Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

.UK Registrar Offers To Let Police Close Domain

Posted by samzenpus on from the shut-it-down dept.

judgecorp writes "The .uk registrar, Nominet, has proposed rules that would give the police powers to demand Internet domains be shut down without a court order, in certain circumstances. The powers were requested by the Serious and Organized Crime Agency and have aroused concern that legitimate sites might be closed on suspicion of wrongdoing. Nominet's suggested implementation is online for public consultation."

8 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. "Certain circumstances"? by Lunaritian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The policy would cover cases in which a site is involved in crimes covered under the Serious Crimes Act 2007, including fraud, prostitution, money laundering, blackmail and copyright infringement."

    Always copyright infringement. Is it really a "serious crime"? And will this rule really have any effect?

    1. Re:"Certain circumstances"? by sumdumass · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "The policy would cover cases in which a site is involved in crimes covered under the Serious Crimes Act 2007, including fraud, prostitution, money laundering, blackmail and copyright infringement."

      The interesting thing is that it should be trivial for the cops to get a court order if there is any evidence that the site is involved in any of that.

      Always copyright infringement. Is it really a "serious crime"? And will this rule really have any effect?

      As for copyright infringement, yes, it is so serious of a crime that international treaties have been created around it that give beneficial or detrimental trade preferences depending on how copyright is handled. Some of these treaties have been around longer then anyone you know was alive or anyone they could have known was alive.

        In the small scheme of things, you giving or receiving a music recording or copying a book and passing it to a couple friends is meaningless. In the grand scheme of things, too much of that means other countries will restrict trade (even in non-related areas) and disregard the copyright of your county and possibly more.

      Whether we want to think it is a big deal or not, it has been for over 150 years. At least it has with almost every tin pot dictator or elected body of government the western world has seen in that time. Copyright promotes the influx of ideas and content from other areas while exporting wealth and values.

    2. Re:"Certain circumstances"? by 1s44c · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "The policy would cover cases in which a site is involved in crimes covered under the Serious Crimes Act 2007, including fraud, prostitution, money laundering, blackmail and copyright infringement."

      Always copyright infringement. Is it really a "serious crime"? And will this rule really have any effect?

      The thing is it's not 'sites involved in', It's 'sites accused of being involved in'. This rule is wide open for abuse, they can shutdown anything with it.

      Besides it's a totally stupid rule as the current DNS setup lets anyone anywhere register anything anywhere else. Not to mention you don't even need a domain name to host a website.

      This is stupid political powermongering types giving excessive power to corrupt police. Again.

    3. Re:"Certain circumstances"? by 1s44c · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "The policy would cover cases in which a site is involved in crimes covered under the Serious Crimes Act 2007, including fraud, prostitution, money laundering, blackmail and copyright infringement."

      The interesting thing is that it should be trivial for the cops to get a court order if there is any evidence that the site is involved in any of that.

      So why do they need powers to take down websites where they have no evidence of any wrongdoing?

      Maybe for the same reason they need powers to stop and search people without even the faintest suspicion of any wrongdoing. That is they are corrupt and just looking to increase their power.

  2. Repressive by Blue+Stone · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's a name for this sort of thing: extrajudicial punishment.

    I hear in civilized parts of the world, it's highly frowned upon.

    --
    Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    1. Re:Repressive by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's kinda like the inquisition trials. No, I'm not trolling. One of the core features of an inquisition trial was that accuser and judge were united in the same person or party.

      And that's basically what's going to be used here. Accuser and judge will be rolled into one party: The police. I just doubt that one other feature of the inquisition, the guidance of the holy spirit to lead the judge to a fair and considerate verdict, would be with them...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. The problem by Compaqt · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The problem with all these sorts of powers (including the Justice Department shutting down sites it deems to have violated copyright) is that there's no judicial procedure.

    Why is it that they don't understand the idea of having to prove wrongdoing by a website owner instead of merely asserting it?

    In the new world, is enough to merely be accused of being a "pirate" to be shunted into a place where you have no rights? And no compulsory process for redress, and confronting your accusers?

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  4. Re:Well by hack++slash · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah cos the .com domain has no takedown issues like the proposed system for the .uk domain...

    nope, none at all.

    --
    To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.