US Asserts Super-Jurisdiction Over Dot-Com, Dot-Net, and Dot-Org Domains

An anonymous reader writes "Michael Geist reports that last week State of Maryland prosecutors were able to obtain a warrant ordering Verisign, the company that manages the dot-com domain name registry, to redirect the website to a warning page advising that it has been seized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The message from the case is clear: all dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org domain names are subject to U.S. jurisdiction regardless of where they operate or where they were registered. This grants the U.S. a form of 'super-jurisdiction' over Internet activities, since most other countries are limited to jurisdiction with a real and substantial connection."

Comments

Re:Dear America

[geekoid]

Dear non-Americans - Don't play in our court if you don't like our rules. You have you're own TLD.

Let's wrap this up

[Anonymous Coward]

The bottom line is never trust government. The business of government is made up of invididuals driven by self-interest, just like any other business. The difference is that government is the only business authorized to use physical force (or threat thereof) as a business model.