Homeland Security Seizes Spanish Domain Name That Had Already Been Declared Legal

It appears that Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division, and their incredibly sloppy domain seizure operations, have moved on to the next phase -- as was promised by both ICE boss, John Morton, and IP Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel. The timing on this one is particularly bizarre -- and politically stupid.

Sou rce

Wow, just... crazy..

ICE now is after domain names.

Doesn't ICE deal with illegal aliens, or were they repurposed when i wasn't watching..

Ahh wait..

perhaps motive?

And the timing is especially ridiculous, given that the US has been pushing very, very hard for Spain to implement a new copyright law, driven in large part by Hollywood. With many in Spain already furious about US meddling in their own copyright laws, I can't imagine that having US customs agents reaching across the Atlantic to just out and out seize a Spanish company's domain name is going to go over very well.

Is this push because some people aren't getting their MONEY? Special interest groups again pushing for their coffers not being filled like they demand them to be?

Or am I totally off my rocker?

reply to post by Cygnis


Wow good find, S&F I have a feeling that this will lead to something bigger!

It is nice to know that DHS and ICE are doing so well in protecting from a site that i would not use nor see unless a web site linked me to it, now is this not just some peachy keen, it is time to put muzzles on them dogs and shut the cage, what you all think????

ICE:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government. Created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, ICE now has more than 20,000 employees in more than 400 offices in the United States and 46 foreign countries.

Domain names don't seem to match ICE's job description, but apparently the Behind the scenes re-purposing is the new idea.

reply to post by Cygnis


Sounds to me like the website was linking to pirated copyrighted material (movies), which were accessed from within the U.S. and enforced by

The Cyber Crimes Section (CCS) is responsible for developing and coordinating investigations, Internet-based immigration and customs violations...

Intellectual Property Rights — CCS has encountered thousands of websites based in the United States, as well as foreign countries that are engaged in the sale of counterfeit merchandise, including music and software, via the Internet. The CCS continues to work closely with the National IPR Coordination Center, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section at the Department of Justice and industry representatives to identify websites responsible for the sale of the counterfeit items

www.ice.gov...

Wouldn't you want your intellectual property and copyrighted material protected?