Super Bowl bust: U.S. government seizes 307 domains for violating NFL copyrights

& the games begin...isn't that facism when the government does the bidding for a private company?

"While many sports fans are preparing for Sunday's Super Bowl by organizing parties and shopping for TVs, the U.S. government is preparing in a different way. Just yesterday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency seized 307 different domains suspected of violating NFL copyrights. Of those, 16 were suspected of illegal streaming. The rest were allegedly selling counterfeit NFL merchandise.

The seizure was conducted under U.S. civil law, not criminal law. That means the affected parties need to prove that the internet domains were not engaging in illegal activity to get them back — an ugly mirror image of the country's usual "innocent until proven guilty" right. Many of the domains were not being operated by U.S. groups. Because they used U.S. domain suffixes .net, .com, and .org, however, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was empowered to act.

Visitors to any of the seized domains are now greeted by a message from ICE explaining the takedown. According to the government, these messages have already been viewed over 77 million times yesterday alone."

news.yahoo.com...

So it begins. The internet witch hunt. I wonder how many of those sites or warehouses were ratted out by their competition?

I deal with our Internet site all day long and I'll tell you straight up that if these sites got taken down than they likely deserved it. The process to remove a site let alone 300 sites isn't as easy as hitting a button. But once the provider gets the notice they in turn will protect a customer to a certain point.

We deal with copyright issues in my industry and you have to pull a whole lot of paperwork out to get a site pulled let alone warned for copyright infringement. So I'm pretty sure these sites had been under investigation for a couple months.

It didn't do much.

The site I use for streaming had a mirror site already up and running. Didn't skip a beat.

I just wonder how many dollars they are spending fighting a losing battle. Oh well, taxpayers will foot the bill because they have no choice.

did I miss something ...
I thought the SOPA bill didn't pass?
guess that's not gonna stop them from implementing
its measures anyway...

nothing to see here
move along

Yeah a pro wrestling news website reported on it a few days ago because someone who used streams for WWE, TNA, NFL etc had been arrested by an FBI agent posing as a WWE employee wanting to buy the streaming websites he owned and he thought he was getting big bucks from Vince McMahon by selling the domains and never knew until he got taken away in cuffs.

Originally posted by spoonbender
did I miss something ...
I thought the SOPA bill didn't pass?
guess that's not gonna stop them from implementing
its measures anyway...

nothing to see here
move along

So you support copyright infringement?

Only ask because piracy and illegally using copyrighted materials has been fought against since the 80s and it's only now that the streaming websites are being targeted after me wondering for years why they're still allowed.

Don't get me wrong, I like watching clips on youtube or downloading full shows I'll never be able to buy on dvd or find anywhere else and showing somebody a video you've downloaded or found on youtube can help create a new fan of something but I've also stood firmly in support of those who cry foul on infringements and those who steal stuff just because they can.

Originally posted by Toolatetotalk
I deal with our Internet site all day long and I'll tell you straight up that if these sites got taken down than they likely deserved it. The process to remove a site let alone 300 sites isn't as easy as hitting a button. But once the provider gets the notice they in turn will protect a customer to a certain point.

We deal with copyright issues in my industry and you have to pull a whole lot of paperwork out to get a site pulled let alone warned for copyright infringement. So I'm pretty sure these sites had been under investigation for a couple months.

Have to ask....would I potentially have a case or is it too late now?

Only ask because in 2005, I had a site, someone was brought in to redesign and create new graphics then left me permission to use his work because he wanted out (this guy was erratic anyway) but then as soon as I started putting the redesign up, he complained to the site provider who was hosting the domain (domaindlx I believe) while I was in bed asleep ready for a hard day at work and as soon as I finished, had dinner then logged on, I found emails from him first telling me to take the site down or he'd complain and then 30 minutes later another one saying he'd complained to domaindlx.

I had no correspondence from them except to say the site had been pulled, all of this taking place without me even knowing and therefore losing a year and a half's worth of work which I've never been able to recover.