Operation in Our Sites Starts Today ! First, Music sites. Following on the heels of this week's domain seizure of a large hiphop file-sharing links forum, it's clear today that the U.S. Government has been very busy. Without any need for COICA, ICE has just seized the domain of a BitTorrent meta-search engine along with those belonging to other music linking sites and several others which appear to be connected to physical counterfeit goods. While complex, it’s still possible for U.S. authorities and copyright groups to point at a fully-fledged BitTorrent site with a tracker and say “that’s an infringing site.” When one looks at a site which hosts torrents but operates no tracker, the finger pointing becomes quite a bit more difficult.
When a site has no tracker, carries no torrents, lists no copyright works unless someone searches for them and responds just like Google, accusing it of infringement becomes somewhat of a minefield – unless you’re ICE Homeland Security Investigations that is. The message below is posted on the seized sites. Music Blogs Caught Up in Labels’ Online Piracy Fight.
U.S. Shutters 82 Sites in Crackdown on Downloads, Counterfeit Goods. Second, Sports sites. During the past 24 hours the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have seized several domains belonging to major sports streaming sites. While the authorities have not yet officially commented on the actions, there is little doubt that we're dealing with a "Super Bowl Crackdown". Whether the actions will have much effect has to be doubted, as the affected sites are continuing on other domains. US authorities started their third round of domain name seizures yesterday, and the common theme appears to be sports streaming. The most recent seizures go even further than the previous ones as the only connection these sites have to the US is that their domains are operated by American companies.
The Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast and huge commercial interests are likely to be the main reason why the domains were seized. The notice below is posted on the seized sites. "alarmingly unprecedented" Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has 10 tough questions for the department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), all of which can be more easily summed up in a single, blunter question: what the hell are you guys doing over there? Wyden's displeasure is over ICE's Operation In Our Sites, the controversial program that began seizing Internet domain names last year, and just grabbed several more sports-related domains this week.
The seizures are all signed off on by a federal judge, but the affected parties get no warning and no chance to first challenge the claim that they are running illegal businesses. In fact, in yesterday's takedown, ICE grabbed the domain Rojadirecta.org, a site that links to live sports on the Web and has twice been declared legal by Spanish courts. His other questions are just as pointed, and they're all contained in a letter to ICE director John Morton. Wyden also digs into one specific case, last year's seizure of the dajaz1.com domain name. Spicy stuff.
Operation Broken Hearted. February 14, 2011 Washington, DC Sweetheart, but fake, deals put on ICE "Operation Broken Hearted" protects consumers from counterfeit Valentine's Day goods WASHINGTON - In order to protect consumers from deals that are too good to be true, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) served court orders seizing 18 domain names of websites selling counterfeit goods over the Internet.
This operation dubbed, "Operation Broken Hearted," is the fourth phase of, "Operation in Our Sites," a sustained initiative aimed at counterfeiting and piracy over the Internet. The 18 domain names seized were commercial websites engaged in the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit goods. During the course of the operation, federal law enforcement agents made undercover purchases from online retailers suspected of selling counterfeit goods.
The websites seized in "Operation Broken Hearted" are: Feds Seize 18 More Domains in Piracy Crackdown. The U.S. government seized 18 more internet domains Monday, bringing to at least 119 the number of seizures following the June commencement of the so-called “Operation in Our Sites” anti-piracy program. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement seizure, in honor of Valentine’s Day, targeted sites hawking big-name brands like Prada and Tiffany & Co. Customs agents had bought counterfeit bracelets, earrings, handbags, necklaces, rings, sunglasses, wallets and watches with “brand names” from Burberry to Nike and Timberland, the government said. “These counterfeits represent a triple threat by delivering shoddy, and sometimes dangerous, goods into commerce, by funding organized criminal activities and by denying Americans good-paying jobs. HSI and our partners at the IPR Center will continue to work together to keep counterfeit products off our streets,” ICE Director John Morton said in a statement.
The government has released a list of the 18 sites taken down. See Also: Operation Protect Our Children. For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary Contact: 202-282-8010 Washington, D.C. —The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced the execution of seizure warrants against 10 domain names of websites engaged in the advertisement and distribution of child pornography as part of "Operation Protect Our Children"—a new joint operation between DOJ and DHS’ U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to target sites that provide child pornography. "Each year, far too many children fall prey to sexual predators and all too often, these heinous acts are recorded in photos and on video and released on the Internet," said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. "DHS is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to shut down websites that promote child pornography to protect these children from further victimization. " For more information, visit www.ice.gov. 84,000 Websites Shutdown, ‘By Mistake’ The US Government has yet again shuttered several domain names this week. The Department of Justice and Homeland Security's ICE office proudly announced that they had seized domains related to counterfeit goods and child pornography.
What they failed to mention, however, is that one of the targeted domains belongs to a free DNS provider, and that 84,000 websites were wrongfully accused of links to child pornography crimes. As part of “Operation Save Our Children” ICE’s Cyber Crimes Center has again seized several domain names, but not without making a huge error. Last Friday, thousands of site owners were surprised by a rather worrying banner that was placed on their domain. “Advertisement, distribution, transportation, receipt, and possession of child pornography constitute federal crimes that carry penalties for first time offenders of up to 30 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, forfeiture and restitution,” was the worrying message they read on their websites. Do domain seizures keep streaming sites down? US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has caused tremendous controversy over the past year by seizing domain names belonging to sites that allegedly infringe copyright or sell counterfeit goods.
This all sounds rather pointless—the actual servers aren't seized, and it's a simple matter of registering a similar site name with a non-US domain name registrar—but ICE insists it works. We decided to check. Earlier this year, ICE boss John Morton said in a speech (PDF) that even he was shocked by his own success: Of great interest, and frankly unanticipated, was the collateral impact of this enforcement action. According to industry analysis, 81 other sites that had been offering pirated material voluntarily shut themselves down. In my many years in law enforcement, I have not seen that type of deterrence. ICE has seized domain names in waves, going after both intellectual property violations and child pornography. Molewhacking 101 Web developers aren't standing still, either. Feds Seize 130+ Domain Names in Mass Crackdown. US authorities have initiated the largest round of domain name seizures yet as part of their continued crackdown on counterfeit and piracy-related websites.
With just a few days to go until "Cyber Monday" more than 100 domain names have been taken over by the feds to protect the commercial interests of US companies. The seizures are disputable, as the SOPA bill which aims to specifically legitimize such actions is still pending in Congress. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have resumed “Operation In Our Sites”, the domain name seizing initiative designed to crack down on online piracy and counterfeiting.
The new round comes exactly a year after 82 domains, including Torrent-Finder, were taken over in 2010. At the time ICE labeled the actions “Cyber Monday crackdown,” referring to the Monday following Thanksgiving where consumers are persuaded to shop online. The Seized Domains.
Feds defend Internet domain seizure in piracy crackdown. Federal prosecutors are asking a judge not to return the domain names of one of Spain’s most popular websites seized as part of a major US crackdown on Internet piracy. The legal filing over Rojadirecta.com represents the government’s first legal response to a lawsuit challenging “Operation in Our Sites.” Commenced last year, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has seized as many as 208 domains the authorities claim are linked to intellectual-property fraud. The court-ordered seizures are aimed at websites that sell counterfeited goods, as well as sites that facilitate illegal music, film and broadcast piracy.
The Rojadirecta .com and .org domains were seized in January along with eight others connected to broadcasting pirated streams of professional sports. Puerto 80, the Rojadirecta site owner, last month asked a New York judge to return them. Puerto 80, which claims the Rojadirecta site sports 865,000 registered users, said it has committed no copyright infringement. How To Stop it. This week, an ever more familiar picture started to emerge, the third such situation in well under a year. US authorities had begun another round of domain name seizures, this time against sites connected with sports streaming.
The domains seized included HQ-streams.com, HQ-streams.net, Atdhe.net, Firstrow.net, Ilemi.com, Iilemi.com, Iilemii.com, Channelsurfing.net, Rojadirecta.net and Rojadirecta.com. These latest seizures were the final straw for one angry TorrentFreak reader. “First they came for the Napsters, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Napster. Then they came for the Torrents, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t use Torrents. Then they came for the file-sharers, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a file-sharer,” the email began. “And then they came for me and for my sites, and there was no one left to speak out for me.” These words come from SearchFreak, an internet engineer and chief executive of an Internet business that provides services to millions of users.
Here's how the feds will hunt you down. When the US government decides to take down a website offering access to free TV streams over the Internet, it doesn't mess around. Newly unsealed court documents show that Brian McCarthy, the 32-year old alleged operator of Channelsurfing.net, got the complete treatment—investigators dug into his domain name registrar, his ISP, his Gmail account, his ad brokers, and the Texas driver's license database. They even sent a surveillance team to the Deer Park, Texas home where McCarthy lived with his parents. McCarthy had his Channelsurfing.net domain name seized on February 1 as part of the controversial "In Our Sites" investigation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
That program seizes domain names, often of foreign websites, without an adversarial hearing; special agents simply convince a federal judge that the domain should be seized, and it is. But it's the thorough nature of the investigation that really stands out. Namecheap. Comcast. PayPal. Public records. Gmail. DMV. Wyden Letter. Mozilla resists US gov't request to nuke "MafiaaFire" add-on. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has asked Mozilla to remove a simple Firefox extension that redirects visitors from one domain name to another. Why? Because the MafiaaFire Redirector (no, the name isn't subtle) makes it easy for Web surfers to bypass the government's domain name seizures. Mozilla, the foundation that oversees Firefox development, has resisted the request. Mozilla lawyer Harvey Anderson announced on his blog today that the DHS has asked Mozilla to remove the MafiaaFire add-on from Mozilla's official online catalogue. Because the government seizes only the site name and not the actual servers, it's a simple matter for the affected sites to buy a new domain name with a non-US registrar and be back in business within hours.
Mozilla has, to date, refused to act on the government's request. Have any courts determined that the MafiaaFire add-on is unlawful or illegal in any way? Mozilla has not yet received any response. US facing legal challenge to domain name seizures. One of Spain’s most popular websites, whose American domains were seized as part of a crackdown on Internet piracy, asked a US judge Monday to return its property that it claims was wrongly taken. The Rojadirecta .com and .org domains were seized in January along with eight others connected to broadcasting pirated streams of professional sports. The legal filing in New York federal court by Puerto 80 Projects represents what is believed to be the first courthouse challenge to “Operation in Our Sites.” Commenced last year, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has seized as many as 208 domains the authorities claim are linked to intellectual property fraud. Puerto 80, which sports 865,000 registered users, said its site has committed no copyright infringement.
The site said it is a discussion board where members can talk sports, politics and other topics, and it additionally links to pirated sports streams searchable on the Internet. No hearing date has been set. Breaking News: Feds Falsely Censor Popular Blog For Over A Year, Deny All Due Process, Hide All Details... Imagine if the US government, with no notice or warning, raided a small but popular magazine's offices over a Thanksgiving weekend, seized the company's printing presses, and told the world that the magazine was a criminal enterprise with a giant banner on their building.
Then imagine that it never arrested anyone, never let a trial happen, and filed everything about the case under seal, not even letting the magazine's lawyers talk to the judge presiding over the case. And it continued to deny any due process at all for over a year, before finally just handing everything back to the magazine and pretending nothing happened. I expect most people would be outraged. I expect that nearly all of you would say that's a classic case of prior restraint, a massive First Amendment violation, and exactly the kind of thing that does not, or should not, happen in the United States.
Okay, now some details. What happened next is a story that should never happen in the US. Congress members question Homeland Security over domains seized 'without sufficient due process and transparency'