Wow, I guess the US rules the world now.

--Previous Message--
: US authorities started their third round of domain name seizures
: yesterday, and the common theme appears to be sports streaming.
: The most recent seizures go even further than the previous ones
: as the only connection these sites have to the US is that their
: domains are operated by American companies.
:
: Thus far, neither the Department of Justice nor Homeland
: Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit have
: officially commented on the seizures, but it can't be a
: coincidence that sports streaming sites were targeted a few days
: before the Super Bowl is due to be aired.
:
: The Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast
: and huge commercial interests are likely to be the main reason
: why the domains were seized. In November, the previous round of
: seizures was timed a few days before another commercial event,
: "Cyber Monday". These seizures targeted mainly online
: retailers of counterfeit goods, in an operation that was
: labelled the "Cyber Monday Crackdown" by the
: responsible authorities.
:
: The easiest option for the sites to continue their operations is
: to move to alternative domains, which most have done already.
: Since the servers have not been touched physically it's a matter
: of changing a few settings to make the sites available to the
: public again. Rojadirecta is currently available on several
: alternative domains, including Rojadirecta.es.
: Channelsurfing.net is now available under Channelsurf.eu,
: Atdhe.net has moved to Atdhenet.tv and Ilemi.com transferred
: over to Ilemi.tv.
:
: The streaming sites that were targeted in this "Super Bowl
: Crackdown" are not new to complaints from copyright
: holders. Last year HQ-streams.com was hit with a court order
: which restrained it from broadcasting UFC events, an order with
: which the site complied. Rojadirecta on its turn has been sued
: by copyright holders in Spain, but after a three year legal
: battle the court decided that the site operated legally.
:
: With the recent domain seizures, however, the US authorities
: have a much more powerful tool in hand to take action against
: sites they deem to be illegal. Without contacting the site
: owners – who are mostly foreign and host their sites outside
: of the US – they simply obtain a seizure warrant from a
: District Court judge and use this to take control over the
: domains in question. This questionable process grants the US
: censorship powers over a great part of the Internet, which it is
: using to protect the commercial interests of media and sports
: outfits.
:
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