This is a complete joke, the US does not have jurisdiction over every single website with .com or .net, next are they going to come after the .ca domains. Its the corporations like Sony MGM and Columbia etc that are the ones that are pushing for these crack downs. We live in the west not some third world despot like china or North Korea. yet our governments are scared of what the people may do so they deny us more of our right each day. and guess what its coming from the Liberals and democrats, that is why we need to get rid of the arse in the oval office ASAP

This is just legislation made by people who don't understand technology and think that they are the almighty US and can do what they want to protect the corporate interests. I'm not a proponent of copyright infringement, but if this is their argument, what's stopping people from going to a country and buying a domain from a country that doesn't have an extradition agreement with the US? I could move my company to Mexico and have a domain from Israel while pirating movies if I chose using their logic.

Not all of the US thinks this way. I myself think what they are doing is completely stupid and will probably end up in a war or 10 eventually. But you cant just blame stupid US government, you also have to blame the Japanese, it is their companies like Sony that are paying large sums of money to get these stupid things going.

What's even more ironic is that you responded to my post with a politically partisan reply.

"But so much of this sort of crap is politicized in this stupid country that people will happily argue vehemently for stuff that they don't even remotely understand just because Party X1 or X2 backs a particular policy"

"if you want to pass a law, regulation, or straight out ban something, politicize it in the most simple sense of that word. Label a policy as Republican or Democrat (or "conservative" / "Liberal"... there are like 3 real liberals in our government) and you will automatically get 35% of the population behind you."

It's awesome that you saw my post as an attack on Republicans. Oh, was it the conditional example? I could have flipped a coin.

Suddenly I don't feel angry about what Hacker groups like Anonymous, LulzSec, etc have been doing. Our government does such insane claims that it feels good that such groups who want the internet to be free, exist.
Since no country may be able to match the prowess of the US militarily, certain groups like those, thankfully, can teach our government some morality.

It's ironic that you attack republicans when it is the Obama administration that is doing this.

There are only a few things that should not be permitted on the internet, things like live executions any violation of any degree against any child. The latter even more so than the first. I'm sure all countries would agree.

But ICE's new mission is insane. When did we begin turning into China? Why are we policing the internet so heavily? The government's interest should be in humanity's social fiber, not corporate retention of wealth.

If they gain this over reaching power, it could mean persecution for those that don't deserve it.

Good luck everyone. I hope the defendants have some great attorneys. Maybe they can cease their tyrannous behavior before it goes any further.

+10000...

Tis why the system keeps lowering our education standards and promoting the idea of unquestionable allegiances ie. "my school (or country) is better than yours because I go there". Ignorant people are easier to control especially when they feel a special affiliation or sense of belonging.

Heck, religion has used this same tactic since inception which is why you more often than not find the ignorant to be fully indoctrinated with a religion as it supplies "the answers" to the questions that they don't have the cognitive maturity nor desire to assess for themselves.

You will never see this country training it's children to always remain open minded and unbiased. It's always about picking a side, sticking to it and defending it at all costs regardless of it's failings.

I'd bet that if most citizens of the US understood what a DNS server is and exactly how this whole thing works, they'd be against it. But so much of this sort of crap is politicized in this stupid country that people will happily argue vehemently for stuff that they don't even remotely understand just because Party X1 or X2 backs a particular policy.

If this particular move is backed largely by Republicans, for example, mouth-breathing Bachman supporters will set up a false analogy about someone stealing your car or cleaning out your bank account. So if you're against this clearly fascist move, then you're in favor of robbery. It's frightening how far people in this country will go in allowing their freedoms to be eroded (while defending said erosion as extensions of "freedom") simply to spite the "other side."

if you want to pass a law, regulation, or straight out ban something, politicize it in the most simple sense of that word. Label a policy as Republican or Democrat (or "conservative" / "Liberal"... there are like 3 real liberals in our government) and you will automatically get 35% of the population behind you.

Basically, what I'm saying is that we are an ignorant country. Ignorant of what our policies do, what they're about, etc. There are just too many people who like to see their side win and the other side lose just for the sake of the game. Case in point: During The recent health insurance reform something like half the country was flat-out against it when asked about what came to be known as "Obamacare." When asked about the individual policies of the reform, more than 70% were for it. We just don't even know what we're for or against here... just so, so stupid. So when the corporate interests get a law like this .com /.net fascism shoved through, 35% or so will be in favor of it even though they know nothing about it-- probably BECAUSE they know nothing about it.

I want out! I know that all countries have their idiots, but our political system is saturated with people who happily and cynically encourage idiocy using violent rhetoric. i mean, we're debating torture, endless military campaigns with no goal, endless internment, and the best ways to circumvent the constitution. This is just insanity.

First of all the whole circus of targeting filesharing should be made illegal instead of the otherway arround,

but trying to monopolise the world is really evil

please USA get some sense and stop taking copyrights so serious that even non-commercial sharing of content is seen as criminal offence. How long will it take to see it is the other way arround.

I register all-your-base-are-belong-to-us.cn and point it to the IP address already used by www.whitehouse.gov ? Did I just make that a Chinese web site?

Trying to run a single Internet space with the multitude of laws, regulation, interests and opinion that span the globe is at best optimistic, and will always present problems. The USA is not the only country looking to influence ICANN's part of the World Wide Web and if Internet users want something different, then they do not have to look far to see that there are alternatives.

ICANN's main aims has always been to convince Internet users that they're the only game in town and then try to herd everyone into a tiny part of an otherwise infinite universe. In this respect, ICANN has been quite successful. However, it's rather like telling people that the only place they can shop on the entire planet is your local Safeway (not that one...the other one) and that really…..really, there's nowhere else to go. Of course this is sheer nonsense and it’s understandable that people are starting to look at the alternatives.

Anyone can now create their own set of Top Level Domains at no cost and without reference to ICANN, simply by opting to register NON-ICANN Dashcom (not Dotcom) domain names. Dashcoms are more memorable and relevant web addresses such as "sports-com", “live-music” and "social-network” etc. Here is a part of the Internet that’s totally outside ICANN's control yet able to exist quite happily alongside it. At present, resolution is via an APP, but new ISP links are coming online to negate that need.

It’s only a matter of time before other new options surface, and none of them will have anything to with ICANN.

Everyone who cares will just avoid purchasing .NET or .COM domains.

Let us not forget, Since 1945, the United States has overthrown over fifty governments, including democracies, and crushed some 30 liberation movements, and supported tyrannies and set up torture chambers from Egypt to Guatemala. Countless men, women and children have been bombed to death.

We should create dual DNS servers, when usa decides its going to screw up, UK or eu DNS servers can continue, No removal allowed unless its done by a UK or eu, its all because they have run out of money if ur pockets are deep I bet nothing will happen. U know how the world works, hay watch out they might start patroling DNS servers at gun point.. LOL.. IT'S A JOKE..

This is just the sort of arrogance that adds to people's hate of the USA. The more I read stuff like this the more I hope they revert to a third world country and vanish from the face of civilization.

Bunch of Nazi's.

My web site is a .net site, hosted in Switzerland. I don't give a rats' ass where the domain registry is, the site is hosted in Switzerland and that means that it certainly is not under US jurisdiction.
Now, I don't host any Bittorrent stuff, nor is there any copyright-infringing material on my site (and there never will be), but that is aside the point.
I can accept that the a country, any country, deem that sites that are hosted on its soil are under its jurisdiction. That seems normal to me.
But the US has no business declaring jurisdiction over sites that are not on its soil.
Period.
I certainly hope that this is going to get messy. There will be legal shenanigans around this, and they will be bitter and expensive.
Hopefully, some good will come from this.
Then again, given that the US deems itself legally justified to use Extraordinary Rendition - kidnapping people in other countries to bring them to trial on US soil - this is hardly surprising.
What is actually surprising is that the US has not declared ALL web sites to be under its jurisdiction. After all, most Americans consider that the US invented the Internet, so that gives them rights to anything on it.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that politicians and law enforcers don't actually know what a domain name is. It's simply a pointer to a server located somewhere else. The domain doesn't have any impact on the actual server itself.

The argument that sites that use domains hosted in the US are under US authority is preposterous.

Apart from the madness (and the inq confusing taking down an URL with taking down a site) it's also royally fucked up how now EVERY damn US agency suddenly is taking down sites/URL for copyright infringement.
I bet even the bureau of fishing and wildlife already is on the sony payroll.

As the US economy drops buying the people that 'run the world' becomes dirt cheap I guess.

So anyway, it's independence day, so how about the countries that are not the US get together and finally sign a declaration to free them from the US and declare independence from them? You know - as an alternative to the frantic efforts to become as fucked up as them and fight their self-centered wars for them.

~Cue the 'we invented internet and freedom and freed europe' hogwash from patriotic yanks.

The US is showing just how well and bought they are the big corporations have paid for this government lock ,stock and barrel the governments of the truly free world should not give into these Nazis,they wish to control the world and make us bow to them they are no better then Stalinist Russian.

The US is showing just how well and bought they are the big corporations have paid for this government lock ,stock and barrel the governments of the truly free world should not give into these Nazis,they wish to control the world and make us bow to them they are no better then Stalinist Russian.