As if we need further proof, we, as a country, have simply gone insane.
British website owners could face extradition to the US on piracy charges even if their operation has no connection to America and does something which is most probably legal in the UK, the official leading US web anti-piracy efforts has told the Guardian.
The US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) is targeting overseas websites it believes are breaking US copyrights whether or not their servers are based in America or there is another direct US link, said Erik Barnett, the agency’s assistant deputy director.
As long as a website’s address ends in .com or .net, if it is implicated in the spread of pirated US-made films, TV or other media it is a legitimate target to be closed down or targeted for prosecution, Barnett said. While these web addresses are traditionally seen as global, all their connections are routed through Verisign, an internet infrastructure company based in Virginia, which the agency believes is sufficient to seek a US prosecution.
Verisign could be out of business in a month.
S.
Great thing about the internet, it (at least for now) routes around such major problems. .com and .net have no particular value anymore. Or, this is just another path for the US to marginalize itself vs. the rest of the world. Do you see China engaging in this particular sort of silliness (agreed, they have their own brands of insanity).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ALZZx1xmAzg
Surely it’s only extradition if somebody is removed form a foreign sovereign country?
Since the UK is basically just a US overseas sales office and aircraft carrier it’s not really extradition – just an inter-agency transfer.
Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t Verisign just the top-level domain name administrator and registrar? OK, they administer .com and .net.
But the domain names and IP addresses from their DNS’s just get propagated around the world to other DNS’s. So the “connection” is not actually routed through Virginia, is it?
#5 – no nothing is routed through verisign. The only argument you could make is that since the contract is ultimately with verisign you are subject to their terms and conditions. That’s why we need DNS to be taken out of the hands of a US corporation.
Of course there is nothing to stop each country deciding to implement it’s own top level registry, so .com in France could resolve to a completely different address than .com in the US. It would completely break the internet but might be the only way to save it.
America. the land of the free and home of the brave, is JUST A POLICE STATE !!! The more cops you have, the more laws you need to keep them busy, and the more prison cells to house the “offenders” !!! “Criminal Justice Systen” no different from the Military/Industrial Complex – IT NEEDS VICTIMS !!! Individuals, Cournties, – doesn’t matter !!!
“Ship the whore off to Iran for trial and her stoning punishment!”
That’s a bit extreme. But preventing women from driving cars and voting seems fair to me.
Also, people in same-sex marriages that are legal in one state (such as NY) should be extradited to states where same-sex marriage is not legal so they can be prosecuted. Or maybe people in states that don’t permit same-sex marriage should be forced to move to other states and marry people they aren’t even related to.
And what happens in Vegas should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law in other states.
#8 – sounds silly but it was only a few years ago that this did happen for people in mixed (color) marriages.
Being married to a white(r) women was classified as rape in some states – you better hope your plane didn’t touch down in Alabama.
Hopefully other countries will give the US the big middle finger!!
Point lost. Audiovisual was never intended to be transferred across the internet when the top level domain control was originally built. Neither was money.
No, I actually DON’T “need further proof that we as a country have simply gone insane”. I can just turn on the television and look at the TV guide.
Modern Marvels: Lawn Ornaments
Hitler’s Secret UFO Squadron
Watching Paint Dry XXIII
World’s Funniest Crotch Injuries
Poltergeist Hunters
and, of course, The “News”.
Diagnosis: rug-chewing, strap-gnawing batshit.
Sounds reasonable to me. We should all be extradited to the moon for committing the offense of air-breathing. Everyone knows it’s against the law to breathe air, as far a moon-people are concerned. It makes about as much sense.
#13 – it’s not the air-breathing that’s illegal. It’s the exhaling of CO2 that’s illegal, because it is causing global warming and it makes you worse than Hitler.
In this case a combo plate of IP law and Extradition treaties/laws. USA has to ask “permission” of UK to extradite their citizens and the UK has to agree. I don’t see why this “connection” with a server or domain name is even required. It might be nothing more than a bow tie on the package of infringement it is attached to.
Much like holding China up as a model for good government?
Drop com and net. The entertainment industry has bought so more law making bodies than organized crime and at least the last two presidents. Vote the maggots out!
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better: http://tinyurl.com/3cmync8
Guyver–I’ve been surprised they have taken so long. And they choose to be cops to favor one set of customers over another all in an environment where the customer “base” has no alternative choices.
when the law is what it is regarding infringement, I find it difficult to find a “rational” argument against the ISP’s being cops.
Its a complicated mix of issues. Regardless of the equities, social and technological forces, follow the money.
I know we think of ourselves as the policemen of the world, but…. our government is running amok.
The real problem for everyone is that there are just too many lawyers. They need something to do and they write the laws to insure plenty of work for themselves, whether we like it or not.