Internet on ICE

[SquidInk]

The U.S. government has launched a major crackdown on online copyright infringement, seizing dozens of Web site domains linked to illegal file sharing and counterfeit goods.

The domains of torrent sites that link to illegal copies of music and movie files and sites that sell counterfeit goods were seized this week by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security. Visitors to such sites as Torrent-finder.com, 2009jerseys.com, and Dvdcollects.com found that their usual sites had been replaced by a message that said, "This domain name has been seized by ICE--Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court."

"My domain has been seized without any previous complaint or notice from any court!" the owner of Torrent-Finder told TorrentFreak, which listed more than 70 domains that were apparently part of the massive seizure.

DHS representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.- source

Due process? Limits on executive power? Innocent until proven guilty?

Hell no. You're either with them or you're against them.

[SquidInk]

This may be related, imho.

Two decades after its birth, the World Wide Web is in decline, as simpler, sleeker services — think apps — are less about the searching and more about the getting. Chris Anderson explains how this new paradigm reflects the inevitable course of capitalism. And Michael Wolff explains why the new breed of media titan is forsaking the Web for more promising (and profitable) pastures.

You wake up and check your email on your bedside iPad — that’s one app. During breakfast you browse Facebook, Twitter, and The New York Times — three more apps. On the way to the office, you listen to a podcast on your smartphone. Another app. At work, you scroll through RSS feeds in a reader and have Skype and IM conversations. More apps. At the end of the day, you come home, make dinner while listening to Pandora, play some games on Xbox Live, and watch a movie on Netflix’s streaming service.

You’ve spent the day on the Internet — but not on the Web. And you are not alone. - source

The world wide web has been reasonably decentralized for the past two decades. But the situation described in the article is a more centralized, more controlled web - controlled by the same power players who seem to control so much.

Is it any coincidence that their hired guns over at ICE are slowly setting up the "precedence" required to shut down the potentially competitors?

The web as we have known it cannot survive in a capitalist environment, because that environment is inherently biased - toward the guys with the capital. And the guys with the capital want to consolidate and tightly control all distribution. That is the directly opposite to the philosophy of an open & widely distributed information network of the last twenty years (imho).

[SquidInk]

All right...

Upon further reading, apparently there were warrants - not that warrants make it all ok. I did want to mention it though.

[Linnea]

Well, this is a vital issue. Keeping the internet free of censorship - and available.

If tptb are going after copyright infringement - I guess that is understandable. If that's all this is.

If 'commerce' is slanted to the regulation of the 'apps' - and tiered usage of that venue - this would not necessarily mean the 'end of the internet'. The apps thing may actually save the rest of it - if there is a lot of money to be made in the apps, and they leave the internet itself alone. No?

[SquidInk]

If tptb are going after copyright infringement - I guess that is understandable.

Is it? I'm not sure it's that cut & dry.

[Linnea]

Okay, I see what you're saying. If the govt entity suspects abuse of copyright, and can demonstrate sufficient cause - they might be able to get a warrant to grab records, and etc - but not to wholesale shut down web sites. It's not like a drug bust. And you are right.

So, the clear message is anything that interferes with profits is a direct threat to 'security'. Bright line to cross.

[SquidInk]

Every country in the world believes that some material on the Net qualifies inherently for censorship. It’s obvious! In this respect, we’re no different from China. So, we should give up pretensions of American exceptionalism for information controls – for us, it’s IP; for Saudi Arabia, it’s porn; for France, it’s hate speech. Only the quality of the legal process differentiates censors. And with these seizures, I think there’s much to worry us in the (lack of) process…

- source (opinion blog)

my favorite quote in the piece:

Domain name seizures are a blunderbuss for a problem that needs a scalpel.

Ha! That describes much of the federal government these days - the Flitcraft Parable meets the Swedish chef!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XpKJWLH ... re=related