Posted on 11/28/2010 3:45:27 AM PST by South40
The U.S. government's crackdown on file sharing and counterfeiting has taken a new and disturbing turn.
Yesterday, we reported that the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office had seized Torrent-Finder.com, a site that linked to other sites that hosted and shared torrent files of copyrighted material. The news itself was not too unusual; what struck us as out of order was that the site had been shut down without the owner being notified and without a court conviction or, to our knowledge, any other legal proceedings.
At the time, we knew that several other websites had also been seized; however, today, we are hearing reports that as many as 77 different websites have been seized and shut down, all without any notification or warning to the owners.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
With the slowdown on FR this morning, I was worried this was a targeted site!
I can’t wait for Daryl Issa to take over as chairman of the Oversight Committee.
One rather famous exception to that rule involved IRS. They'd gone after a guy selling novelties at carnivals where those novelties were counterfeit knockoffs ~ AND he'd not paid any income tax for quite some time.
They used the copyright violations as the excuse to seize his goods. The tax deficiencies were handled separately.
When Postal management discovered that I wanted to buy the Tax Master software package that had all the precedent cases filed and analyzed so that I could start using them to worry down the then mountainload of cases involving advertising appearing in special-rate standard rate mail, you'd thought I'd proposed bringing in an atom bomb to clear the building of mice.
"NO, you may not buy that stuff. WE don't need it".
Hey, same US government, but USPS management was overloaded with Democrats ~ in particular "Chicago Democrats" and the legislation that needed supported was passed by a Republican Congress (and signed by Bill Clinton).
Which is one of the reasons I'm surprised that someone at Homeland would be stepping out with this initiative. Like doesn't "Chicago" mean anything anymore? Has Obama gotten so weak that the enforcement officers lurking around the fringe are now able to do just anything they want?
Sure has changed over the years. Still, if you'd wanted to nail copyright violations in all media all you'd had to have done is tasked USPS with the mission. They get everything, even counterfeit CDs, fake videos, and most anything you've ever seen or read on the Internet ~ and they still get this stuff FIRST.
There's probably 50 DHS agents scanning each post we make this AM for embedded gifs and links, but otherwise it should be business as usual...
/.5% sarcasm?
Obviously with the slow loading on a good day and the clock out of whack, our servers are ready to blow a gasket at any minute. Would it do any good to locate the replacements out of the US?
'Department of Homeland Security'
I never liked that name. Gives me the willies (not 'nelson').
'Cause if you play a simple word game, it ain't pretty.
Department of Homeland Security = Homeland Security DepartmentI seem to recall those initials being used before.
Translate 'Homeland Security Department' into German and you get..... Staatssicherheit Abteilung. (State Security Department)
Or simply, the : SA
Yeah I know. It's not FASCISM when 'we' do it.
Right Barry, Holder and Big Sis!
And, everything under the sun is now under that department’s purview. Who knows if that is nefarious or just more government smoke blowing as they try after 9/11 to pretend they are now on top of things.
“information” wants to be free...as in unfettered...
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.03/economy.ideas_pr.html
Dear Homeland Security agent reading this post:
In 1934 the Nazis justified the work of the Gestapo by claiming the threat to national security required it. Over time the Gestapo became a byword for murderous thugery to assist autocrats with governmental power to keep it. In the beginning many were patriotic and believed they were doing good work. As time went by the leadership became visibly more corrupt and great evil was perpetrated on the population at their hand.
Today, the TSA gropes the genitals of children, nuns and the elderly so the appearance of fairness to the Muslim community can be claimed and so the fiction of increased security can be maintained. Today Homeland Security unconstitutionally seizes the private property of website owners without due process. The 4th amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing citizen protection against arbitrary searches is ignored.
Just to be clear ... I, like you, support most of the work of Homeland Security and the TSA. But as Lord Action pointed out,”All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This has gone way too far.
You have a choice. You think you are just doing your job. At the Nurmburg trials after WWII, Gestapo repeatedly asserted that they were only following orders. They were found guilty of crimes against humanity. Some were executed. Many were imprisioned for years.
YOU HAVE A CHOICE. Keep your job and turn your back on the Constitution, tradition and history of America. Turn in your letter of resignation and join the protest against the abuse of power. Make the choice that serves freedom not politicians.
Good idea, but we're dangerously low on Dilithium Crystal. I don't know if we can make it to Rigel XII in time.
Excellent post.
Did you get it confused with the Stasi (Staatssicherheit) - the East German state security? That would be a much better fit anyway, in every aspect.
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