03.12.2015 - 18:33 [ Techdirt ]

After Illegally Censoring Websites For Five Years On Bogus Copyright Charges, US Gov‘t Quietly ‚Returns‘ Two Domains

One of the craziest stories of outright censorship by the US government isn‘t getting any attention at all. Five years ago, ICE — Immigrations and Customs Enforcement — a part of the Department of Homeland Security, illegally seized a group of domain names, claiming that they were violating copyright law. As we noted soon after this, the affidavit that ICE used to get a court to sign off on the seizures was particularly ridiculous, showing a near total lack of understanding of both the law and how the internet worked.