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Senator Wyden Asks DHS To Explain Domain Seizures
An anonymous reader writes "With Homeland Security continuing to seize domain names without warning and without giving site operators a chance to respond to charges, it appears that at least some people in the US government are quite concerned about this turn of events. Techdirt has a copy of the full letter Senator Wyden has sent to both Attorney General Eric Holder and ICE director John Morton, asking a series of pointed questions concerning the domain seizures and how they impact due process, free speech and sovereign rule in foreign countries."
Obviously the domains were causing the seizures, that's why they had to be closed!
He has my vote..
Eric Holder and John Morton filed the congressman's letter in their circular file. They don't give a frak what congress thinks.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
... the terrorists have already won? That seems the logic behind the DHS seizing domains at the RIAA's request.
concerning the domain seizures and how they impact due process
Basically ICE assumes that since we are now dealing with the 'cyber' prefix, none of the old laws apply that don't specifically call out domain names. So your due process is largely non-existent and we just sorta make it up as we go along. I mean, a lot of the stuff gets reversed. You're actually guilty until proven innocent in our books! If you don't agree with that, it logically follows that you're a terrorist. That's your first warning.
free speech
Ah, yes, 'free speech.' Well, basically our domain seizing takes free speech, bends it over an arcade machine and violently rapes it in front of everyone. It's sort of funny because you'd think you wouldn't be able to rape anyone in public but, well, so far everyone's just been standing around and watching us so ... And I mean we're DHS so what're they gonna do anyway, right? Side note, this is your second warning for asking terrorist questions, Senator.
sovereign rule in foreign countries
Foreign countries? No no no, there are two countries in the world: United States and everybody else. Everybody else gets rules only after our rules are established. And that's strike three, mister.
That's an awful nice schedule you got there, Senator, be a shame if someone were to put you on the No Fly list! wyden.senate.gov will now redirect to DHS and ICE seals until the good Senator can prove he did not import unlicensed pandas in 1978. Terrorists like Wyden make me sick.
My work here is dung.
I'd find it hilarious if other countries protested by grabbing a few domains that violated laws Americans think are kooky, e.g. Germany confiscating domains that sold Nazi memorabilia.
I wrote Senator Wyden even though he is not mine--- I live in orange county north, i.e. Idaho. Here is what I said:
I believe that your recent letter to John Morton and Eric Holder represents a "still small voice" of resistance in a dangerous slide to corporatism. When former President Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex no one listened--- and perhaps rightfully so since the attack on our rights comes not from Northrup and Boeing, but from Hollywood and Walt Disney. It is still an attack designed to eliminate precious rights that all citizens need preserved even if they don't clearly under stand them. I salute your efforts and would like to know how I might help in your efforts.
I don't particularly expect a response and have no idea of what I could do, other than to voice my support. Still as the events of the last month or so have shown, great change comes from critical mass and critical mass is acquired incrementally...
And that, children, is why you shouldn't keep your Slashdot password on a stickie by your keyboard.
Murder is bad. I mean, really bad and it has all sorts of negative consequences to our society, and government needs to something about it.
Therefore, suspected murderers shouldn't have due process.
Looks like airtight logic to me! Anyone see a problem with it?
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
show just how many people there are in the US who either don't give a flying F about the principal of Free Speech or don't understand the Constitution.
Luckily for us they are the minority, as the Tea Bagger movement has so effectively demonstrated. Even so, constant vigilance people!
Did you ever wake up in the morning, with a Zombie Woof behind your eyes? -- FZ
I hate to point this out, But isn't "homeland security" going down the same path those guys in brown shirts tried some 80 years ago?
Even their names, "homeland security" and ICE sound Orwellian.
People from Oregon may be kooky ( I was born and lived there for 30 years ) but they believe in freedom, The real kind, not the plastic,
corporate centric mommy state the feds have crapped out since 911.
----
Every morning is a Smirnoff morning., but I'm having beer for breakfast.
It's not her, it's our one-party political climate. Both parties are corporatist and if you get rid of her there are about a million corporate latkeys ready to take her place.
Wyden and Merkley (Senators from Oregon) both deserve praise for their efforts to put the people back in control of our government and preserve our rights. Merkley (the freshman senator) particularly has shown a strength of character that is unexpected for a first-timer.
Let's hope they stand as an example to the bought-and-paid-for corporatist weasels that currently hold the seats from many other states.
Considering ICE just seized a Spanish domain that was deemed legal in Spain, I hope this gets more attention. The government is totally out of control here.
Try to keep your sexist bigotry and legitimate political outrage separate. Thanks!
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I'm not complaining because I'm offended. I'm complaining because your (quite important) message will be less effective because of it. It's easy to read the last sentence of your post and write the whole thing off as the rantings of someone who hates women in power. Don't give people that opportunity. Stay on message.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Whitesnake
*BLINKS*
or whatever it is that today's teeny-boppers download
*Looks at the calender* Seriously, of all the bands you could have pulled out, WHITESNAKE?!?
I call it 'The Aristocrats'
Following links from TFA, we find this fascinating quote: "Law enforcement officials picked this week to shut down the sites for a reason. The Superbowl, the most-watched sporting event of the year, is this Sunday. ICE wants to make sure football fans who planned on going online to watch the big game turn to legitamate broadcasters instead."
Who needs due process? Just follow the money...
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
DNS is the Achilles Heel of the Internet. If the Internet is going to be controlled, DNS is going to be the most likely way to do it.
A few Senators are not going to stop this trend. It's going to get worse. It's good to see that someone is paying attention, but I don't see anything that can be done to fix the basic flaw with DNS. DNS is controlled by one group that you can't trust.
So, yet again, I'm calling all the smart people out there, lets start talking about replacing DNS once and for all.
Anyone?
Compulsory link to the broken window fallacy
Forcing gas companies to hire employees to pump gas for you provides jobs for those pumping the gas, but that also means gas costs more in Oregon than other places, and money spent on gas in money not spent on other commercial pursuits. Granted, since it is next to California, Oregon gas prices don't look that bad, but California is a distorted comparison in this case. You'll note that Oregon has the 10th most expensive gas in the nation. I'm sure plenty of people will attempt to rebut this, and a quick look around google/bing (they're the same now, right?) didn't turn up much regarding a linkage between full service and gas prices.
Interestingly, the Oregon ban on self-serve has been challenged several times - by the gas industry. It seems the gas station owners want to cut the personnel cost and sell more gas by lowering the cost. In Oregon a referendum to do so was voted down. It appears the citizens of that state are happy to pay a little more at the pump to provide jobs that could otherwise be spread out amongst other industries.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
Oregon may have relatively high gas prices for the nation but we're smack dab between areas with generally even higher prices. If we fire all the pump workers our prices won't go down. Why should they? They'll just fire the minimum wage workers and pocket the difference. It's not as if we can drive across the river to washington to fill up for less. It's more expensive there for self serve than for full serve in Portland.
Remember folks: EVERYONE in the House who was pro-Net Neutrality was removed from power via massive corporate campaign donations (which are now unlimited because of our Wing Nut Supreme Court).
I had to drive through Oregon a few times. The first few times, I got out of the car to pump gas. I may as well have been running around naked with an assault rifle screaming "the aliens are coming! Hide the women and children!"
In talking to the attendants, it was all about "safety". People don't know how to pump gas on their own. It's a highly skilled trade that us commoners wouldn't be able to comprehend. {sigh}
I've heard both arguments (safety and jobs). Both are empty arguments. I've been pumping my own fuel for over 20 years. Not I, nor anyone I know, has accidentally blown themselves up by pumping fuel. I've never seen a gas station on fire because someone didn't know how to pump their own gas. Most are unrelated incidents (car caught fire for other reasons, rocket scientist playing with a lighter near the fuel, etc) Some store owners I spoke with complained about the need to hire dedicated fuel dispensing engineers. It makes the fuel cost more, to cover the extra staff's wages. A reduction in fuel costs would be reflected in increases with other jobs. Take a service company for instance. They could hire more staff, if they didn't have to pay as much in fuel costs. There's plenty of other information on this, I don't have to explain it all to a bright audience like this. Simply put, the other 48 states that do allow pumping your own fuel haven't had total economic collapses because kids were being paid minimum wage to pump your gas for you.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Well, that or the people who objected couldn't afford the gas to drive to the polling place and vote for the ban of the ban.
Maybe I should move to Oregon so my college and other accreditation wouldn't stand in my way of getting a job pumping gas. Or better yet, I could open a gas station, organize it as a club, sell memberships, make all members volunteer-employees, and sell the gas at lower costs with those volunteer employees pumping it.
Anyways, if that is actually something the people of Oregon want to do, more power to them. I guess my scam would fail. But I have done other things to get around the smoking ban in my state too. A bar I own part of, we purchased an old motor home and parked it in the courtyard of the beer garden. Gutted out the inside, put a cage around the drivers area, and extended out the sides, and put a covered awning going to the side door of the establishment. Now "members" can go into a comfortable, heated environment that escapes the regulation defining building and smoke while drinking any time they want, those that don't smoke can stay inside, and all I have to do is keep the tags current and drive it around the block ever month or so. The bar is a dump, but it's the most popular bar in town.
And AG Holder's reply:
"Why did we seize them? Because SHUT UP, that's why!"
tortured to death under bush
Snoo-snoo? Sign me up!
Yeah! Instead of having people do useful jobs that require immense amounts of time, effort, or both, have people do jobs that absolutely anyone (or a machine) could do! Let's forget about innovation and the like. Let's just make people do useless things that require almost zero effort, knowledge, or both.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
Yea, someone should invent a kind of break-away device to protect the pumps from damage!
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Well, that or the people who objected couldn't afford the gas to drive to the polling place and vote for the ban of the ban.
Oregon has a vote by mail system. As in they send you the ballot and you have a couple weeks I believe to fill it out and send it back to them by 1. putting a stamp on it and mailing it or 2. dropping it in a ballot collection box.
It makes it really simple to vote as you don't have to go find a polling place and you don't have to take off work/school/whatever on one specific day with everyone else.
There are gas stations just as you describe in Oregon. Card lock fuel stations we call them. You get a membership card (basically like a credit card) and you can drive up and pump your own gas. There is no one that works at them at all usually and they're usually near a Wal-Mart.
Thing is the gas isn't any cheaper. That's why people in Oregon vote down the self serve gas initiatives over and over. Because we know we will lose thousands of jobs and the gas prices will just stay the same. Basically moving money from working Oregonians to the pockets of oil execs.