BIG BROTHER IS AT WORK AGAIN

Feds Swipe Domain Names

Visitors to isonews.com looking for "mod chips" (chips that let Playstation
2 and Microsoft Xbox users play pirated games) might be in for a shock.
Where once stood the isonews.com storefront is a warning from the federal
government with a brief overview of why the site has been shut down. In the
past, when the FBI wanted to eliminate a Web site it would seize the
computers of the site's owners and shut down the server on which the site
operated. But lately the FBI has not only been seizing severs, but domain
names as well, placing these warnings and even leaving the sites active in
order to monitor incoming Internet traffic.

Another site that was recently shut down sold bongs and other drug
paraphernalia, but not actual drugs. It remains to be seen if the judicial
process will rule this seizure legal, but in the meantime, visitors are
redirected to a DEA warning. It should be noted that selling bongs is not
an illegal activity. It seems that the government has taken a new moral
high ground with these seizures, going after activities it deems improper
but not necessarily illegal.

The most disturbing aspect of this whole fiasco is the Internet
surveillance set up by our government. By taking domain names, the FBI can
pretend that the site is still running and use that as a means by which to
monitor anyone who comes to the site. If the courts allow this activity to
continue, it could be expanded to include all sorts of sites that would
implicate thousands of Americans in activities that may or may not be
illegal or "immoral." Orwell must be screaming in his grave right about now.

Internet domain names are property. One must purchase them and to many
new-era business owners, they are their livelihood. Imagine if Amazon.com
were forced to change its name. It would probably lose a significant amount
of its customers. Selling domain names has become big business and the
courts have upheld the rights of cybersquatters who purchase Web sites with
celebrities' names, only to sell them back their namesakes. For the
government to step in and take Web sites without a conviction is a
violation of our civil liberties.

If the courts find that these activities are illegal, then there is little
anyone can do about it, but that remains to be seen. Until these people are
convicted, their Web sites should be simply shut down and not used as a
propaganda tool for the government.

- -- Jason Gaddis for the Editorial Board