ICE Siezes websites for infringement, website owners giggle.

[MegaRock]

A number of the sites selling counterfeit goods already reappear as does the BitTorrent tracker search engine torrent-finder. Govt plan is doomed to fail as sites will simply re-register under a top-level domain outside the US govt’s jurisdiction.

Last last week the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, executed more than 70 court-ordered warrants against sites accused of offering counterfeit goods or copyright infringing material, and already a number of them have returned, this time beyond the grasp of the US govt.

When it comes to foreign sites the US govt can only seize the domain name pointers of domains under its jurisdiction. This

“What gives the US ‘jurisdiction’ is that it’s nominally controlled by VeriSign and thence ICANN, which is a US quango, so owners of .com domains are in a legal relationship with a US entity,” notes an unnamed source. “Outside the US, people have been known to get quite worked up about this arrangement, and there have been serious suggestions that ICANN should cede control (or transfer directly) to a UN body. Whether interference as in this case is legal in international law is, as far as I know, untested.”

If the US continues to seize the domain name pointers of foreign sites, especially those considered legal in their respective country, that may very well change. The cyberlocker RapidShare comes to mind. A German appeals court already ruled the site isn’t liable for user uploads, but the US could very well argue that it is a facilitator of copyright infringement, and therefore convince a US court that it needs to seize the domain name. If this were to happen then it’s likely the international community would more aggressively push for the US to cede control of ICANN to a neutral body, and put an end to its .com meddling ways.

Funny but when did the Immigration Department become the copyright infringement cops? Maybe that's why they can't get illegal immigration under control.

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/91400/i...less-exercise/