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Federal Officials Take Down 132 Websites In "Cyber Monday" Crackdown
coondoggie writes "A team of world-wide law enforcement agencies took out 132 domain names today that were illegally selling counterfeit merchandise online. The group, made up of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and law enforcement agencies from Belgium, Denmark, France, Romania, United Kingdom and the European Police Office, targeted alleged counterfeiters selling everything from professional sports jerseys, DVD sets, and a variety of clothing to jewelry and luxury goods."
Are sales of fake professional sports jerseys jeopardizing our national security now?
How many of these sites were taking down for selling properly counterfeit goods, and how many were taken down for buying products made by a foreign arm of a international corporation and reselling them in a different market.
If these are proper forgers, good deal. If these are "grey market importers," fuck this.
(I hate the term "grey market," once you sell me something it's mine. If I choose to resell it, that's my business. You don't want me to resell it, don't sell it to me)
1 if you ever deal with %bignum% amount of actual cash in a bust then the Secret Service will just about call you
2 anything that goes overseas will cause HomeLand Security to start noticing (possible vector for THEM) of course i think HS is sort of a Macro Dial to most of the TLA stack anyway.
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
In the modern copyright/MPAA/RIAA/trademark-enforcement era, such events are hardly newsworthy.
"Information for Nerds," yes. "News for nerds" or for anyone else, no.
In other "news," Homeland Security agencies busted drug dealers, child-porn traffickers, human-traffickers, and people making allegedly threatening posts on social networking sites.
Yawn.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I in fact DID NOT get a good deal on my new Sorny 52" plasma flat screen or my Magnetbox bluray player?
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
Where is the list of the 132 websites?
I'll bet the people who own these domains hate it worse than I do, though.
Free Martian Whores!
Maybe they're just trying to free up some space so they can avoid having to upgrade their router to IPV6.
I'm not endorsing crime, nor advocating that criminals and suddenly the victims, but is the US federal government in the right to seize domains?
If the websites are breaking laws, aren't there other due processes to follow? Shouldn't we be working with foreign law enforcement agencies to go after those people rather than simply taking their domains?
A domain is property. Simply taking the property of others without due process (especially of people not in your jurisdiction) isn't exactly fair or Constitutional. I fear this behavior will add credence to the argument of the US relinquishment of key TLDs and possibly splintering the internet in the future.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
So the world governments do nothing to cut off spammers, scammers, child pornographers or anything that actually burns members of the public, but the moment some big corporations profits from monopolistic practices look like they are being challenged they spring into action and kill it dead in seconds.
first tip-off should have been them claiming 1080-HA! resolution.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
I wish they'd bust the thieves in Washington who are counterfeiting dollars...
(Ooh, a little bit political)
from buying cheaper versions of expensive products rather than wasting their time saving companies billions of dollars and people millions of man-hours by tracking down and incarcerating spammers and malware distributors. ICE and HSI should be commended ... no wait, fucking disbanded is what I meant to say.
This would have taken months of blabbing over and most likely blocked by China because they make most counterfeit products.
Just sayin'.
"The endless masturbation is not a victimless crime. It threatens U.S. businesses and robs hard-working Americans of their jobs, which negatively impacts the economy. It can also pose serious health and safety risks to consumers, and oftentimes, it fuels global organized crime." Here is a link to Homeland Security's rationale: http://www.dhs.gov/topic/intellectual-property-rights [dhs.gov]
"The Circle Jerk is not a victimless crime. It threatens U.S. businesses and robs hard-working Americans of their jobs, which negatively impacts the economy. It can also pose serious health and safety risks to consumers, and oftentimes, it fuels global organized crime." Here is a link to Homeland Security's rationale: http://www.dhs.gov/topic/intellectual-property-rights [dhs.gov]
much more applicable
"Circle Jerk" is definitely the better term.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Any idea what sites were taken down?
Also, I was surprised they even got a court order this time. Didn't they just leverage the Root DNS servers the last few times without any oversight?
And court order or not, did they still override the respective domain registrars, again by just changing entries in the root servers?
I believe HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) is a directive or division within ICE but ICE is also and agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
http://www.ice.gov/about/offices/homeland-security-investigations/
(Note the link to DHS.gov at the bottom of the page)
Granted, it's a clusterfsck of terminology that makes you wonder about priorities, but I think the parent was correct.
PocketPermissions Android Permission Guide
I'm waiting for the followup that details how many of them end up staying down. The possibility for regulatory DOS'ing competitors is just too broad, given the verification method claimed in TFA.
Due process, what an archaic concept!
This kind of law enforcement behavior eradicates any lingering sympathy I might have had for the "copyright holders."
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
That's why i support the ITU to take control on the master DNS. If the ITU announce their agreement for a new root server, i will pointing my DNS server to them. US gov't becoming more idiot by the day...
Until might gets a bullet in the head, at which time
might becomes fertilizer which actually reveals its true
substance.
This is why the US cant be trusted to control the internet.
They did do very well with their propaganda campaign against the UN though.
these kind of news have low social impact compared to downloading a movie of the net. it is easier to bully someone downloading stuff of the net for personal use than against the greater bully of organized crime
In effect its a contract, where the US government breaks it, one sided on it's own terms and then offers no legal recourse.
In other news, USA wants to ban any discussion of Hamas, Hezbollah and any other group that Israel doesn't like. So in effect, the domain system would be controlled by Israel. How long before you can't say anything critical of Israel before the domain is pulled?
This system cannot be allowed to continue, ITU is a better option.
By coincidence, 132 was the number of usenet newsgroups that the UK government and police demanded all UK ISPs block access too back in ~1996.
And as you can see - there's no offensive material on usenet any more, so such efforts are clearly highly successful.
Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
Only in the most ridiculously convoluted sense could pirated content and counterfeit merchandise have any relationship whatsoever with "Homeland Security".
Over my Thanksgiving break, I rented a few DVDs and the catchy new screen warning you that "Piracy is not a victimless crime" has a picture of a bronze badge labeled "Homeland Security". I could only roll my eyes and wonder what idiot authorized Hollywood to use it.
We've got these budget talks going on right now. If DHS has spare personnel and resources to get involved in operations completely unrelated to their mission, it would be a great place to cut.
I guess they need to make the DHS look like they're doing something.
That or the gov't is laundering tax payer money by channeling it through a popular organization, bypassing the budget constraints of others (FBI, DOC) who should actually be handling these issues.
Oh, wait. That's right. The DHS can act as they wish without court orders, sufficient evidence, or any other aspect of due process. My bad.
Only in the most ridiculously convoluted sense could pirated content and counterfeit merchandise have any relationship whatsoever with "Homeland Security".
Over my Thanksgiving break, I rented a few DVDs and the catchy new screen warning you that "Piracy is not a victimless crime" has a picture of a bronze badge labeled "Homeland Security". I could only roll my eyes and wonder what idiot authorized Hollywood to use it.
We've got these budget talks going on right now. If DHS has spare personnel and resources to get involved in operations completely unrelated to their mission, it would be a great place to cut.
But where, oh where would all of the socialist jobs of the DHS go? Think about our children!