Shutting Down the Internet, One Seizure at a Time

Last Friday, deep in the middle of a long holiday weekend, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seized dozens of web sites. The full list is here, and a common reaction might be “well obviously they were engaged in illegal activity, so they had it coming.” This is an example of what Glenn Greenwald mocked as trial by Wikipedia: the idea that if you bring up a topic which everyone can agree is self-evident, action may be taken without jumping through a whole bunch of tedious legal hoops.

In Greenwald’s case he is describing the hit put out for Anwar al-Awlaki by the president. Supporters of Obama’s assassination program protest that al-Awlaki is clearly a bad man – look at his Wikipedia page! – so it should not be necessary for courts to weigh in on the matter. If enough people who matter (“everyone”) simply recognizes this, due process may be disposed of. Similarly, look at the list of domains seized: who could possibly argue that dvdsetcollection.com is engaged in any kind of legally protected activity? Why, the very name should be enough to convict!

There are several problems with this, one of which Steven Musil points out in his CNET article: Less than two weeks ago Oregon Senator Ron Wyden effectively killed a bill – the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act – that would have authorized precisely the DHS seizures carried out. How exactly does the government begin enforcement of a bill that not only has not yet been signed into law, but that is in the process of being actively rejected?

Read entire article