Internet user arrested by Homeland Security for linking to other websites.

DemandProgress.org ^ | 4/01/2011

[JerseyHighlander]

Breaking: Newly Obtained Homeland Security Documents Reveal Radical Shift In Internet Policy

FIGHT BACK: Internet user arrested for linking to other websites.

UPDATE:  Lots of coverage of our efforts this week. THE HILL: Groups slam online piracy efforts; TECHDIRT: People Across Political Spectrum Come Out Against COICA Censorship Bill; CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY: Online piracy bipartisan domain; POLITICO: Groups blast Leahy piracy bill.

ORIGINAL: Brian McCarthy ran a website, channelsurfing.net, that linked to various sites where you could watch online streams of TV shows and sports networks. A couple months ago, the government seized his domain name and on Friday they arrested him and charged him with criminal copyright infringement -- punishable by five years in prison. 

We just obtained a copy of the complaint (below) that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made against him -- and they don't even allege that he made a copy of anything!   Just that he ran what they call a "linking website" which linked to various sites with copyrighted material. Under that sort of thinking, everyone who's sent around a link to a copyrighted YouTube video is a criminal. 

This is another shocking overreach by DHS and ICE -- a steamship-era department that's proving once again that it doesn't understand the Internet. We need to push back -- and fast -- before they try to lock up more Americans.

PETITION TO JANET NAPOLITANO, DIRECTOR OF HOMELAND SECURITY, AND JOHN MORTON, DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT:  There's nothing wrong or illegal about posting a link to a website.  This is another shocking overreach by DHS and ICE:  You need to drop the charges against Brian McCarthy right away.

[UCANSEE2]

If you don’t want your content linked to, don’t post it on the web!

In this particular case, the problem is that 'they' didn't post it on the web, someone else did.

Of course, they should be going after that person, and not the website that provided a link to it.

Finding who uploaded the file is very, very difficult. Which is why we haven't seen any reports of DHS (or anyone else) going after the original uploader.

[UCANSEE2]

That passage has been on my mind since I first read it a few days ago. Almost EVERY issue I see in this country lately brings that passage to mind. Dark days ahead.

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

(I watched this movie the other day, and it was amazing how 'apt' the dialogue in the movie is, compared to the US today)

I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way.

Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression.

And where once you had the freedom to object, think, and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillence coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.

Here is a man seemingly without a conscience for whom the ends always justify the means, and it is he who suggests that their target should not be an enemy of the country, but rather the country itself.

Fueled by the media, fear and panic spread quickly, fracturing and dividing the country until at last the true goal comes into view.

But the end result, the true genius of the plan, was the fear. Fear became the ultimate tool of this government, and through it our politician was ultimately appointed to the newly created position of High Chancellor. The rest, as they say, is history.~

Mr. Dascombe, what we need is a clear message to the people of the country! This message should be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio, seen on every television. This message must resound throughout the ENTIRE INTERLINK! I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion! I want every man, woman, and child to understand how close we are to chaos! I WANT EVERYONE to remember WHY THEY NEED US!

~ Tonight, I will speak directly to these people and make the situation perfectly clear to them. The security of this nation depends on complete and total compliance. Tonight, any protestor, any instigator, or agitator will BE MADE EXAMPLE OF!

You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it.

One thing is true of all governments: the most reliable records are tax records.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

I used Channelsurfing.net to watch Tampa Bay Bucs home games...they couldn't sell a full house, so we were blacked out. Now what do I do?

BTW, it IS scary when you pull up the site and the notice is posted. What the hell does ICE have to do with it?

[mo]

ICE....doing anything but take care of the borders!!!

[SonsOfLibertyII]

I agree that this could lead to copyright infringement, but the only legitimate target for prosecution should be the end user not some website intermediary. I gave you the address to BOM, you copy a book instead of purchasing it, you’re guilty of copyright violations not me.

[ridesthemiles]

EVERY local TV channel in Reno has a website & they are ALWAYS telling viewers that they can ‘get more of the story’ by going on THEIR website & LINKING to the fuller story there.

ARE ALL the TV stations in jeopardy, also???

[donmeaker]

The purpose is to eliminate competitors to Google. That is always the purpose of government regulation. Whoever invented the term “regulatory capture” had the purpose of hiding that federal regulation exists to make business easier for favored parties, by eliminating competition.