Homeland Security shuts down dozens of Web sites without court order

[Liberty Rebellion]

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.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/homeland-security-shuts-dozens-sites/

[awake]

Where are the victims of bodily harm or harm to property? Counterfeit...pffft.. the government should talk.

Screaming apes thrashing sticks and pissing their territory.

[TNforPaul45]

Disgusting. Tyranny is becoming ever more bold, and so ever more boldy truth must march against it.

[jrskblx125]

Im surprised were not closed haha. This place rocks too hard i guess

[Kludge]

That was stupid of them to take down a couple anti-piracy sites at the same time as a massive Black Friday take-down of counterfeiting sites.

I tend to lean toward fraud being an act of aggression which results in property loss, but I dislike the government removing the sites' domains - but not enough to protest it. Shutting down websites which make pirating more convenient, however, is more easy to attack the gov't for.

[Dr.3D]

The Department of Homeland Security..... hummm.... so how did those web sites come to be a security threat? Are those guys even doing their job, or are they scabbing on some other bureaucracy?

[cindy25]

I thought that Wyden blocked this?

[Matt Collins]

The Department of Homeland Security..... hummm.... so how did those web sites come to be a security threat? Are those guys even doing their job, or are they scabbing on some other bureaucracy?
Shutting these down, I could maybe possibly see why (even though I don't like it), but to have the DHS involved is TOTALLY out of line.

What is the mission of the DHS? I don't think it has anything to do with intellectual "property" :rolleyes:

[dannno]

well www.youtube.com is still up :confused:

[specsaregood]

The Department of Homeland Security..... hummm.... so how did those web sites come to be a security threat? Are those guys even doing their job, or are they scabbing on some other bureaucracy?

perhaps this is just the revenue generation arm of the DHS.

[lynnf]

The Department of Homeland Security..... hummm.... so how did those web sites come to be a security threat? Are those guys even doing their job, or are they scabbing on some other bureaucracy?

hey -- part of the illusion is that parts of the economy are "infrastructure" so they're technically protecting "infrastructure" and, therefore, "protecting" us. just like everything else [bogus], it's for your safety!


lynn

[Liberty Rebellion]

hey -- part of the illusion is that parts of the economy are "infrastructure" so they're technically protecting "infrastructure" and, therefore, "protecting" us. just like everything else [bogus], it's for your safety!


lynn

I understand that argument and I have heard that certain industries were slow to adopt technologies thereby making them vulnerable but... If you install a firewall and have strict policies protecting the internal network, then you really dont' need this kind of DHS crap. instead you have to worry about social engineering etc.

[youngbuck]

The DHS is turning into a massive federal police force - its cornerstone being tyranny and oppression.

[Sola_Fide]

Im surprised were not closed haha. This place rocks too hard i guess

We could very well be next. We are "constitutionalists" and "survivalists", so we meet the new criteria for domestic terrorists.

[american.swan]

Well torrents have to be shut down so people don't download that wikileaks torrent file :rolls eyes:

[MN Patriot]

Go here FROM GOOGLE or your URL window: htt p://torrent-finder.com/ and you will see the Department of Homeland's scary page. I broke the link, so they can't track back to RPF.

Look at the source code and it appears they are tracking links to it:

var piwikTracker = Piwik.getTracker(pkBaseURL + "piwik.php", 1);
piwikTracker.trackPageView();
piwikTracker.enableLinkTracking();

from the Piwik website:
enableLinkTracking() – Install link tracking on all applicable link elements
addListener( element )- Add click listener to a specific link element. When clicked, Piwik will log the click automatically.

The government could shut down all of the Tea Party/libertarian/independent sites quite easily. Then how will we communicate?

The Ron Paul Revolution will have been ended.

What is an alternative means of communication beyond the web, that they can't shut down? We need to start thinking about that.

[ronpaulhawaii]

Well torrents have to be shut down so people don't download that wikileaks torrent file :rolls eyes:

This suspicion is echoed elsewhere


Naomi Wolf - Bryan ONeill below makes the interesting point that an internet blackout order (law it seems in the UK) about the imminent Wikileaks release could be related to the timing of this potential stalking horse of the `piracy' crackdown.
49 minutes ago · Like · Comment
6 people like this.

Naomi Wolf This is unsubstantiated but worth seeing as it is from a site on which off the record leaks from people working in government are recorded.
I am reposting the key graf here for prominence:

`NOVEMBER 26TH, 2010

+ + + RUMOUR: D-Notice Issued on Wikileaks Stories + + +

The Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee (DPBAC) which consists of top MOD civil servants and representatives from the media have according to Wikileaks issued a “D-Notice” – an attempt at a news black-out, on the imminent release by Wikileaks of two million diplomatic wire conversations between US Embassies and the White House/CIA. Rumours have been swirling around all day of US envoys meeting counterparts in Israel, London and Australia etc preparing them for extremely embarrassing news. Guido wonders what the US had to say about Blair, Brown and Cameron before bi-lateral meetings. Apparently Obama has been smoothing feathers on the phones.

Guido has just put a call in to Andrew Vallance, the DPBAC, secretary and is awaiting confirmation. If it is true something tells Guido that this isn’t going to work.

Remember what happened to Trafigura and their super-injunction…

Tags: Disintermediation, Downing Street, Spin, US Politics
at November 26, 2010 at 5:41 pm'
46 minutes ago · Like ·

[Standing Like A Rock]

How exactly do they shut down a website? Does it have to be based in the United States?

[Kludge]

How exactly do they shut down a website? Does it have to be based in the United States?

The US Government controls ICANN which handles the domains of all websites in the world. They don't shut down the website, just the domain name -- the website is still hosted on a physical server, but the address it's pointing to has transferred to ICE by ICANN.

[Matt Collins]

Some people use torrents for legal downloads, ya know? Anyone ever heard of Linux distros?

[silentshout]

Shutting these down, I could maybe possibly see why (even though I don't like it), but to have the DHS involved is TOTALLY out of line.

What is the mission of the DHS? I don't think it has anything to do with intellectual "property" :rolleyes:

I agree..why is the DHS involved? Lol, i thought they were created to stop terrorism? Lol.

[Matt Collins]

Many readers have sent in an update to yesterday's story (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/26/1450257/US-Government-Seizes-Torrent-Search-Engine-Domain) about the Department of Homeland Security's seizure of torrent-finder.com, a domain they believe to be involved in online piracy. As it turns out, this was just one of dozens of websites (http://www.osnews.com/story/24074/US_Government_Censors_70_Websites) that were targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html).

"In announcing that operation, John T. Morton, the assistant secretary of ICE, and representatives of the Motion Picture Association of America called it a long-term effort against online piracy, and said that suspected criminals would be pursued anywhere in the world. 'American business is under assault from counterfeiters and pirates every day, seven days a week,' Mr. Morton said. 'Criminals are stealing American ideas and products and distributing them over the Internet.'"

The TorrentFreak article we discussed yesterday has been updated with a list of the blocked sites (http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-seizes-bittorrent-search-engine-domain-and-more-101126/).

SOURCE:
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/27/1910232/DHS-Seizes-75-Domain-Names

[AGRP]

It's just a matter of time before they do this for other "reasons."

[james1906]

Didn't you know Osama Bin Laden gets a nickel every time Lady Gaga is denied a royalty?

[Kludge]

Some people use torrents for legal downloads, ya know? Anyone ever heard of Linux distros?

It's also fairly common for small indie bands and remixers to release via .torrent - program patches and large program mods are also commonly distributed via .torrent

- Oh, and the Wikileaks insurance file, ofc. :)


Didn't you know Osama Bin Laden gets a nickel every time Lady Gaga is denied a royalty?

You're thinking of Kim Jong Il.

http://www.phawker.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/downloading-communism.gif

P.S.
http://www.unsoughtinput.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/adblock.jpg
;) :D