Without any need for COICA (Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has just seized the domain of a BitTorrent meta-search engine along with those belonging to other music linking sites.
While complex, it’s still possible for U.S. authorities and copyright groups to point at a fully-fledged BitTorrent site with a tracker and say “that’s an infringing site.” When one looks at a site which hosts torrents but operates no tracker, the finger pointing becomes quite a bit more difficult.
When a site has no tracker, carries no torrents, lists no copyright works unless someone searches for them and responds just like Google, accusing it of infringement becomes somewhat of a minefield – unless you’re ICE Homeland Security Investigations that is.
This morning, visitors to the Torrent-Finder.com site are greeted with an ominous graphic which indicates that ICE have seized the site’s domain.
Aside from the fact that domains are being seized seemingly at will, there is a very serious problem with the action against Torrent-Finder. Not only does the site not host or even link to any torrents whatsoever, it actually only returns searches through embedded iframes which display other sites that are not under the control of the Torrent-Finder owner.
Yesterday we reported that the domain of hiphop site RapGodFathers had been seized and today we can reveal that they are not on their own. Two other music sites in the same field – OnSmash.com and DaJaz1.com – have fallen to the same fate. But ICE activities don’t end there.
Full list of seized domains @ TorrentFreak.com
Domain seizures coming under the much debated ‘censorship bill’ COICA? Who needs it?
Comment
Police could soon have the power to seize any domain associated with criminal activity, under new proposals published today by UK domain registrar Nominet.
At present, Nominet has no clear legal obligation to ensure that .uk domains are not used for criminal activities. That situation may soon change, if proposals from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) are accepted.
SOCA wants Nominet to change its registration terms and conditions, giving the registrar the power to suspend domains if it has “reasonable grounds to believe they are being used to commit a crime”.
And Nominet gives us an example of what those “reasonable grounds” might consist of – “a request from an identified UK Law Enforcement Agency”.
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