Last week, Bryan McCarthy, the 32 year old operator of ChannelSurfing.net, was arrested on charges of criminal copyright infringement. ChannelSurfing.net was one of the streaming sports sites that had its domain seized by federal authorities shortly before the Super Bowl as part of the "In Our Sites" program, run by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Prior to the seizure, McCarthy reportedly made more than $90,000 from advertisements on his site.
This arrest has once again raised questions about the In Our Sites program, in which the Government has seized thousands of domains accused, but not convicted, of copyright infringement, illegal streaming of sporting events, selling black market goods and distributing child pornography. Critics ranging from bloggers to individual rights advocates to Senators have questioned the constitutionality of these seizures.
The most serious constitutional issues arise because the Government does not provide any notice to the domain owners prior to seizing them. One moment, their normal site is up at their web address, the next moment, all that is up at their web address is a DHS/ICE seal. Without knowing what they have been accused of or having the opportunity to defend their site, the Government has repurposed the owners' private property
DW Description: Chris Langan is known to have the highest IQ in the world, somewhere between 195 and 210. To give you an idea of what this means, the average...
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