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  • DHS/ICE seizes domain names of torrent sites

    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.
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    Users of the Web site torrent-finder.com saw this message after the site was seized on Friday.

    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.

    “ICE office of Homeland Security Investigations executed court-ordered seizure warrants against a number of domain names,” said Cori W. Bassett, a spokeswoman for ICE, in a statement. “As this is an ongoing investigation, there are no additional details available at this time.”

    Among the domains seized were torrent-finder.com and those of three sites that specialized in music: onsmash.com, rapgodfathers.com and dajaz1.com. TorrentFreak, a news blog about BitTorrent — a file-sharing system that has tended to elude the authorities because it is decentralized — said that at least 70 other addresses had been seized, most belonging to sites related to counterfeit clothing, DVDs and other goods.

    On Friday, torrent users were already discussing new sites that had popped up to serve them.

    The takedown notices are similar to those that went up on nine sites in June as part of an initiative against Internet counterfeiting and piracy that the agency called Operation in Our Sites.

    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.”

    Ms. Bassett would not comment on whether the latest raids were part of Operation in Our Sites, and a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the major recording labels, declined to answer questions.

    The new seizures also come as a new bill, the Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act, is making its way through Congress. The bill, which was approved by a Senate committee last week, would allow the government to shut down sites that are “dedicated to infringing activities.”

    Critics have said the law is too broad, and could affect sites that have nothing to do with file-sharing; the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil liberties group, has called it “an Internet censorship bill.” Waleed A. GadElKareem, who operated Torrent Finder from Egypt, said his site was shut down on Thursday without any notice.

    “My Web site does not even host any torrents or direct-link to them,” Mr. GadElKareem wrote in an e-mail, adding that he only links to other sites. “I am sure something is wrong!”

    He added that his server was up and running at a different address.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/te...R_AP_LO_MST_FB

    ...And in other "news", Slashdot posters are morons.
    If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
    ){ :|:& };:

  • #2
    I go to a privater server. Invitation only. They can kiss my ass.
    Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
    "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
    He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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    • #3
      "The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.

      "The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

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      • #4
        Stealing
        If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
        ){ :|:& };:

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by SlowwHand View Post
          I go to a privater server. Invitation only. They can kiss my ass.
          Dick move, Tex.



          Galnemer's books weren't out more than a day before they were on various and sundry torrent sites.
          "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
          "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
            Stealing
            bah, i've downloaded an enormous amount of music, but i'm also confident in saying that i've done more to support musicans than you ever will.
            "The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.

            "The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

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            • #7
              Considering that one of the US's primary exports is intellectual property, we need good enforcement to take down internet pirates if we want to stay ahead. Not to mention stealing is just wrong in and of itself.

              I support this 100%

              Also, DMCA
              If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
              ){ :|:& };:

              Comment


              • #8
                HC's support of big government.

                Let the invisible hand of the market stop piracy.

                Comment


                • #9
                  i doubt this will have any real effect anyway. sites will just move to jurisdictions where the US has no say. see, the pirate bay for example.

                  also why is the department of homeland security involved, because if you download a movie instead of watching it at the theatre, the terrorists win?
                  "The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.

                  "The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                    Considering that one of the US's primary exports is intellectual property, we need good enforcement to take down internet pirates if we want to stay ahead. Not to mention stealing is just wrong in and of itself.

                    I support this 100%

                    Also, DMCA
                    Good to know we still have someone who can replace Ben as a convenient target.
                    Graffiti in a public toilet
                    Do not require skill or wit
                    Among the **** we all are poets
                    Among the poets we are ****.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                      Stealing
                      Actually, it's copyright infringement. Not sure why you think the government should stop people from doing something that doesn't make anyone else worse off.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Riesstiu IV View Post
                        HC's support of big government.

                        Let the invisible hand of the market stop piracy.
                        Ideas are public goods. This is one of the few robust causes of market failure.
                        12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                        Stadtluft Macht Frei
                        Killing it is the new killing it
                        Ultima Ratio Regum

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by gribbler View Post
                          Actually, it's copyright infringement. Not sure why you think the government should stop people from doing something that doesn't make anyone else worse off.
                          Tell that to Galnemer. Guy, is she worse off without people paying for her work?
                          If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                          ){ :|:& };:

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by C0ckney View Post
                            also why is the department of homeland security involved, because if you download a movie instead of watching it at the theatre, the terrorists win?
                            It's a technicality, various agencies don't always correspond perfectly to the departments they are in. The secret service used to be in the Treasury Dept.
                            If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                            ){ :|:& };:

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                              Tell that to Galnemer. Guy, is she worse off without people paying for her work?
                              Still doesn't explain why people don't have the right to use their physical property however they want as long as it doesn't affect anyone else. I guess you're not a libertarian? Good.

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