Feds Seize Korean Movie Download Portals

SharkLaser writes "Homeland Security's ICE unit has just started another phase of Operation In Our Sites. Last week the seized sites were selling counterfeit goods, but this time the list consists solely of movie download sites. ICE has now seized the domains of 11 Korean movie download portals. This is first time Operation In Our Sites has been expanded to include sites targeting non-U.S. nationals and non-English sites. ICE has since added a message in Korean to the seized sites. Interestingly, while the sites were in Korean, the domain names are all connected to a Seattle-based company World Multimedia Group, Inc."

Comments

First (I think)

[cpicon92]

Honestly this is getting kind of ridiculous, though. Doesn't the US government have more pressing issues on its hands right now?

Re:First (I think)

[masternerdguy]

Do you think the US is going to just pass up a chance to throw their weight around?

Re:First (I think)

[TheGratefulNet]

elections are coming up, maybe?

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

The only thing America manufactures any more is Intellectual Property.
They needed to act to save Americas only remaining industry.

Re:First (I think)

[masternerdguy]

The only thing America manufactures any more is Intellectual Property. They needed to act to save Americas only remaining industry.

And we're damn good at it too. We make tons of IP all across the quality scale.

Re:First (I think)

[cheekyjohnson]

It's funny because they probably actually think they're saving it by seizing a domain name. Or that the website was actually a threat to anything.

Re:First (I think)

[failedlogic]

The great American companies complaining about IP problems are happily headquarted in tax safe havens. They get the protections of American law and Washington policymakers while paying a minimal amount of tax to the American government.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

Like what? Jailing bankers, economy advisors, rating agencies CEO's for fraud, extortion, betting against their clients lying to congress (ahem...), getting 7 trillion with virtually 0%tax then selling it back to the government and the people at interests rate to pay for their bonuses, their credit default swaps, and the damage themselves created and extorted from both public and private (AIG's etc) entities? Oh yes the US government has allot of issues not only right now, but right years ago. See how well they'v been busy at pretending to care while fund raising more bribes...err financial support..incentives...America needs you! god bless America, 999!

Re:First (I think)

[gVibe]

Being American who is disgusted with the state of our nation...I can honestly say no, we don't have anything better to do other than imposing our nonsensical overbearing egotistical attitude. Can someone PLEASE tell me what in the hell Immigration and Customs has to do with movie piracy...?

Re:First (I think)

[houghi]

The only thing America manufactures any more is Intellectual Property.

They keep using the word Intellectual, but I don't think it means what they think it means.

Re:First (I think)

[houghi]

Reminds me of the case in Belgium where in the morning providers where blocking thepiratebay.org and in the afternoon all traffic was directed to http://depiraatbaai.be/ which is basically the same site.
And done in such a nice way that people don't even had to do anything.

Re:First (I think)

[gVibe]

Not in a million gajillion years. I mean...who really wants to solve unemployment, education, or the economy anyway...right?!?

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

elections are coming up, maybe?

The Democrat party wants more "donations" from the Hollywood corporate entites, sorry, "people".

Re:First (I think)

[Runaway1956]

MPAA, RIAA, and the other alphabet soup organizations OWN the US government. Said government does NOT represent the American people, anymore. That government represents only the wealth "rights holders". A mere citizen is unworthy of congress' attention, or concern.

Re:First (I think)

[fsckmnky]

Allowing Koreans to counterfeit and/or pirate US companies products certainly won't create any jobs domestically.

Re:First (I think)

[InsightIn140Bytes]

US is just scared of rest of the world going forward while they're still lacking in last century. They should know - blatant violation of European copyrights was how US got its power and industry where it is to begin with.

Re:First (I think)

[gVibe]

Yay! Elections...where millions of Foxnews viewing morons can make uninformed decisions based on what the uber-racist GOP are saying that Obama is doing wrong. And yes, only because he is Black...Look at Clinton -- he did almost the exact same thing in regards to change, and did not get resistance near this level until he got caught getting a blowjob in the oval office. pFFt!

Re:First (I think)

[erroneus]

No, this falls under the category of "doing something" rather than doing nothing. The doing something will please those who have been contributing heavily to legislators and those in the executive and even judicial branches.

Re:First (I think)

[SuricouRaven]

Now, that isn't fair. The GOP arn't attacking Obama because he is black - they are attacking him because he is a Democrat, their natural enemy. They may at times use the blackness in some manner - typically indirectly, by questioning his patriotism or by suggesting that he is a racist himself who will unfairy hurt the white man to enrich his black bothers - but it's his alignment with a major political party that makes him their enemy. The racial is just a tactic.

Re:First (I think)

[Fluffeh]

Can someone PLEASE tell me what in the hell Immigration and Customs has to do with movie piracy...?

It is likely a simple distraction method to make them look like they are doing something. Business 101: If you aren't able to do your given job well, find something else that is visible and do a great job at it. People will then not focus so much on the fact that you aren't doing your job because you have done such a great job elsewhere.

Can't stop drugs crossing the border? Can't stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the fence? Easy, take down a few shitty websites, do a "great job" of it, get in some news articles, maybe get into TV and do a nice show and tell about how much money this is saving the US (it doesn't matter if everything you say is garbage) just say "millions of dollars" and "American Taxpayers", maybe throw in a few "terrorits groups" and button it with "Jobs for hard working Americans!" and you have a wonderful media distraction while drugs keep flowing, people keep jumping the fence.

Sadly, I think that there will be a lot more of your type (Americans who are disgusted with the state of your nation) long before anything positive happens. From what I see, there are three types of political views in America at the moment.
1) Happy becuase I am making buckets of money through any means (Small but very connected and powerful group this lot).
2) Disgusted with the state of America (Slowly growing middle class, and generally older or middle aged sensible folks. Remembers the days when America was really something special - and wants it to happen again).
3) I don't give a fuck about anything, or I don't know enough about politics to make an informed stance (This is the real killer. There are so many Americans who seem to be totally and utterly living in a fairytale land of unicorns, fluffy clouds and the "Red, white and blue", getting all their information from Fox News or other similar sources who would likely be totally stunned if they knew what the rest of the world thought of America and it's longer term prospects.

While the media and big business/big government is doing all it possibly can to ensure that group three totally outnumbers group two, I think that it is a slow war of attrition. The glory days of America are fading fast, and while there are still of course bright sparks in otherwise doom and gloom, America needs to learn to compete truly on a global scale again. Not just in small high tech niches, but in day to day manufacturing, tools, construction and really try to force home a concept of getting back to business, not importing anything and everything from some third world country with cheap labour.

Re:First (I think)

[msobkow]

If the movie stars and special effects artists who make their money have an issue with the copyright system, they certainly have the money to fight that battle themselves, but it seems they're mostly content to see things continue as they have for decades. Seeing as those people are mostly Americans or people with valid work visas, I would think they are being protected by these takedowns.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: If you're profiting from piracy by selling access to content, you deserve to be crushed the same as any profiteering thief.

And once again, the US government has not gone after the "freetard" sites that don't charge a fee. There are no lost sales with a free site, because the people who use them clearly aren't willing to pay for content, while those who use the pay sites are willing to pay, just not as much as Hollywood would like.

Re:First (I think)

[gVibe]

No...I'm sorry, but I must disagree. The pure and open blockage of everything Obama tried to do early on, and, among other things, the temper-tantrum outbursts during 2 consecutive State of the Union speeches made my original comment truth in my opinion. Like I said, Clinton basically imposed many of the same tactics for his presidential promises and did not get near the backlash from the GOP that Obama is still getting. By the way, I am a white American and do fully support Obama's efforts to overcome these blockades from the GOP that are -- whether you want to admit it or not -- absolutely racist. Unfortunately, there just are to many idiots in this country and so this probably will be his only chance.

Re:First (I think)

[penix1]

America needs to learn to compete truly on a global scale again .... not importing anything and everything from some third world country with cheap labour.

Now that I've edited out the extraneous words do you see the contradiction you just proposed? You can't "compete globally" when your competitors can use the cheap labour (yes, I'm using your spelling of the word) you describe. The only option is to use the same cheap labour. As long as you have people who are willing to work for 20 cents a day this problem will only be a drive to the bottom an already low earnings is the US. That is the crux of the real problem. Until there is some form of international minimum wage established, the US can't ever compete globally on a level field setting aside countries that actively manipulate their currency.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? I thought he was half white. Then agan, I'm a half glass black, half glass white kind of person.

Re:First (I think)

[gVibe]

Thank-you...seriously. I just needed someone to write it out for me. I get so bent out of shape whenever I think about the state of the nation I call home that I can barely manage a few words before bursting into a rage. I do have to comment about Foxnews once more though...they do have the highest rated show on television, but that is only because they have one unique demographic that no other news based show has --- there is an entire group of people that watch Foxnews purely for the comedy. That is one demographic Foxnews will never admit they have.

Re:First (I think)

[misexistentialist]

Immigration enforcement agents have a lot of time on their hands now that the southern border has been de facto dissolved.

Re:First (I think)

[bzipitidoo]

Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

You talk of products and of counterfeiting. You are once again conflating the material with the immaterial. Although the term "product" does apply to a movie, there are better terms, such as "data". Nor is piracy is the same as counterfeiting. Counterfeiting also means that the origin of a product is being misrepresented, similar to plagiarism. Pirates aren't claiming to be the authors of a Beatles' song.

You speak of "allowing", as if the default is that copying is hard, and as if some human agency has the power to grant people the ability to make copies, and can take that privilege away anytime. And as if the US has authority over Korea.

Nor do you know what effect it all has on jobs. For all you know, your way would kill jobs, not create them. Your way certainly would hurt the economy, benefiting a few monopolies a little in exchange for a lot of expense for everyone.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

blatant violation of copyrights was how Holywood got its power and industry where it is to begin with.

fixed.

Re:First (I think)

[blackpaw]

Clinton basically imposed many of the same tactics for his presidential promises and did not get near the backlash from the GOP that Obama is still getting.

You must have slept through the whole impeachment thing

Re:First (I think)

[AK Marc]

Nothing. The only thing to do at this point is to take up arms. I'm a pacifist kind of guy, so I just got residency elsewhere and moved. I'll be a citizen elsewhere soon enough, and not be necessarily tied to the sinking ship of the US. I'm just hoping the rest of the world can route around the economic damage that is the US.

Re:First (I think)

[ThePeices]

And why should they pay tax? tax money can be used to help other people! How dare they!

Helping people other than me, and without my consent, sounds too much like socialism. Dirty, dirty socialism.

And every God fearing American knows that socialism is a sin, and therefore is the work of the DEVIL!!

And prey tell, who exactly should good American Citizens put their trust in? GOD, that's who, ( the Christian one ), just as it says in the constitution, the courts, and more importantly, on American currency.

So companies are doing America a favour by not committing the sin of paying taxes. Amen!

( If you have read this far, and still cannot see the sarcasm dripping from the gaps between these sentences, then this is not the right website for you )

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

Too?

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh we can see the sarcasm, alright. The poorly-written, unfunny, Carlos Mencia-quality sarcasm.

Re:First (I think)

[GumphMaster]

Until there is some form of international minimum wage established...

Be careful what you wish for. Many western countries have a minimum wage substantially higher than the US, e.g UK at about USD 9.50/hr, Australia at about USD 15, and US around USD 7.25, and most developing countries have a minimum wage that is essentially zero. Which way do you want to move your US minimum wage, who will oppose it, and what will happen when the bean counters see? If you raise it, US businesses will oppose in force and the bean counters will lay people off to keep the profit margin the same. If you drop it everybody's wage will follow. Which political party will back either option overtly? Ultimately the US doesn't want to move their minimum wage, or even obtain a uniform one, just raise the lower ones to the same level for US benefit.

Re:First (I think)

[countertrolling]

...a Democrat, their natural enemy...

Yeah, in the same way that Curly was Moe's 'natural enemy.

Re:First (I think)

[Thing 1]

Where. Please. I'm reaching the same conclusion but haven't found a decent alternative. Canada, perhaps? I like the Oceania project but it fizzled, and would have been invaded soon enough.

Re:First (I think)

[Bob9113]

The GOP arn't attacking Obama because he is black - they are attacking him because he is a Democrat, their natural enemy.

I suspect you are thinking of the 20th century. This is the new millennium. The GOP is attacking Obama because the political theater script specifies it. The unwritten charter clearly states that the one political party (commonly known as The Lobbyist Party) shall be split roughly evenly along pretentious wedge-issue lines, that no substantive change will be made on any wedge issues unless it increases the vitriol on the lips of the 80% of citizens who are not really paying attention, that all office-holders will work in earnest to prevent anyone who is not a member of the lobbyist party from winning any election, and that all actual bill passage must be coordinated in closed-door sessions to be attended by representatives of not less than 10% of the major lobbying firms.

The GOP's greatest ally in keeping their share (of political seats and of the lobbying cashflow) at 45% - 55% is the Democrats. And visa versa. The parties are not stupid, and they most certainly are not honorable. The one party exists either by evolution or by intelligent design, depending on your perspective, but that it exists is as obvious as a pumpkin in a pea patch.

Look at it this way: Nobody would believe in God if it weren't for Satan. Put either party in either role, the other is the other. 'round about the 80's or so, the parties smacked their collective forehead and said, "Ohhhhh, that's how we keep ourselves in power without having to actually figure out a healthy path forward for all citizens (that would be hard)."

Re:First (I think)

[Ihmhi]

Yes, if we're not careful, illegal copies of movies will... do... something.

Look man, I don't know. The only thing that comes to mind is translating Glitter into Arabic and air-dropping it over our enemies.

Re:First (I think)

[Taco Cowboy]

Do you think the US is going to just pass up a chance to throw their weight around?

USA throwing her weight around?

No way !!!!

Remember, USA is the most perfect nation in the history of the human species !

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

Those same tax dollars have bombed the shit out of numerous people over the last few years. How do *I* not pay *those* taxes? You can't. It's a giant fucking pot. You don't have a say. Social spending is approx 30% of tax spending. Don't say it's for the people, it's just fucking not.

Re:First (I think)

[korean.ian]

Aren't you lot supposed to be against cruel and unusual punishment?

Re:First (I think)

[Widowwolf]

You may have missed out that had nothing to with Tactics and Promises..It was Lying about Lewinksy

Re:First (I think)

[cavreader]

The US is not all powerful it's the rest of the worlds incompetence just makes it appear that way.

Re:First (I think)

[AK Marc]

Oceania sounds like a good place, just look at the real one, not the failed project.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

LOLLLLL everyone chill the US gov't should just eat more poutine.

Re:First (I think)

[freedom_india]

The US actually was the one who violated EU copyrights a LOT of times to get to where it is currently. As to your question about whether the rest of the world creates anything worthwhile? The answer is no. We all are waiting for the manna to drop from US, and think the US are God or more than God while the rest of us are are still neanderthal hunter-gatherers.

Re:First (I think)

[fsckmnky]

You talk of products and of counterfeiting. You are once again conflating the material with the immaterial.

Material possessions, are protected by law, from theft, as copyrighted intellectual property, is protected by law, from piracy. There is no conflation. These two different types of property have in common the protection of law, although one has physical form while the other does not.

Although the term "product" does apply to a movie, there are better terms, such as "data".

Better [for you] in this case, because it allows you to justify the transgressions you commit when depriving the creators of the products you pirate compensation. Data, as in, formless, random, data, or data as in publicly available data, are not subject to copyright. Collections of data, including public data such as a phone book or other works of reference, are in fact subject to copyright.

You speak of "allowing", as if the default is that copying is hard,

No, I speak of allowing, as in, the creator of the original work has granted you rights for its use, or not. While you are busy getting stoned and redefining the terms used throughout the legal system to justify your own selfish behavior, you might some day get lucky and stumble upon the fact that the rules of the system are designed to protect productive behavior and the means of production, as opposed to, shifting the balance of protections to consumers such as yourself, which would result in wasted consumption of resources.

and as if some human agency has the power to grant people the ability to make copies

That would be the lawful owner of the original work. Just as you may grant someone use of the computer that you incurred an expense to acquire, the creators of original works incur expenses and have lawful protections concerning their ability to recoup said creation expenses. Once again, the rules are designed to promote and protect production, and minimize consumption for consumption sake.

Nor do you know what effect it all has on jobs.

If a person such as your self, sitting at home, smoking weed, plays video games all day, you wont be out in the world creating products, performing services, operating a business, and creating jobs. Im well aware of the destructive affects of the illegal behavior you advocate, regardless of your failed attempt to redefine all the terms for selfish purposes.

For all you know, your way would kill jobs, not create them.

It's not "my" way. Oopsy, I believe some transference is occurring here.

Your way certainly would hurt the economy

So the last 200 years of successful policy and data, because you don't agree with it, is completely invalid, because your *new* way, certainly is going to work. Nice try Einstein. If only the world would give you everything and treat you like the supreme ruler and intelligent singularity you know you are.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

"Nobody would believe in God if it weren't for Satan."

Belief in God does not require belief in Satan.

Re:First (I think)

[jez9999]

Who are the OWN and the NOT?

Re:First (I think)

[Dan541]

This is why the world hates America. The US has no respect for the sovereignty of other nations.

Re:First (I think)

[raynet]

I dunno, there are some small titles like Harry Potter and James Bond that might be worth copyrighting, but am from EU so what do I know...

Re:First (I think)

[penix1]

Ah but even if it does decline for the US it will still be level globally. It will eliminate the advantage to exporting jobs.

Re:First (I think)

[Ensign Morph]

Import duties. Yes they're "unfair", but truly free trade is only a good idea so long as your sole goal is maximising profits for the elite. Globalisation and liberalised immigration have overall been harmful to indigenous western workers, exactly as was predicted, leaving us with an unbalanced economy that mostly manufactures intangible Intellectual Property and fraudulent financial instruments, rather than physical goods.

Re:First (I think)

[GameboyRMH]

You horrible sick fuck!

Re:First (I think)

[GameboyRMH]

Yeah why don't you bring up Pokemon or some other little 2-bit franchise next. The only things that deserve copyright are Disney property, Chuck Norris / Steven Seagal movies and Larry the Cable Guy.

Re:First (I think)

[GameboyRMH]

I think Ralph E. Wolf and Sam Sheepdog are a better analogy...

Re:First (I think)

[Luckyo]

Not fixed at all. Both statements are equally true.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, it's far simpler to give a false impression of "doing something" by shutting down a few sites that may cost a few entertainment industries several thousand dollars.

Re:First (I think)

[raynet]

SHHHH... Do not try to educate them!

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

What does Fox News have to do with your rant?

I know for a fact it is the average listener to Fox News and especially the Fox Opinion shows that would be best informed exactly about the issues you mentioned.

On the other hand, I'd group the "mainstream media" outlets all into a group of opiate pushers who ignore most of the issues you mentioned for their own internal political reasons, i.e. it doesn't help the story they are telling the American people.

I really have to wonder how "well-informed" you actually are if you think Fox News listeners, of all people, are ignorant of these issues.

Re:First (I think)

[Khashishi]

Forcing Koreans to pay US companies should help the US economy. Well, at least, in theory.

Re:First (I think)

[KhabaLox]

I know the US government is dysfunctional on a lot of levels, but I think it can do more than one thing at a time.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

While I agree with you on may of the points presented here, you last point [quote]So the last 200 years of successful policy and data, because you don't agree with it, is completely invalid, because your *new* way, certainly is going to work. Nice try Einstein. If only the world would give you everything and treat you like the supreme ruler and intelligent singularity you know you are.[/quote] assumes that the system used for the previous 200 years scales indefinitely. In truth, the copyright and patent system has fallen into disrepair on account of bloat and term extensions. What previously would not have been protected or would have already passed into public domain, allowing further innovation and creation, is instead locked down by laws which serve to hold back advancement. You are absolutely correct that shutting down these sites was required by law, however you are very wrong if you think that doing so will present some benefit to the US economy.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

This is +5, Informative?
Please list some examples of European *copyrights* which the US has violated in order to gain its "power and industry".
That might be informative, though not in the way you'd like.

Re:First (I think)

[Carnildo]

Immigration and Customs has, as one of its duties, the management of imports into the country. Part of that management is being the first line of defense against counterfeit and other illegal goods, by preventing them from being imported in the first place.

Apparently, somebody has decided that the potential international transmission of digital goods is "import" enough to get Customs involved.

Re:First (I think)

[Thing 1]

Sorry, I meant:

I'm a pacifist kind of guy, so I just got residency elsewhere and moved.

Where did you get residency and move to?

Re:First (I think)

[AK Marc]

Where did you get residency and move to?

I try to not post enough personal stuff about myself to allow anyone to match my ID to me. At this point, I have indicated that I lived in Alaska and given my real first name (an unusual spelling of one of the most common names), so I was being deliberately vague. The answer to your question is the same as before. Oceana. Which particular country in Oceana would be a decent alternative? One should do more research than just asking one anonymous person on the Internet, so my specific answer should have no bearing on the original question, other than if you think Canada is your only option, you are wrong. I ruled out Canada because the US is self-destructing, and Canada is sufficiently close that it would be tied to the fate of the US. And, where to move to? Almost anywhere in Europe would work, as well as South Africa. If you aren't married, there are lots of job opportunities in the Middle East for Americans(I say not married because women often don't like moving to misogynist places. If I did it all over again and wasn't married, I'd move to China. Leave the failing superpower for the next one. It depends on exactly what you are looking for. But there are places out there better than the US, and there are Americans leaving and relocating their families to better places. Just don't come here, I don't want 10,000,000 Americans flooding in when things get really bad (another reason I'm not telling).

Re:First (I think)

[Ihmhi]

Yeah, we are. That's why I didn't suggest translating and dropping Going Rogue.

Re:First (I think)

[Thing 1]

Well, thanks, mostly. I value the opinions of posters here higher than almost everywhere else (due to self-selection :), so I was really hoping that you would let me know what you had decided upon, after surveying the landscape at the time you decided. I prefer to avoid China for the human rights violations. I think Portugal might be a good place based on their understanding of the dangers of prohibition. (But right now the only "safe" Eurozone country is the UK, because they chose not to give up their sovereign property by moving to a currency that they could not print more of.)

Re:First (I think)

[AK Marc]

I'd email you if you didn't have your email hidden and restricted. It's actually pretty obvious. There aren't many choices in Oceana that people would be likely to consider better than the US. And China isn't as bad as you think, as long as you don't criticize the government in a public and traceable manner. The firewall is designed to filter only Chinese content, so as an English speaking visitor, I never once had anything blocked. The EU isn't bad, but I agree with your timidity regarding the currency as the disparity between economies does lend one to want to inflate and another to deflate, so at any time they are almost certainly acting in a manner not in the best interests of the State one would be living in. But that isn't significantly different than California not being able to inflate themselves out of debt trouble. So the reason you give for not wanting to go to the EU affects you today, but not so bad you've done something about it yet. I'm trying to figure out a way to move to the EU, any EU country, once I have enough time in here for citizenship. But the UK recently changed their rules eliminating the scheme that I would be trying to enter under. Maybe they'll change that by the time I'm able to move again. The great thing about the EU is if you do have citizenship in one, you are a member of all. Go live in Portugal, get citizenship, and if it turns to custard, then move to the UK or Germany, or some other place that is doing better. That's my plan (other that wanting to be on the other coast of the Iberian.

Re:First (I think)

[Thing 1]

I'd email you if you didn't have your email hidden and restricted.

Again, thanks. I find that it's amusing the lengths we go to, to keep others from communicating with us. You can email coisauma@gmail.com, which is "Thing 1" in Portuguese, and now you (and the world) know something about me. :)

Re:First (I think)

[AK Marc]

it's so low in the thread no one will just run across it. But if you speak Portuguese, should I be guessing you are originally from Sao Paulo?

Re:First (I think)

[Thing 1]

No, born in the US (now I'm thinking about Bruce Springsteen :) ). Was married to a Brazilian, and am now "fluent" -- I can carry on a conversation with a native speaker, but they will know I'm not native, and I don't know all the big words, but I can "put them together" with smaller ones. One of the neatest parts about learning a foreign language is learning where one word ends, and the next begins; prior to that, fast talking was a way for my ex to "speak behind my back" in my presence; once I learned how words break up, though, no speed is too fast for me to understand. Cheers!

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

getting all their information from Fox News or other similar sources

Oh, you mean like NPR, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, etc?

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

Cracking down on these websites does cost the US jobs. It does take personnel to maintain the servers. While the sites are aimed at citizens in a foreign country, the servers are located in the US and the personnel who maintain them are likely US citizens. Unilaterally shutting down these sites will wind up costing US jobs by reducing the demand for US located Hosting servers, hurting that industry.

Re:First (I think)

[fsckmnky]

You make a valid argument on the surface. However, your model fails to consider the lost value of the pirated and/or counterfeited goods and the nature of the capital flows, be they parasitic or not.

A website hosting company, with say 1,000 clients, loses 10 clients, its a small fraction of their revenues and due to the economies of scale in operating a web hosting company, is not likely to result in much loss when the pirate/counterfeit websites are shut down.

On the other hand, the pirate/counterfeit goods being sold, may in fact be producing a significant overall loss, due to the fact that, if the pirate/counterfeiters were not generating a profit over their web hosting expense, the websites wouldn't exist in the first place.

The devil is in the details.

It is only a matter of time...

[bky1701]

...until the United States loses this power. You can't abuse control of a protocol like this and not have people in other countries (like Europe and Japan) start to wonder if they should break off.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? .com domain names are US domain names. If they want to have a pirate site in Korea, how about getting a .kr domain name? You do know that the US can only seize US domain names right? If you don't want it taken, then get your domain name registered in your own damn country.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

They're seizing them indiscriminately without any sort of trial or oversight. "This website looks illegal. Seize its domain!"

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Penguin Follower]

Exactly what I was thinking... I don't have mod points unfortunately.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[psiden]

Now .com is "commercial" right? Same leage as .net, .org, .info etc. The .us top domain ought to be the only one reserved specifically for the U.S. But even if the U.S. were only meddling with the .us top domain, seizing domains is like jamming radio frequencies! The dns is infrastructure! There must be other and better ways to attend problems. Go for the source, not the dns servers.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

.com.us are US domain names. You may have noticed, though, that the US hasn't bothered appending .us to their domain names. Perhaps we should apply the "use it or lose it" philosophy of trademarks and patent royalties.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well when your country invents the Internet then perhaps you can create a new TLD?

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? .com domain names are US domain names.

They wouldn't be if you followed the rules and used .co.us

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? .com domain names are US domain names.

the .com tld is short for commercial and has nothing to do with the united states. .us is the american tld

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Fluffeh]

Why? .com domain names are US domain names. If they want to have a pirate site in Korea, how about getting a .kr domain name?

Seriously, I can't believe that this gets modded up on /. still. A .com is NOT a US domain name. The .us suffix is what is used to denote site within the United States of America. The .com TLD is open for anyone to use, though it was designed for a commercial entity with the idea of not being localized to a single country - hence no suffix denoting a country.

Seriously mods, use your brains before you mod up rubbish that belongs on Fox News.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[InsightIn140Bytes]

And for that matter .com is international TLD. United States' gTLD is .us , no matter if you like it or not.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Baloroth]

However, it was originally administered by the US DoD and is currently run by Verisign, whom you will note is a US based company and is therefore required to obey US laws. And TFS points out that the domains were "connected" (whatever the hell that means) to another US based company. So, everything about this was entirely US based, despite the sites being in Korean.

Not that that justifies ICE in any way shape or form, but they do have legal authority, or so it would appear.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't abuse control of a protocol like this and not have people in other countries (like Europe and Japan) start to wonder how they could abuse it for their own ends.

FTFY

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong. .com, .net, .org, .mil, .edu are all US domains. That's one of the perks of coming up with the Internet.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oi.. .com is a US tld. No matter if YOU like it or not. Every country in the world has a tld... the US also has .com, .net, .edu, and .org. .com is international like the NYC streets outside the UN complex is international. Lots of people from lots of countries are on it. But its still US soil. You actually GET to the UN complex, and that is international. Just like the actual machine hosting the a site may be international.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

.com is a US domain name. The domain name system is a name space designed with administrative boundaries in mind. Domains are not primarily tags. The purpose of domains is to separate a name space into sections that are under the control of different entities. The point of country code domains isn't to tell you something about the content of the web site under that domain. The point is to give every country a namespace that they can use according to their own rules. The .com domain is a legacy domain that is administratively overseen by a US company. It is therefore under control of the USA. That is what matters here. What you think the three letters c o m mean in that order is irrelevant.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually .com is a US TLD that we allow anyone to register a domain in, whether YOU like it or not. The US, if you are not aware, invented DNS, and controls the original TLD. The country specific TLDs were added later. .com is entirely administered and controlled by and within the US.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

We followed the rule of, "we invented DNS, and invented the .com domain, and thus, it is ours".

Not that I agree with this seizure - I don't - but don't pretend we owe anybody else .com. WE invented it, thank you very much, and we nicely allow other countries to register domains within it, but there is no moral requirement for us to do so.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[icebraining]

Nobody "invents" TLDs, they are simply registered.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Raenex]

Wrong. .com, .net, .org, .mil, .edu are all US domains. That's one of the perks of coming up with the Internet.

Yup, pretty cool. Here's Neil Tyson talking about naming rights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oxTMUTOz0w

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Invented **DNS**. Which is true: the US did invent DNS, and set up the original top level domains including .com.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[thisnamestoolong]

Nope. We came up with the Internet, therefore, the default tld's (.com, .net, etc) refer to sites hosted in the US. For the reason, Great Britain is the only country in the world that does not have the name of their country on their postage stamps. When you are somewhere first, you get the naming rights.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Lisias]

...until the United States loses this power.[...]

Sorry, but nops.

There's no way a so well armed country goes downhill without dragging the rest of the world too.

We can argue that China would be a long term threat, but while USA have control of an fine working army, it will be on the top of the food chain - someone must buy China's products or it will not manage to fund their army.

USA can loose control on some minor, punctual issues - but never on what really matters.

(And no, I'm not happy with that)

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[shutdown -p now]

RFC 1591:

Each of the generic TLDs was created for a general category of
organizations. The country code domains (for example, FR, NL, KR,
US) are each organized by an administrator for that country. These
administrators may further delegate the management of portions of the
naming tree. These administrators are performing a public service on
behalf of the Internet community. Descriptions of the generic
domains and the US country domain follow.

Of these generic domains, five are international in nature, and two
are restricted to use by entities in the United States.

World Wide Generic Domains:

COM - This domain is intended for commercial entities, that is
companies. This domain has grown very large and there is
concern about the administrative load and system performance if
the current growth pattern is continued. Consideration is
being taken to subdivide the COM domain and only allow future
commercial registrations in the subdomains.

EDU - This domain was originally intended for all educational
institutions. Many Universities, colleges, schools,
educational service organizations, and educational consortia
have registered here. More recently a decision has been taken
to limit further registrations to 4 year colleges and
universities. Schools and 2-year colleges will be registered
in the country domains (see US Domain, especially K12 and CC,
below).

NET - This domain is intended to hold only the computers of network
providers, that is the NIC and NOC computers, the
administrative computers, and the network node computers. The
customers of the network provider would have domain names of
their own (not in the NET TLD).

ORG - This domain is intended as the miscellaneous TLD for
organizations that didn't fit anywhere else. Some non-
government organizations may fit here.

INT - This domain is for organizations established by international
treaties, or international databases.

United States Only Generic Domains:

GOV - This domain was originally intended for any kind of government
office or agency. More recently a decision was taken to
register only agencies of the US Federal government in this

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[spauldo]

Rome was the best armed group (countries didn't really exist then) of its time. It fell, just like all empires before it.

There's a lot more to holding influence and power than a large army. Most of the influence America has is economic and social rather than military.

A few reasons for this:

1) We won the cold war. Previous areas of Soviet influence look to democratic countries as a model, and the U.S. pushes its pro-democracy stance pretty hard.

2) The English language. Yeah, the U.K. and various other countries have this too, but it benefits the U.S. more than any. English has become the dominant language for business and culture around the world.

3) Pop culture. When I was in Japan, I saw almost as many CDs and records from the U.S. as I saw Japanese ones. American TV shows are shown all over the world. American movie stars are known world-wide.

4) Inertia. America was once an industrial powerhouse. Many things which are standard now were originally conceived in the U.S. For example, most computer-related things are English-oriented (programming languages, network protocols, RFCs, etc.). Even computer standards not created in the U.S. often use English (see HTML, for instance).

5) Size. The U.S. is large, and has a large economy. The state of California has (or recently had) the 6th largest economy in the world - and it's just one state. Anyone doing business internationally would be missing a large chunk of the market by not doing business with the U.S.

As far as our military, so what? We've never gone to war with anyone with nukes. There's a good reason for that - mutually assured destruction works. If the Soviets didn't have them, the cold war would have gotten pretty hot. I doubt even ol' W would have been crazy enough to attack China.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Except .com, .net, .edu, and .org are NOT us-exclusive domains.
 
However, I understand this is /., so don't let a little thing like facts get in the way of your argument.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

the U.S. pushes its pro-democracy stance pretty hard.

The US also pushes its pro-dictatorship stance pretty hard when people vote on the wrong person. In the end of the day, what the US wants is pro-US governments - be they democracies, monarchies or dictatorships. Go look this up on Wikipedia (they probably have a list of coups directly or indirectly made by the US government) if somehow you're ignorant of this.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Lisias]

My argument was that There's no way a so well armed country goes downhill without dragging the rest of the world too., and your post seems to enforce my argument.

Rome was, at its time, THE economic, social and cultural lighthouse of the world. But all that just came AFTER Rome became THE military power of that time. Just like USA.

The Nukes, as you correctly stated, assures mutually destruction - and that's the reason Russia is loosing political relevance - they just can't use it.

Money just have value for you if you can defend it. Saddam Hussein learnt this the hard way.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[VanessaE]

Generally I agree with the content of your post, save for this:

As far as our military, so what? We've never gone to war with anyone with nukes

The residents of Nagasaki and Hiroshima would probably disagree with you rather strongly.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[CanEHdian]

Anybody have a link to the full lecture? If only there was an easy download portal... (request is serious though, found a few other snippets on Youtube but it'd be interesting to see the full lecture.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[TubeSteak]

Of these generic domains, five are international in nature

"International in nature" is so vague as to be virtually meaningless.
And what does that have to do with the plain fact that that .com, .org,
and .net are run by companies under the jurisdiction of the US Government?

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[shutdown -p now]

"International in nature" is so vague as to be virtually meaningless.

international

Adjective:
Existing, occurring, or carried on between two or more nations.

And what does that have to do with the plain fact that that .com, .org, and .net are run by companies under the jurisdiction of the US Government?

It means that U.S. government is abusing its historical jurisdiction over those domains in a way that was not intended by the designers of the system.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[pjt33]

That was my initial reaction, but then I realised that the intended interpretation was that the US has never gone to war against a nuclear power.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[heypete]

I think the point was that the US has never gone to war with an adversary who has nuclear weapons of their own.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[korean.ian]

Rome was, at its time, THE economic, social and cultural lighthouse of the world. But all that just came AFTER Rome became THE military power of that time. Just like USA.

Naw - the Qin empire was where it was at during that period.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[korean.ian]

Sorry - meant Han. Doh!

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Dan541]

Why? .com domain names are US domain names.

No they aren't US domains and never have been.

United States has .us

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Dan541]

Of those 5 extensions only .mil and .edu are US domains.

You know you're wrong otherwise you wouldn't need to comment anonymously.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Dan541]

However the United Kingdom doesn't interfere with the sending of mail in foreign jurisdictions.
Even when international mail is routed through them.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Dan541]

They certainly have the technical ability. But I don't think that automatically means they have authority to do it.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Raenex]

Anybody have a link to the full lecture?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti3mtDC2fQo

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a arrogant TOSSER.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Baloroth]

I'm not sure either. In fact, I'm not sure anyone really does, as the legalities of Internet authority, given its international nature, still seem to be undefined. For .com, especially, since it is supposed to be generic (i.e. global). However, in at least some cases it is clear sites need to be able to be taken down (child porn would be an excellent example), and for such cases the country of the domain administrator seems like it should have authority. This case is not as clear cut, of course.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[bky1701]

I think you need to look up the British Empire. It just sort of fell apart over time. Death by a million paper cuts.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[spauldo]

I'm not ignorant of it; it wasn't part of the point I was making.

My point was about the democratization of former communist countries after the cold war.

Our support of dictatorships does influence our power in certain areas, I suppose. I'm just not sure if its positive influence outweighs its negative influence (in terms of influence and power among other nations, morality aside).

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Kalriath]

Incorrect. .com, .net, and .org are called gTLDs - it stands for "Global Top Level Domains" and they are managed by Verisign under contract to ICANN, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The US TLDs are .us and through grandfathering .mil, .edu, and .gov.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Lisias]

Please understand my statements as made by a western biased view of civilization. :-)

Selling copyrighted material

[Dan East]

On first inspection, the majority of the sites offered access to downloads of the latest Hollywood blockbusters for a small charge.

Okay, so they were selling and profiting off of someone else's IP. Doesn't matter who they were "marketing" it to, if the copyright violation crosses into the jurisdiction of the US government then of course they will act.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[masternerdguy]

I agree that the Korean sites were in the wrong and should have been taken down, but is ICE really the right group to do this crap? Isn't there some kind of international thing that should be handling this?

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Baloroth]

Isn't there some kind of international thing that should be handling this?

Don't think so, I believe that is what ACTA is for.

If that is the other option, ICE doesn't seem so bad.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Anonymous Coward]

Repeat after me: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY"!
It is a deliberate lie, spread by a tiny part of organized crime that others generally call the "MAFIAA" but actually is much smaller than the real Mafia. (I’m not even kidding. Their global sales volume is about $1 billion dollars. That’s ridiculously low.)
Its purpose is to make you think somebody could own information. Which, just as selling or stealing information, is physically just as absurd as trying to go to a place north of north pole.
And they absolutely need that distortion to justify why they did their service only once, but infinitely want money for it.
Yes, making information is a service. And information is just as much not a product as "painting a wall" is a product.

"IP" is as wrong as a painter asking money for a paint job from each and everyone who ever gets a glimpse of that wall, and suing everyone for $1000000000000 who lets anyone else see it or saw it himself, without first paying the painter.

In other words: It's a (illegal!) racketeering scheme. And you just acted like it's perfectly normal and supported organized crime, hurting creatives (or did you think they get any of that money?) and consumers alike. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[betterunixthanunix]

Okay, so they were selling and profiting off of someone else's IP

Since I assume you are spreading the "intellectual property" lie and not talking about the Internet Protocol, allow me to say this: there is no such thing as intellectual property. Copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets are not even in the same category of law as property rights. Property rights do not expire the way copyrights and patents do. You do not have to actively defend your property to retain your property rights, the way you do with trademarks. Copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets are not terribly similar to each other.

So let's start calling this what it is: selling at a profit movies that someone else holds a copyright on, without the permission of the copyright holder. Sorry if that description lacks the shock value that yours did, but at least it is honest.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[sconeu]

Copyrights expire???? Not since 1927

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Anonymous Coward]

On first inspection, the majority of the sites offered access to downloads of the latest Hollywood blockbusters for a small charge.

Okay, so they were selling and profiting off of someone else's IP. Doesn't matter who they were "marketing" it to, if the copyright violation crosses into the jurisdiction of the US government then of course they will act.

Wow! What a great business model. If you were in the movie making business, you'd want to get that shutdown pretty darn quickly!

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Anonymous Coward]

... you're obviously american. You get all kinds of services there, like netflix and others. In the rest of the world there's no such thing. Why? Because, it's impossible to create such a service outside. The IP laws were created to make money despite the different wording, that was the reason they were written.

Anyway, ICE is obviously headed by idiots. Despite what sites they target, people's first and lasting impression will be "those damn americans are fucking the internet again". Not that it isn't true.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Ethanol-fueled]

There were congressmen comparing ICE to the gestapo years ago.

The moment I knew that Homeland security was out of control happened a few months ago. I was in the City Heights section of San Diego buying beer. Some little Mexican kid jaywalked and ran across El Cajon Blvd in front of an SUV. The SUV, along with another SUV and an unmarked car, pulled into the parking lot the kid ran into and then no less than 6 fully armed ICE agents jumped out of all 3 vehicles and had the kid sitting on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back. A truly disgusting and overkill display of power. The kid was probably 4 feet tall.

What is especially creepy about this is that all three vehicles were all unmarked GM-made vehicles (undercover cars are always American-made) with inconspicuous non-government ("average-Joe") license plates.

You can rest assured that the DHS are like the Iranian Basij, a paramilitary force bent on enforcing the morality of the citizenry and keeping them in check should they get to loud for the status quo. They will be the ones rounding up the protesters and other undesirables, eventually whisking them away into detention centers.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Anonymous Coward]

Citations on the congressional comments please?

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Anonymous Coward]

> selling and profiting off of someone else's IP ... of course they will act.

So when is the US federal government going to act against US comic book companies? There is plenty of evidence that they create derivative works based on the IP of others (tracing photos, typically). Widespread infringement in an industry that brings in tens of millions of dollars a year.

Oh, right. They are owned by large US corporations and bring in tens of millions of dollars a year.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Ethanol-fueled]

Link.

The two are Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill, and Sam Farr, D-Ca.

The last time I posted that here, years ago, It was met with a bunch of "but those two are liberal pinko" comments. Now you have Immigration and Customs enforcement going after kids downloading music, under the umbrella of "Homeland Security."

Do you not see a problem with that blatant and inappropriate mission-creep?

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Arker]

Okay, so they were selling and profiting off of someone else's IP. Doesn't matter who they were "marketing" it to, if the copyright violation crosses into the jurisdiction of the US government then of course they will act.

On the surface that seems like a reasonable argument. However it ignores the fundamental principles our justice system is founded upon, on several points. We supposedly believe in innocent until proven guilty, and due process of law, for example. Yet these actions are being taken without a trial. Furthermore, the offenses you mention are not criminal offenses, but civil offenses, which in our system of justice are supposed to be handled in a very different way from this.

Without in any way defending the sites in question, the actions being taken by ICE in this case do not seem at all consistent with the principles of american justice.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Thing 1]

Not since 1923, actually. BTW, in obtaining that link, I learned that Michael S. Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, has passed this Sept. 6. Sad.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[pjt33]

You do not have to actively defend your property to retain your property rights, the way you do with trademarks.

You do, actually, in common law countries (including the USA), or you can lose them via adverse possession.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[eugene ts wong]

Hi Dan.

I don't want to post off-topic, but I modded up you and the others in the discussions about special effects and elevators.

Regarding the elevator that you wrote about, are you saying that inside the "elevator", you could see 2 sets of doors; 1 set at each end of the "elevator"? You're saying that the elevator was essentially just a tunnel or room that gave the illusion of an elevator, right?

Ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean, regardless of the goal, something feels wrong about handling foreign sites like this.

Ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

Further proof that the US Govt/ICE is a police whore for the Entertainment Industry.

Re:Ridiculous

[prehistoricman5]

So how is selling movie downloads justifiable? They were profiting off of the work of other people; these sites were the digital equivalent of the guy around the corner who sells bootleg movies. Although I disapprove of the method, it doesn't magically make the site operators right.

Re:Ridiculous

[SharkLaser]

The Pirate Bay profits from their site too. Million dollars a year, as well.

Re:Ridiculous

[betterunixthanunix]

They were profiting off of the work of other people

Hm...profiting off the work of other people is a bad thing...I think I see where you are going with this:

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm

Re:Ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't you know? ICE = Integration Customs and Entertainment

Re:Ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

They do their arses. That's just what the MAFIAA idiots would like you to believe. TPB is run on a shoestring, any income goes straight back on bandwidth and hosting costs, no real profit.

But illegals with fake health cards make our food

[Anonymous Coward]

The ICE charter says specifically that they're supposed to enforce immigration laws, laws against hiring illegal aliens and laws against border crossing - instead they have become mercenaries for the global copyright cartel.

The way it works is the media cartel shills propaganda for the occupational government and in turn the occupational government squanders tax payer resources to enforce monopoly profit levels for the media cartel's outdated business model.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[masternerdguy]

Vote with your wallet. If you're really against big media don't consume their products*. There's tons of high quality CC licensed, and independently produced, media out there. Otherwise quit your bitching.

*That doesn't mean you can pirate them. Consuming them anyway without paying isn't a protest.

Take some of the big names already.

[thewickedductaper]

I think it would be awesome if they seized thepiratebay.org/ Maybe that would piss enough people off to stop this abuse of power.

Re:Take some of the big names already.

[betterunixthanunix]

I doubt that more than 5% of the American even knows what BitTorrent is, let alone TPB. Most people will never even know this action by ICE took place.

Re:Take some of the big names already.

[houghi]

Unfortunately it won't piss off enough people. You perhaps can't fool all the people all the time, but you only need to fool enough of them.

The abuse of power has not reached its peak yet. Not even close. It is going to get much worse. This also means when people are fed up with it, the American Revolution will look like a tea party.

I think in 25 to 50 years. This is what history has thought me.

Re:Take some of the big names already.

[Fluffeh]

If you had 5% of American citizens up in arms over a single topic, angry with government abuse and ready to take a stand for what they believe in, it would be one of the biggest movements in American history. Not even the broken "democracy" system in the US is broken enough to withstand the combined voice of that many voters.

Forget the million man march, this is fifteen million folks. Just imagine that!

Re:Take some of the big names already.

[betterunixthanunix]

Imagine what? I said that I doubted that 5% of America know what BitTorrent is; among BitTorrent users, I doubt that any significant number would take to the streets to protest ICE seizing TPB. Few people will be up in arms; most will just route around the ICE action and perceive it as no big deal.

Where were to people marching in the streets when the court issued an injunction against Napster? That should tell you everything you need to know about the American public's views on these sorts of actions.

Re:Take some of the big names already.

[Opyros]

But the American Revolution did look like a tea party!

Re:Take some of the big names already.

[Lakitu]

He was agreeing with you, retard. If 5% of Americans knew what this was and were up in arms about it, it would be one of the biggest movements in American history. Since it's not one of the biggest movements in American history...

It's very easy to overlook how many people are involved in large-scale movements like this, both contemporary and historical. The overwhelming satisfaction with the outcome of the American revolution, for example, completely overshadows any doubt which actually occurred at the time. Not only were there many loyalists who wished to remain British, but there were many colonists who were sympathetic but did not wish to start or fight in a war.

If the results of the battles had turned out differently, we would all be looking back at it as if a rowdy minority had started a rebellion.

Priorities

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this really priority? US Federal LEO's taking down domains in foreign countries fronting US copyright infringement operations? Wouldn't say, going after domestic (see inside US) gang operations tied to foreign countries running prostitution, drug-dealing, and racketeering be more apt? Seeing as these contribute more to social decay than say, international copyright infringement?

Follow the money, and ease of operation, I guess. Easier to do this, than actually fight true crime inside the US.

Re:Priorities

[PPH]

The Zetas have actual guns*.

*Courtesy of F&F Guns 'n Ammo.

I didn't realize

[Anonymous Coward]

Korean movies were so popular. ; )

Free Douglas Adams Tribute Novella
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6848623/Perfect_Me_By_Jason_Z._Christie

And how do the Koreans feel?

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering that when the CIAA tried to emulate the RIAA by suing fans, every actual Canadian artist jumped ship. I haven't heard that much about Korean views on piracy, but considering how Korean shows are JUST starting to take hold in North America, they might not be too happy at the loss of the potential fan base those sites were creating.

FAIL!

[Anonymous Coward]

PROTIP: .com = Commercial (no matter the country) .us = USA

But I'm not surprised you can't tell the two apart, considering that the USA is nothing more than an industrial feudalism.

Re:FAIL!

[AK Marc]

.com is administered by the US and is implicitly US. .us is explicitly US.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[RandomAvatar]

I fully agree. One way I do this is by watching fan-subbed foreign films that have not yet been licensed in North America, and consuming free products instead. I actually find them to be of much higher quality than that strictly controlled crap anyways.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[Jeremy Erwin]

No. Some of the jackbooted government thugs who used to work for the INS were combined with some of the jackbooted government thugs who used to work for US Customs to form ICE. The others went to the Border Patrol. If ICE did not exist, you'd be hearing about domains being seized by the Customs Service.

Homeland Security?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this related to terror threats? To answer my own question, probably isn't but DHS was in part a reorganization of US Customs, so it makes sense in some warped way -- take an underfunded and far from sexy agency and sex it up to give it more cash.

Re:Homeland Security?

[penix1]

Let's get this right... DHS is FEMA in drag. I was in FEMA at the time of the changeover. They took an agency that barely had the staff to do its current job and made them do double duty adding in terrorism. I left the agency two years after when I saw it going down the drain.

Lets see the US gov take down YouTube

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

Lets see how brave the ICE fags are.

Re:Lets see the US gov take down YouTube

[game kid]

That's ok. At the rate they take down (or let others take down) videos and their audio tracks, and with how easily comments there yield silly one-on-one arguments (when they're not "%dislike_count% people %snarky_comment_about_dislikers%", outright spam, or simply dumb), YouTube is taking down YouTube just fine.

Fun while it lasted, I guess. Can't have so many GBs of homemade videos on a website forever...

Constitutional protections for non-Americans?

[J Story]

It seems to me that the only real check on American "law" as it pertains to non-Americans and other nations is audacity. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't due process something that happens within the US itself?

Re:Constitutional protections for non-Americans?

[Arker]

By the letter of the law this is not true. The fifth amendment, for example, begins "No person shall be held to answer..." NOT 'no citizen.'

The founders made clear their belief in *human rights* which emanate from natural law and are common to all people, given by our creator and common to all human beings regardless of nationality.

However unfortunately we have been doing a very poor job of living up to the ideals of the founders or even the letter of our own laws, so what you say seems to be defacto correct.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[penix1]

Vote with your wallet. If you're really against big media don't consume their products*..

I get so fucking tired of seeing this crap. Just how do you "consume" the intangible (ideas)? Just how is that a "product"? It isn't either yet those who seek eternal payment for it will try and express the intangible in tangible ways.

There's tons of high quality CC licensed, and independently produced, media out there. Otherwise quit your bitching.

Like? Most of the CC stuff I have seen is pure and utter crap or is the length of a normal movie trailer.

And if that is the case why aren't you seeing more in the "main stream"? After all, companies are always looking for the cheapest means to profit and CC offers that.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[JonySuede]

Try cocaine instead of crystal meth next time. Your ramblings will appear far more coherent, trust me ;)

All the Images

[pgn674]

I gathered all 10 of the banners used in the 377 seized domains, and uploaded them here: DOJ Seized Domain Notices - Paul Nickerson - Picasa Web Albums

Is there a list of TLDs?

[icebraining]

So ICE only "captures" domains in US-controlled TLDs. What's exactly the rule to decide that? For example, what about geographic but not country specific TLDs like .eu? Are they safe?

Re:Is there a list of TLDs?

[spauldo]

They "capture" any they can. .edu is controlled by the U.S., so yes, they could certainly take a .edu domain. I couldn't see that happening, since .edu domains are only alloted to colleges and universities, and you can get at the people responsible in easier (and less controversial) ways.

Re:Is there a list of TLDs?

[icebraining]

My question was about .eu (Europe/EU), not .edu ;)

Re:Is there a list of TLDs?

[spauldo]

Ah, my bad, I misread.

Law enforcement multi-tasks.

[westlake]

Honestly this is getting kind of ridiculous, though. Doesn't the US government have more pressing issues on its hands right now?

This is the same question the cop is asked by every white collar criminal he collars.

No matter how small the crime or how big.

How P2P died and corporations won

[betterunixthanunix]

Once upon a time, there were P2P networks where people shared videos using a highly distributed, hard to control system. You could search the networks and find funny things. There was some copyright infringement, as one would expect. A lot of people were too technically illiterate to figure out how to use P2P networks, or were too illiterate to recognize the viruses that unfriendly people were sharing on the networks.

Then wave after wave of lawsuits hit P2P network users. Although people were more likely to be hit by an out of control car than to be sued, sufficiently many people were scared that P2P networks started to die. The corporations that were doing the suing hated P2P, because sending C&D and DMCA takedown demands to random home users was just not something they could do in any effective way. Out of the ashes rose new, centralized systems that were easier for illiterate people to use and simultaneously had the resources to handle a flood of DMCA takedown demands. Life seemed to be good for everyone -- the users could remain stupid and unempowered, and the corporations could continue to rake in cash.

Now we are stuck with massive, centralized systems that are easy to censor, easy to attack, and easy to control. Hackers lost that round, corporations won, and ordinary people remain as oblivious as ever.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[betterunixthanunix]

Vote with your wallet

Sounds like wealthy people get more of a vote than I do.

Money making

[future assassin]

Koreans are making money hand over fist from latest Hollywood "blockbuster" and people are obviously paying them yet this give the customers what they want idea seems to escape every single Hollywood CEO.

Buy second hand

[future assassin]

Seriously $2 DVD's at pwn shops = money in YOUR pocket. You can get a 50' plasmas now for $799 thats like seeing 16 movies with you and two kids $50. Now you just wait a little longer for the dvd, hot the pawn shop and relax at home while you watch the movie/

Re:Buy second hand

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, this method is legal, but it isn't any more moral. From the perspective of the movie studios, buying a second hand movie from a pawn shop is just as bad as pirating it. Either way, they don't see any of that money. Piracy isn't any worse for them than the alternatives like borrowing a copy, renting a copy, buying a second hand copy, or waiting until its on tv for free or something. The existence of the 2nd hand market and the rental market is far damaging to profits than piracy.

Re:Buy second hand

[piripiri]

Why? The medium has been bought already.

Media Companies Need To Change or Die

[Hyperhaplo]

I am in Australia. I would like to play several movies and TV shows on my mobile. How can I do this legally?

I have a stack of CDs at home. Went through them last night to organise what I'll be watching for the next month or so (in regards to watching from physical medium). While annoying to have to change the disks each time, it's something I can put up with.

My SO is currently travelling. Good news is that the primary communications device she has, a Samsung Galaxy S, is well capable of video playback and could store several movies and quite a few TV episodes.. so how can this be done legally?

The answer of 'rip the DVDs, compress, and encode to AVI, then upload the files to the phone' is not the answer I am looking for.
Big Media is currently looking to sue downloaders, and by extension any related illegal activity in Australia.

So let's drive in the white lane. Let's do The Right Thing. Here is a list of movies and TV shows to put on this phone. How can this be done legally?
(and not all at once, obviously, due to the amount of content. Although, with enough memory sticks space should not be an issue)
(this is her 'for start' list.. just the things she'd like to watch now.. and yes, already have the DVDs for all of these

* Easy A
* Gilmore Girls
* Life on Mars
* JAG
* Serenity
* Firefly
* Brothers and Sisters
* Morning Glory
* The Good Witch
* Modern Family
* Castle

Now, for a good old fashioned rant regarding the story..

Some time ago we purchased the Gilmore Girls DVDs. Local store, all 10 seasons. All good, right?
Well, no. The sound was bad. Terrible actually. So, we put up with it thinking that it was our TV / System.
Had a few issues with a few disks. Long story really short is that a kind soul purchased the series online (and yes, the whole 10 seasons) as a boxed set which "patched the holes" from the 'store bought' disks. Excellent.
The 'online version' of the Gilmore Girls DVDs is of superior quality for the sound, the DVD menus and DVD functions. (I am not sure how to explain this. The 'store bought DVDs always seem to have issues loading / reading .. but the online version just works.. some issues with loading sometimes, but generally works without issue.. )

Cost comparison:
Store bought: We between $15 and $20 per season for Gilmore Girls at the local Kmart / BigW stores. For the 10 seasons I estimate that we spent ~170 in total for 10 seasons.
Online version: The boxed set of 10 seasons on DVD online apparently was just under $100 delivered (along with other stuff.. so, possibly $80).
Difference: Around $50 to $90 depending on local price vs online price

Quality: I would never purchase this DVD boxed set, either locally or online. The sound is terrible.

So, here the 'pirates' are producing a superior product, selling it for cheaper than the local retailers, have a 'disk replacement' policy with (what amounts to) DRM free and no UOP (which are highly irritating).

It's a pity that they don't have a service to buy properly encoded and tagged AVI's.

So far as I am concerned, Big Media are shooting themselves in the foot right now. Who doesn't have a smart phone capable of playing movies an TV shows? How many of us would watch shows on our phone if we could?

Here is my money. Will you take it?

No.

*sigh*

Yes, I know, it's been said before. Now it's just biting, kicking and screaming. Personally, I wish the 'pirates' all the best. They are providing a service that Big Media won't.

Hrm

[Anonymous Coward]

Good. Those wae guk kae seki dul need to have their stuff shut down.

Badly moderated

[kiwimate]

1. Read the article. They are counterfeiting in some cases. In other cases, they're charging a fee for access to the pirated movies. Most people here on Slashdot, even if they support piracy, argue that charging for the pirated goods is wrong.

2. What would you suggest instead of "allowing"? As far as your comment about the US having authority over Korea, again, you should read the article.

So despite the fact that the sites were targeted at Korean speaking visitors, the websites appear to belong to a Seattle-based company.

3. I suppose the poster doesn't know for sure what effect it has on jobs, but I posit that you don't either. I could just as easily say for all you know, not doing this and instead allowing the U.S. based piracy that is aimed at Korean audiences will kill jobs.

Re:Badly moderated

[Whiteox]

I agree. Piracy without profit is different to counterfeiting and charging for downloads.
I can't see a reason to complain about the takedown, maybe by a different gov organisation.

Re:Badly moderated

[raynet]

There is one very good reason to complain about the takedown. The way it was done. USA shouldn't be able to close a Korean site down without the help of Korean officials and it should be based on Korean law, now US law. Otherwise I am all for closing down every site that wants money for pirated stuff.

Re:Badly moderated

[InsightIn140Bytes]

Saying that immaterial things like movies or "data" shouldn't have copyrights, but then at the same time saying that you shouldn't charge for downloading such immaterial things made by others (even if they would be without copyright now) kind of contradicts itself, don't you think?

Re:Badly moderated

[Luckyo]

To be technical, piracy is copyright infringement for profit. Copyright infringement without profit... is not piracy. It's copyright infringement.

It's just that "copyright infringement" is really hard to get people to feel guilty about, so we had a heavy "it's PIRACY" propaganda ran over us for last decade or so. And now, when it's real piracy, people actually have to explain what they mean.

Funny.

Re:Badly moderated

[exomondo]

There is one very good reason to complain about the takedown. The way it was done. USA shouldn't be able to close a Korean site down without the help of Korean officials and it should be based on Korean law, now US law.

I agree with your premise but the sites were registered in the US with a US firm, if they were registered in Korea there is nothing ICE could do about it (though im sure that wouldn't stop them from trying).

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[syousef]

Vote with your wallet. If you're really against big media don't consume their products*. There's tons of high quality CC licensed, and independently produced, media out there. Otherwise quit your bitching.

*That doesn't mean you can pirate them. Consuming them anyway without paying isn't a protest.

Last time I checked, using something and refusing to pay for it was a protest. Whether or not it's effective or moral you can debate. Certainly it is not legal in most countries, but to argue that it's not a protest is childish and being modded up for it is childish too. As is the line "quit your bitching".

While we're at it there's a lot more dross on CC than in commercial and yep that's saying something. The only useful thing the industry does is increase the signal to noise ratio a little.

Finally as someone else pointed out the terms "pirate" and "consume" are correct only in the broadest terms here. No one is raping nor pilleaging, and nothing is being used up.

So while I understand your point, I disagree, and even if I were to agree I'd encourage you to make it more coherently.

They're US sites, not Korean sites

[kiwimate]

From the article:

So despite the fact that the sites were targeted at Korean speaking visitors, the websites appear to belong to a Seattle-based company.

So while I'm not going to comment on whether ICE is the right group, it's certainly a U.S. group that should be doing it, not "some kind of international thing".

ICE?

[Anonymous Coward]

So illegal aliens invading our Country is off the table, but this is OK. Nice going douche nozzles.

Bunch of Whiny thieves.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bunch of Whiny thieves.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[Bob9113]

Vote with your wallet. ... There's tons of high quality CC licensed, and independently produced, media out there.

Totally agreed. Here's a source I just recently found: Podiobooks.

Otherwise quit your bitching.

Don't be silly. Of course people should bitch when they feel that our GDP or public funds are being misdirected. And they should present the reasons for their position, so that their hypotheses can be tested for merit. How else are we supposed to detect when we are on a flawed path?

That doesn't mean you can pirate them.

According to whom, and why? This is an unsupported categorical statement, and lacks prima facie merit. Are you saying that people should not do this because it is illegal, because it harms society, both, or some other reason? You will know when you have presented an actual position, because it will be something that can be rationally challenged based on observable data. Short of that, you are just blowing wind.

Consuming them anyway without paying isn't a protest.

How do you know? How can you say what a person's motivations are for their actions?

It may not be, under your principles, a valid protest. You may have evidence that it is not an effective form of protest. You did not present anything to support either of those positions. Regardless, however, your mere declaration does not preclude copyright infringement from being a protest.

Expressing and explaining your perspective in a way that invites consideration, understanding, and growth is an excellent thing. Merely dictating what others must do to meet with your approval makes you sound like a pontificating ass.

and nothing of value was lost

[crossmr]

These sites are nothing. There are tons of major, and apparently legal download sites in Korea. You can download the latest blockbuster for 10 cents. They're advertised everywhere, they sponsor stuff, you get coupons for them when you order stuff, etc.

They're most run off Korean servers though. Very few Koreans would be going to overseas sites to download this kind of stuff. The current state of the underseas cable to the US is still very bad after the earthquake/tsunami and speeds continue to get slower.

It's an incredible victory to announce though

Re:and nothing of value was lost

[gl4ss]

pricing content based on nationality is probably the biggest scam of hollywood.

Re:and nothing of value was lost

[Anonymous Coward]

urls for 10 cent a movie?

Re:and nothing of value was lost

[crossmr]

you can only access it with an in country citizenship ID or Alien registration ID to create the account.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[Anonymous Coward]

Protesting only work if you inform others of your action. Vote with your wallet quietly at your home has the same effect as if you pirate it quietly at home.

not what my taxes should be used for

[ecorona]

With all that is going down around the country, this is what they spend our money on? With the unemployment the way it is, social security not keeping up with inflation, and people having trouble making it, THIS is what my tax dollars are being spent on?

It's the same as with drugs

[devent]

It's the same stupidity as with drugs counterfeit. The US government will spend millions to fight copyright violations, with will have no effect on the quality and availability on sites. But it will make the organizations more criminal and will put more people in jail for minor offends.

Here is a forecast how this will end (just replace drugs with copyright infringement)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsk8R_j5zzg
""It pains me to know that there is a solution for preventing tragedy and nothing is being done because of ignorance, stubbornness, unsubstantiated fear and greed."

Hear Neill Franklin, Executive Director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), speak on the problems and costs of the war on drugs, and the reasons society would be better off if it were ended."

Re:It's the same as with drugs

[devent]

BTW: there are already movements to make copyright infringement a criminal offence.

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/1907512/uk-opposes-criminal-sanctions-copyright-infringement
"A document leaked by French advocacy group La Quadrature du Net shows that EU negotiators want criminal sanctions introduced into the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta)."

I don't know if it's in the current Acta.

Hu. No.

[Anonymous Coward]

I am guessing the domain name were in the US (NET/ORG/US/COM) because otherwise the US governement should have no standing whatsoever to do anything. If I practice copyright infringement on US IP using a NON US domain namer on a NON US server , the US governement has no standing to apply its law (barring extradition and requirring a local lawyer to act on) just as If I steal some US tourist in France, the US governement has no standing to apply law.

Whatever

[pburghdoom]

Just commenting to remove accidental mod.

I find it disturbing

[JTsyo]

that the the Feds use bad puns to name their operations. "In Our Sites", really?