US Grabs More Domain Names, $1.4M From Online Counterfeit Operations

coondoggie writes "According to court documents, investigation by federal law enforcement agents revealed that subjects whose domain names had been seized in a November 2010 operation continued to sell counterfeit goods using new domain names. In particular, the individuals, based in China, sold counterfeit professional and collegiate sports apparel, primarily counterfeit sports jerseys." So now the government has again taken over a swathe of domain names used in crime.

Comments

Yawn

[Anonymous Coward]

Is anyone else underwhelmed by this "accomplishment"? Sports jerseys? Really? I guess as long as the proceeds more than fund the operations I am OK with this, but it had better be a net win for the government.

Re:Yawn

[nurb432]

If someone stole your bicycle or broke into your car and stole your stereo, you wouldn't report it to the police because their time and money is better spent going after murderers and rapists, rather than petty crime such as yours? Is that your logic?

If you want to compare using Federal agents to go after infringement of some copyright to my bike being stolen and asking my local police to look into it, we have nothing to discuss, as you are an idiot.

We need a new DNS fast

[santax]

We really need to take the USA out of the internet-control. About everything is illegal in the USA and we should not take the risk they keep shutting more and more sites down. Yesterday it was for the children, today it's for the really rich and bad guys (riaa) and tomorrow it's because you tweeted you would go to LA and dig up Marilyn Monroe to party like there is no tomorrow. The world is in need of a new internet, a true internet without the current system of root-servers. A 100% decentralized internet, or in the event that isn't possible, an internet where the rootservers are in international waters. It's become to dangerous and we need to act. Fast.

Re:We need a new DNS fast

[nurb432]

It works in both directions and isn't a 'usa thing', just wait until the UN gets bored and starts doing this to everyone they can find..

Re:We need a new DNS fast

[muon-catalyzed]

Ok, who would you delegate the oversight/police work over to? United States still has less corruption then most of other options. If you are so offended, in the US, you can sue the agency or the government and get your mistakenly seized domain back, plus $ damages. Lawyers actually love these kind of bad-government suits. Now, would that alternative solution you are proposing have such safeguards? In some decentralized internet utopia, the real mafias would run the place, there would be no authority to call or ability to challenge the subject in a fair trial.

Re:We need a new DNS fast

[J'raxis]

About the only way to do this would be to create a system that is truly out of everyone's control. Otherwise, you can guarantee that someone's idea of "you can't do that!" will be imposed on the system. If it's not in the name of "IP," it'll be in the name of fighting racism and bigotry. Or terrorism. Or child pornography. Or something else.

whack-a-mole

[0111 1110]

Ah. Whack-a-mole. That most American of games. Such an excellent way to spend someone else's money.

Problem?

[IonOtter]

ACTUAL crime being committed? Check.
Warrant? Check.
Proper procedure followed? Check.
Crime investigated? Check.
Crime confirmed? Check.
Crime properly documented? Check.
PUBLIC DULY INFORMED???

Check and check.

I don't have a problem with this.

Re:Problem?

[ScentCone]

Was the crime committed on U.S. soil or within U.S. jurisdiction?

Yes. That's where they're selling the stuff.

Re:Problem?

[Bacon Bits]

So if they sell stuff to other countries do they have to abide by their laws as well?

Yes. Of course you do.

What if those laws contradict each other.

Then you probably can't do business in that country. There is no inherent right to do business, and no right to make a profit. If you can't do it within the bounds of the law, you can't do it.

If an American company were to ship a sex toy to Saudi Arabia would it be okay for the Saudis to send an agent to chop off the hands of all of those responsible for shipping it? Or how about life in prison in a Saudi jail?

They could request extradition, assuming the two nations have good relations and working treaties with extradition agreements. This type of thing can and has happened before.

The US is treating US laws as though they are the laws of the world. They are not. The US government is only doing this because they can and probably due to corruption. Not because it is proper behavior.

The US is treating properties which are located in the US as subject to US law, which is the natural right of any sovereign nation. Domain names, under the current DNS system, effectively reside in the US because they are managed by ICANN, an organization located in the US. That makes DNS digital property subject to US law.

Re:Problem?

[santax]

What needs to be changed is very simple. The US does this for her own coorps and citizens btw. If you sell something, the rules apply from the country from which you are selling. If someone from another country decides to buy from you (foreign) than it's his/her responsibility to make sure the item bought is legal. Not the other way around like some countries act now.

Re:Not Right

[hendridm]

I don't believe that this is right of the American government to do. The Internet is not sole U.S. property and there are no court proceedings to justify it.

Then don't put it on a TLD that is within U.S. jurisdiction. You'll notice that thepiratebay.org now redirects to thepiratebay.se for this reason.

And if the U.S. asks a country to take down a ccTLD/server/whatever and the country complies, who should you be bitching at? The U.S. or your own government that is complying with another country's demands?

Re:Not Right

[cheekyjohnson]

The U.S. or your own government that is complying with another country's demands?

Both.

ACTA for only $1,455,438?

[Anonymous Coward]

So according to ACTA promoters, counterfeiting is a $100 billion a year business, and yet these websites combined, resulted in seizure of only $1.5 million??

"Under warrants issued by a U.S. District Judge, law enforcement agents seized $1,455,438.72 in proceeds that had been transferred from the money service business accounts to various bank accounts in China."

I notice they included the decimal point in the story and the fraction which makes the number longer, but it is only $1.5 million, probably far less than the budget of the department investigating it, and certainly not worth crippling the world with censorship, surveillance etc.

So can we now again have a proper assessment of the true damage counterfeiting is and stop this ACTA funny number nonsense??

How come the buyers

[future assassin]

are not being punished? You can't tell me they couldn't get the transaction history from the payment processors.