Mozilla refuses US request to take down Firefox add-on

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE OUTFIT Mozilla has taken a stand against internet censorship by refusing a US government request to take down a Firefox add-on over copyright infringement concerns.

Some web sites stream content that they shouldn't, like for example the coverage of sporting events broadcast under copyright. The US Department of Homeland Security has been trying to stop this by obtaining seizure orders for the domain names of offending web sites.

But you can still access the content through a web site's IP address, which means that you can get around domain name seizures by redirecting the traffic to another domain name. Add-ons like Mafiaafire can redirect traffic to seized domain names to other domain names, almost like a mail forwarding service.

The DHS asked Mozilla to take down the Firefox add-on Mafiaafire, but it refused. Harvey Anderson, who works on legal and business affairs at Mozilla explained, "Our approach is to comply with valid court orders, warrants, and legal mandates, but in this case there was no such court order."

"One of the fundamental issues here is under what conditions do intermediaries accede to government requests that have a censorship effect and which may threaten the open Internet."

"In this case, the underlying justification arises from content holders legitimate desire to combat piracy. The problem stems from the use of these government powers in service of private content holders when it can have unintended and harmful consequences." µ