And now Homeland Security is seizing web sites?

Is this really what Homeland Security was created for? I’m not supporting the websites they are shutting down, but this is indeed seeming a bit heavy handed.

Is that legal for the US government to just take away your registered domain name? Shouldn’t that fall under the domain of ICANN?

If this is the story I think it is, they got warrants and ICANN/IANA is cooperating.

Sounds like this:
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101118/wr_nm/us_usa_trade_internet

The bill allows the Justice Department to seek a court order against the domain name of websites offering illegal music or movie downloads or ones that sell counterfeit goods ranging from fake tennis shoes to pharmaceutical products
Internet Censorship brought to you by Walt Disney:)

And this is what we need Homeland Security to be spending time/resources on?

Should I highlight the relevant parts, or is everybody here able to read?

Meanwhile, in the Justice department…

Keep up the good work boys.

Hemalin, explain.

Seriously, your breaking down the problems with these two actions should be fascinating!

So when will wikileaks.org be snatched up?

I am fascinated by this post. Tell us more about yourself and your fascinating opinions. I want to read more!

Er… so this is a threat to American lives?

Pretty sure this should be the Justice Department’s area.

Interesting. In the uk it seems the police are looking for similar powers to control websites deemed to be ‘dangerous’:

I wonder if this a coordinated move by the usa and uk, maybe in response to sites like wikileaks and not just terrorist type sites?

Why would they do that? Wikileaks is just releasing classified documents that could potentially get soldiers killed; these guys are selling counterfeit NFL jerseys. The threat to national security is obvious.

It may have been a hoax. Wikileaks, on the other hand, appears to be getting the real DoS treatment. Let’s see if that extends to their newspaper partners.

They appear to be doing a good job then.

“ICE office of Homeland Security Investigations executed court-ordered seizure warrants against a number of domain names,” said Cori W. Bassett, a spokeswoman for ICE, in a statement. “As this is an ongoing investigation, there are no additional details available at this time.”

What the fuck is going on? Since when do ICE have authority to even fucking do this?

WTF?

This whole story is getting stranger by the minute.

Paging Dr. Anonymous . . .

I’m sure you are.

I’m not clicking on that link.