htm
“You wouldn’t necessarily know that a successful and well respected company is committing massive fraud. ”
===
Enron ?
Arthur Andersen ?
Do people remember the early .NET when Vinton Cerf and Bernie Ebbers were running MCI WorldCOM ?
Where did the $4,000,000,000+ (yes Billion) go ?
@John BerryHill,
From what has been said these seizures were done by court orders to ICANN not the the individual registrars which would pretty unprecedented wouldn’t it? If you look at the domains seized a number were registered in places like China out of U.S. jurisdiction. This sets a pretty nasty precedent of the U.S. saying it can seize any domain it doesn’t like in any country, does it not?
Can you give your thoughts on any of this?
“Are online music traders and counterfitters terrorists? I thought homeland security was to protect against terrorists.”
When DHS was created, Customs was folded into DHS. Prior to DHS, Customs has been engaged in seizure of infringing imports for decades.
“Regarding seizing a domain name, perhaps the domain was not being used in a manner which threatened national security?”
I don’t get your point JP. This is not about national security. It is about counterfeiting and infringing product interdiction, which Customs was doing before we were all born. It’s easier to figure out if a site is selling fake Louis Vuitton bags and shipping them to the US than it is to tell if a white powder is cocaine.
“when someone who is using the domain under a lease or some type of partnership is doing something illegal”
Yes. When I prepare a domain lease, I typically include a number of provisions under which the domain owner can shut the site down if there is illegal activity, and that the lessor is liable for the full value of the domain name if it is lost due to such activity (which, of course, is only as good as their ability to pay). Leasing a domain name is like leasing your car. If your crazy uncle Charlie shows up drunk and asks for the keys, you might want to think about that for a minute or two.
“If you look at the domains seized a number were registered in places like China out of U.S. jurisdiction.”
I haven’t looked at this particular story in detail, but they should have ALL been non-US sites, since the jurisdiction of US Customs extends to imported products.
“This sets a pretty nasty precedent of the U.S. saying it can seize any domain it doesn’t like in any country, does it not?”
The registry for .com is located in the United States.
“This sets a pretty nasty precedent of the U.S. saying it can seize any domain it doesn’t like in any country, does it not?”
The registry for .com is located in the United States.
====
It gets much better. STAY TUNED !!!
All NON-U.S. packet traffic will have to move to IPv6 Proxy Access with 100% logging and recording.
It makes ZERO sense to prevent people from crossing borders as mammals and then turn around and allow them to enter U.S. CyberSpace as unfettered electronic agents. External users will have to have ISP chaperons.
Sean
I think you raised a good post can you really lease domain anymore in the world that all types of misuse could leave to the seizure of the domain?
CBS News Has now picked up on the story
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-20023922.html
“I think you raised a good post can you really lease domain anymore in the world that all types of misuse could leave to the seizure of the domain?”
That’s true with anything. You can have your house taken away from you if you lease it to someone who runs a prostitution business there.
Domains aren’t special in that regard.
John
Domains may not be special in this regard but until very recently this remedy was not used by the government.
Now that it is, domainers will have to be VERY careful of whom to lease domains to
“until very recently this remedy was not used by the government.”
“until very recently this remedy was not OPENLY used by the government.”
===
In the ICANN Beauty Contest Round of Top Level Domains – Long after the fact, the CEO Michael Roberts disclosed that the U.S. Government “vetted” all TLD Applicants.
Apparently, some Applicants were silently rejected, never showcased, were refunded their fees, and quietly told “don’t even think about applying”.
It was all claimed to be “an open and transparent process” of course.
Well, As i have been preaching for months …
let’s not get diverted from a Senate Bill ,,,THAT COULD BE REINTRODUCED …
“The Domain Blocking Bill,”
://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/oregon-senator-vows-block-internet-censorship-bill/
Senator Ron Wyden has lead the charge to stop it
learn about it and let Senator Wyden know you want to …
HELP STOP THIS FASCIST BILL
PERMANTLY!
://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combating_Online_Infringement_and_Counterfeits_Act
AND
://www.temple.edu/lawschool/dpost/COICA.html
AND
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/oregon-senator-vows-block-internet-censorship-bill/
Well,
As i have been preaching to the choir for months …
let’s not get diverted from a Senate Bill ,,,
THAT COULD BE REINTRODUCED …
“The Domain Blocking Bill,”
://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/oregon-senator-vows-block-internet-censorship-bill/
Senator Ron Wyden has lead the charge to stop it
learn about it and let Senator Wyden know you want to …
HELP STOP THIS FASCIST BILL
PERMANTLY!
://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combating_Online_Infringement_and_Counterfeits_Act
AND
://www.temple.edu/lawschool/dpost/COICA.html
John,
The law is not limited to sites involving the importation of counterfeit goods. And, there is no requirement that there have actually been any importation
The law comes in 2 parts:
Part I: – all judicial process. I have no problem with this per se. It is really only an attempt to seize a “property” used in connection with illegal activity. Main problems are
(A) we already have laws that allow this,
(B) it will apply not only to counterfeit issues but also to infringement issues (including copyright); and,
(C) The enforcement via VeriSign and is just silly. The domain is what – not allowed to be registered anymore – forever? Talk about a proscriptive injunction!
Part II – DOJ – really problematic from a due process point of view. Essentially, the DOJ is obligated to create a blacklist – all that is required is the following:
1. Claim made to DOJ
2. DOJ determines to blacklist the domain
3. Registrant may request that the DOJ change its mind. DOJ not required to and not required to provide any explanation.
4. If DOJ refuses to remove blacklisting, registrant has limited period of time to PERSONALLY appear (no corporations please) and file with the court in VA.
5. Following filing by the registrant, the DOJ gets to present its filing and for the first time may produce information not previously provided to the registrant.
6. Upon receipt of the DOJ filing the court may decide the matter without hearing and without further briefing.
Legislation requires DOJ provide assistance to claimants but says nothing about helping those who have been placed on the blacklist.
NOW, we can all use examples like the smoking gun or the boat loaded with cocaine. However, the protections of the constitution and due process are really intended to protect against governmental abuses of legislative powers. Where is the balance in the newly proposed law?
I have heard many argue that the whole thing is only a blacklist issue. Well tell me one ISP who will continue to resolve a domain that is on the blacklist?
AND, if Customs (now part of HLS) can already seize things that are illegally imported, why the need for a special rule pertaining to domain names?
I agree that leases are tricky when it comes to domains. I also face these issues in transactions. However, the risks raised already exist (UDRP, ACPA claims, etc).
So, I VOTE NO (not that my vote ever counted).
PRK
Paul
Your vote always counts
especially if you’re agreeing with me
)):::
President Obama promised to Close Down the Cayman Islands Domainers
“You’ve got a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 12,000 corporations,” he said during a Jan. 5, 2008, debate in Manchester, N.H. “That’s either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record.”
://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-101129.html
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Attorney General Eric Holder at the Operation in Our Sites II Press Conference
Washington, D.C. ~ Monday, November 29, 2010
://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/04/obama-unveils-plan-close-tax-loopholes/