Prominent sports streaming site Rojadirecta has asked a U.S. judge to return its domain names. The company behind the site, Puerto 80, said that its property was wrongfully taken during the third phase of ICE and Homeland Security’s ‘Operation in Our Sites’, an action which has severely damaged its legitimate business.
Source: Streaming Site Rolls Out Lawyers To Fight Domain Seizure
During the last 24 hours Homeland Security seized another domain and put up the copyright infringement notice but now a quite unusual picture is forming. Allegedly an anti-vaccine blogger and claimed “batshit” conspiracy theorist with plenty of enemies had his server hacked and filled with illegal material. This appears to have resulted in his domain being seized for copyright infringement.
Source: Updated: Feds Seize New Domain, Add To “Batshit” Conspiracy Theories
Yesterday and without warning, US authorities resumed “Operation In Our Sites” seizing several domain names associated with copyright infringement and counterfeiting. Today, yet more domains were added to the growing list. TorrentFreak caught up with one site owner who told us that while they were taken by surprise by a “pointless” seizure, they’ll soon be back.
Source: ICE Seizes More Domains Today, Admin Says “We’ll Be Back”
US authorities have resumed “Operation In Our Sites” and have seized several domain names associated with copyright infringement or counterfeit related crimes. Among the new targets are two sites that linked to copyrighted films hosted on third party streaming sites such as megavideo.com and veoh.com. Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has yet to officially announce the new operation.
Source: U.S. Government Starts New Round of ‘Pirate’ Domain Seizures
Domain seizures of alleged pirate sites continue to be criticized in the United States. Two of the most outspoken politicians on the issue have asked the responsible authorities about the legitimacy of the seizures, but received insufficient answers. In a response both politicians characterize the seizures as censorship and claim that the authorities “demonstrate little if any understanding of the Internet’s value and function.”
Source: Vagueness About ‘Pirate’ Domain Seizures Disturbs US Politicians
The U.S. Government is celebrating the importance of intellectual property by educating visitors to the domain names it seized in previous months. These visitors are now redirected to an anti-piracy video instead. The viral video is running on 65 of the seized domains which have now become property of the Government, and shows how illegal downloads can financially ruin innocent workers.
The seizure of file-sharing related domain names by the US Government hasn’t been as effective as the entertainment industries had hoped since many of them simply continued their operations under new domains. To make these type of domain transitions go more smoothly, an anonymous group has coded a simple Firefox add-on that automatically redirects users to these new homes.
Source: Firefox Add-on ‘Undoes’ U.S. Government Domain Seizures
ICE director John Morton has confirmed that the seizure of domain names that are alleged to be promoting copyright infringement will continue in the coming years. In a statement before the U.S. House of Representatives, Morton said that “Operation In Our Sites” will continue through and beyond 2011. In addition and contrary to popular belief, Morton claimed that the seizures “respect free speech” and “provide due process.”
Source: “Operation In Our Sites” Will Continue Seizing Domains
ICE director John Morton has confirmed that the seizure of domain names that are alleged to be promoting copyright infringement will continue in the coming years. In a statement before the U.S. House of Representatives, Morton said that “Operation In Our Sites” will continue through and beyond 2011. In addition and contrary to popular belief, Morton claimed that the seizures “respect free speech” and “provide due process.”
Source: “Operation In Our Sites” Will Continue Seizing Domains
