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.

[xtinct]

Just a wild @ss guess... but has Homeland Security seen Twitter... Site even masks the links...

[sickoflibs]

RE :"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."

This one is hard to believe but then again a few years ago congress made it legal for record companies to sue grandmothers for 10s of thousands of dollars because someone used their IP address to download songs.

Next pinging you to an article about it will be illegal,

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"The site you linked to looks like a commie pinko site."

It is. And it is newsworthy and, frankly, heartening to see the Left turn on the Administration of their former Messiah.

Of course, they will never awaken to the fact that such tyranny is the inevitable endpoint of their fist-in-the-air collectivism.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"The site you linked to looks like a commie pinko site."

It is. And it is newsworthy and, frankly, heartening to see the Left turn on the Administration of their former Messiah.

Of course, they will never awaken to the fact that such tyranny is the inevitable endpoint of their fist-in-the-air collectivism.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Thank you G. Bush for creating this Monster. Thank You.

I'm with you. Between this and the other thread on here about the six year old girl getting groped, I'm ready to dismantle DHS and take my chances with the Jihadis.

[Durus]

Google provides the exact same service. I suppose they are in danger of being arrested?

[Beowulf9]

I have nothing intelligent to add to this discussion except this admin is looking more and more like the Nazis everyday and I find it distressing.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

Which agency should enforce copyright laws? I agree that DHS seems like the wrong agency, but I’m having a hard time thinking of one that would “fit.”

[Conscience of a Conservative]

Which agency should enforce copyright laws? I agree that DHS seems like the wrong agency, but I’m having a hard time thinking of one that would “fit.”

[driftdiver]

I still don’t understand what copyright infringement has to do with Homeland Security.

[east1234]

If the govt. criminalizes enough acts then they can arrest/prosecute/harass anyone they want to. It's just part of the plan.

[BigEdLB]

Some people have jobs posting links to other websites........will they be arrested too?

Matt Drudge needs to find an `undisclosed location` and maybe take his efforts offshore?

[libertarian27]

I still don’t understand what copyright infringement has to do with Homeland Security.

They aren't doing anything else...they might as well sit around and watch videos.....

[DesertRhino]

We are in that awkward age,, too late to stop them,, but a little too early to,,,(well, you know)

[Gilbo_3]

pinging you to an article about it will be illegal...

oh well, Im quite certain i break at least 10 'laws' a day anyways...these dillholes evidently dont realize that after he first 'felony', the rest are FReebies...

[prairiebreeze]

So, I post links on Facebook and Facebook provides a mechanism for me to do so. Many websites have multiple icons that allow you to "share" their webpages with various social networking sites.

Is social networking going to have to change?

[NativeSon]

take his efforts offshore?

Could these exercises be the ground work for what's to come?

Close to the election, all those political sites linking to content - Zero's lies, VP Plugs sleeping, union thugs being thugs, etc.

Could this enforcement be used to silence those that oppose the Zero and his masters?

[screaminsunshine]

No doubt. Me too.The RatRino collaboration is killing us.

[free_life]

It is not Homeland Security it is Hollywood Security. They are protecting Obama’s Hollywood supporters not the USA.

[prairiebreeze]

Ahother thought, Chris Dodd is now president of some actors union and just the other day was on TV denouncing “piracy”.

At the time, it seemed like he was talking more about DVD copying, unauthorized downloading etc. But, as soon as I read this thread I thought of him and that interview.