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Internet domain names
raided
Associated Press, Mar. 5,
2003
San Jose, Calif. - U.S. federal
agents routinely seize property allegedly used in the commission
of a crime, anything from a drug dealer's car or speedboat to
a hacker's computer.
In a series of raids in recent
weeks, the Justice Department has extended such grabs to property
that might seem esoteric but worry civil libertarians - Internet
domain names.
In one case, the government
took over Web sites that it said peddled bongs, roach clips,
rolling papers and other paraphernalia used in the consumption
of illegal drugs.
Prosecutors also acquired,
in a plea agreement, a site called isonews.com whose owner was
charged with selling special chips that let pirated titles run
on videogame consoles.
In the past, Web sites simply
vanished after the computer servers that hosted them landed in
police property rooms. But in the recent cases, the sites remained
alive, greeting visitors with stern warnings from government
agencies.
The trend is alarming online
civil liberties groups and legal scholars, who say the U.S. government's
new tactic risks depriving people of valuable property - their
Internet storefronts and thus their livelihoods - as electronic
commerce becomes more common.
"If you want to take down
a Web site but simply confiscate the servers, operators can always
buy other servers," said Michael Overly, an attorney specializing
in computer law at Foley & Lardner. "But if they take
the domain name away, then they've put the person out of business."
Critics of the U.S. Justice
Department's recent moves also say they fear the government could
use the new method to spy on Web surfers who visit confiscated
sites.
"The government is suddenly
in a position of being able to monitor the Web-surfing activities
of unwitting individuals who believe they are going to a Web
site ... but possibly implicating themselves into some law enforcement
investigation," said David Sobel, general counsel of the
Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Visitors to pipesforyou.com,
aheadcase.com and others are now greeted with a message informing
them that a Pennsylvania federal court has "restrained"
the sites at the request of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In announcing the indictment
last week of 55 people for allegedly selling drug paraphernalia
on the Internet, Attorney General John Ashcroft said several
sites had been redirected to DEA servers and that prosecutors
had asked the court to redirect another "15 to 20 sites
within the next 30 days."
The Justice Department did
not return repeated phone calls seeking comment on what it plans
to do with the sites and their visitor logs.
A DEA spokeswoman, Tara DeGarmo,
noted that the domain names in the head shop case were "retained"
but not seized pending the outcome of the criminal cases. She
referred questions to federal prosecutors, who did not return
calls.
That leaves privacy activists
guessing.
"You can spin this out
to future situations where there are a lot of classes of individuals
the government might like to have a list of," such as visitors
to terrorism- or biological weapons-related sites, Mr. Sobel
said.
On the Internet, Web surfers
are identified with a unique number, or Internet Protocol address.
Devices on the Internet need such an address to send and receive
Web, e-mail and other traffic.
Domain names are the Web's
equivalent of the front door of a bricks-and-mortar business.
But while businesses can physically relocate in the material
world, in cyberspace they depend on their domain name. The physical
location of the Web site is immaterial.
Among issues that remain unresolved
in the courts is whether a domain name constitutes property,
or a contract the owner has with the domain name registrar -
the company that provided the name. If the former, a domain name
could indeed be seized like a car, house or computer.
In the past, domain name registrars
have sued to ensure that their offerings are not considered property.
Otherwise, Overly said, "they would find themselves at the
heart of no end of litigation."
The registrars involved in
the head shop investigation either declined to comment or did
not return telephone calls.
Domain transfers have in the
past occurred as a result of criminal or civil cases, but Mr.
Overly said the U.S. courts would ultimately decide the issue.
"The government has done
many things over the years," he said, "that ultimately
turn out not to be legal."
© 2003 Bell Globemedia
Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Global force of internet
police to guard children from paedophiles
By Marcello Mega and Rajeev
Syal , November 30, 2003
Children who are being "groomed"
on the internet by paedophiles will be able to summon immediate
online assistance from police officers in a new worldwide force,
The Telegraph can reveal.
Britain's National Crime Squad
will formally launch the new squad, nicknamed "cybercops",
in London next month with officers from the United States, Australia,
Canada and Interpol.
They will also present a new
software package which will place a police computer icon in the
corner of a child's computer screen. If the child clicks on the
icon, it will open a window that will allow the youngster to
e-mail the police directly to report the offence.
The software will also allow
officers to view the child's correspondence with a suspect, including
live exchanges, providing instant evidence of any crime. The
new squad will offer some comfort to parents concerned at the
rise of internet "grooming" - the name for the process
whereby paedophiles win the confidence and affections of children.
Jim Gamble, the Assistant Chief
Constable of the National Crime Squad, said: "If a child
is in a chatroom and becomes concerned that a conversation is
becoming sexual and inappropriate, they can seek online advice
from a police officer without the paedophile being aware of that
third presence.
"In much the same way
as a squad car reassures a community in the high street at closing
time, online presence across the world would offer reassurance
in a virtual environment."
Members of the new force, spread
across four continents, would monitor the internet 24 hours a
day and would be available online for children who might be in
trouble. At present, police have to be contacted and then retrospectively
examine the child's correspondence.
But once the new software becomes
available next year, Mr Gamble said, "children who are concerned
about anything that they encounter on the internet will be able
to use that icon to 'stop' a police officer - much the same way
as they would on the street. It would be the equivalent of a
uniformed presence on the internet".
There have been a number of
worrying cases recently where paedophiles have used chatrooms
to "groom" potential young victims. Douglas Lindsell,
64, from south-west London, was jailed last month for five years
after drawing up sexual profiles of 54 youngsters across the
world.
Michael Wheeler, 36, an electronic
engineer, groomed two girls for years before sexually abusing
them . He committed his crimes after his victims had reached
13 so that he could expect a more lenient sentence if caught.
His original three-year sentence was increased by 18 months by
the Court of Appeal in October.
Welcoming the police initiative,
Ray Wyre, a sexual crimes consultant who interviewed Fred and
Rosemary West, said: "We are sending out a message to paedophiles
that if they abuse the internet, they will be traced and caught.
At the moment, most believe that they can't be policed."
The Sexual Offences Act, which
received Royal Assent eight days ago, contained a new, specific
measure to combat "grooming". Anyone convicted of contacting
a child with sexual intentions now faces up to 10 years in prison.
internet | Privacy
under 'unprecedented assault' | Don
Smith: Ontario government takes his copyrighted material
| Sympatico's
interference with this website | Drugs | Childporn hysteria:
Ivan Cohen | Pete
Townshend | Project
P | Hacker |
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
