Homeland Security's domain seizures worries Congress

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is seizing domains and taking down URLs in the name of copyright infringement, but its tactics are worrying certain members of Congress.

In a letter (pdf) sent last week to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary Janet Napolitano, three members of the House Judiciary Committee aired their unease. "We are concerned about your Departments' seizure of domain names under Operation In Our Sites, launched in November 2010," the letter said. "Our concern centers on your Department's methods, and the process given, when seizing the domain names of websites whose actions and content are presumed to be lawful, protected speech."

The three Congress members -- Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Jared Polis -- and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, point to one case that exemplifies a situation where Homeland Security got it wrong. Over a year ago, the government took down a hip-hop Web site owned by a man who goes by Dajaz1 on the basis that it linked to copyrighted songs. However, the links didn't actually infringe on copyrights.

Homeland Security's domain seizures worries Congress

Mods, please move if its in the wrong Forum.
Thank You.

Didn't see this posted, anywhere.
Surprised by this, actually. Is Congress actually "questioning" the other hand?
Personally, I think ANY Government entity, that is abusing its authority, should be questioned.

Your thoughts, ATS?

Homeland Security is going to become the big threat to this country in the future. Giving so much power to a government organization is not good. It will become an uncontrollable monster in the future as did other government programs in the past. Can't our government ever learn from past mistakes and put safeguards in place.

reply to post by rickymouse

Homeland Security is going to become the big threat to this country in the future.

What do you mean in the "future"? They already have their hands in everything in our lives.

Last year some dude was caught filming some movie on his iphone, here where I live, (a small/medium city) Wanna know who showed up to arrest him? DHS, ICE and FBI, ridiculous.
How in the hell could all those agents get there that fast, unless they were already there?

reply to post by Juggernog


They are small yet, wait till they acquire more power in the future. They are just a hawk now, soon they will be a cross between Cassowaries and vultures.

reply to post by rickymouse


Meet the new DHS, same as the old SS. There's really no difference, DHS simply emulates and enforces the same principles of the Nazi SS with better technology.

Cheers - Dave

The three Congress members -- Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Jared Polis -- and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, point to one case that exemplifies a situation where Homeland Security got it wrong.

Three congress members will.... disappear, have a fatal accident, Be found guilty of something they didn't do in 3,2,1.....

Dictatorships Need this kind of power.
What are you thinking?
Stop companing about a despot dictatorship.

Take any government agencys name and reverse the meaning and you have their true agenda
Homeland Security = Homeland insecurity/terrorisem.

We in America have been brainwashed into thinking the Gov has our best interests at heart and nothing could be further from the truth.

When dealing with power, what starts out as a great idea most often turns into a nightmare. Our government keeping an eye on Homeland Security is essential, don't automatically trust them. Positions of power most often go to people's heads.

I wonder how many resources are allocated to this instead of stopping terrorism, mass shootings, drug cartels and violent crime?

Originally posted by sonnny1
Didn't see this posted, anywhere.
Surprised by this, actually. Is Congress actually "questioning" the other hand?
Personally, I think ANY Government entity, that is abusing its authority, should be questioned.

Your thoughts, ATS?

There's always been infighting and calling eachother out. it's only usually reported on during election time.

Seems to be the only time the Truth comes out. They aren't above rating each other out.

I can tell you that all the talk and legislation has my attention, and now we know that all the alphabet peeps will be enforcing copyright violations. Why HS ? How does copyright infringement affect the security of the US? Every time I post using outside content or even youtube videos I think about it. Is this going to come back later and bite me? Is it going to bite ATS? The rules seem to be changing all the time, and fast. Homeland Security I agree has the potential to become a monster.

I hope someone holds this agency accountable, not that I have any faith in Congress.

Originally posted by LucidDreamer85

Originally posted by sonnny1
Didn't see this posted, anywhere.
Surprised by this, actually. Is Congress actually "questioning" the other hand?
Personally, I think ANY Government entity, that is abusing its authority, should be questioned.

Your thoughts, ATS?

There's always been infighting and calling eachother out. it's only usually reported on during election time.

Seems to be the only time the Truth comes out. They aren't above rating each other out.

You might be right.

Thats the sad thing.

I live in Minot, North Dakota. We had a huge flood last year displacing many people. My wife was gawking at some thing or other and went through a stop sign and was pulled over by an unmarked vehicle and was politely warned about paying attention. The were DHS people. Are they dispatched with the FEMA people or what?

"I hope someone holds this agency accountable, not that I have any faith in Congress"


That's YOUR job. Typical of all of you and the reason why your country has this mess. Hope that someone else does it !!
It's the peoples job to hold them accountable and if both you and them won't bother, then you deserve the troubles you have coming.

reply to post by sayzaar


Explain to us how the population are supposed to make them accountable when the people have no voice. Congress is a joke, and changing candidates won't change anything.

reply to post by sayzaar


I have voted, which is the only voice I have, to dump the fat cats and put in responsible, responsive Congress Men and Women and gotten more of the same in a different suit, or my vote went down the tubes along with my Candidate. What do you suggest oh wise foreign person?

From the outside looking in we see America fracturing into separate factions, scary indeed...

Originally posted by rickymouse
Homeland Security is going to become the big threat to this country in the future. Giving so much power to a government organization is not good. It will become an uncontrollable monster in the future as did other government programs in the past. Can't our government ever learn from past mistakes and put safeguards in place.

Well of course - and don't forget their brother, the TSA. Between TSA and DHS they basically have you coming, going and sitting still.

Some will argue the old, "If you are not doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about."

But they forget the question, "Who decides what is wrong?"