[Infowarrior] - Apparently All That Stuff About Needing SOPA To Go After Foreign Sites Was Bogus

[Richard Forno]

Apparently All That Stuff About Needing SOPA To Go After Foreign Sites Was Bogus

Tim covered the story of ICE doing its annual censorship binge in seizing domain names without adversarial hearings (as we still believe is required under the law). However, there were a couple of additional points worthy of a followup. First off, if you remember, one of the key reasons why we were told SOPA was needed was that for all of ICE's previous domain takedowns it was "impossible" for it to take down foreign domains. Except... as ICE's own announcement here shows that was completely untrue. It seems to have had no difficulty finding willing law enforcement partners around the globe to seize websites without any due process:

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Yeah. Apparently it's possible for ICE to censor those sites if it actually does a little work and calls up its law enforcement pals. Another example of why SOPA was never necessary in the first place. 

The other issue? ICE's own release shows that ICE appears to have no understanding of the intellectual property laws it's seeking to enforce. From that release:

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http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121126/17190821152/apparently-all-that-stuff-about-needing-sopa-to-go-after-foreign-sites-was-bogus.shtml

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