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Legal Analysis by Corynne McSherry
Over the past few days, the U.S. Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and nine U.S. Attorneys’ Offices seized 82 domain names of websites they claim were engaged in the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and illegal copyrighted works.

The US Government has yet again shuttered several domain names this week. The Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE office proudly announced that they had seized domains related to counterfeit goods and child pornography. What they failed to mention, however, is that one of the targeted domains belongs to a free DNS provider, and that 84,000 websites were wrongfully accused of links to child pornography crimes.

And so it starts...DHS can now seize domain names and shut down websites without warrants or warnings. ICE appears to be targeting sites that help Internet users download copyrighted music, as well as sites that sell bootleg goods, such as fake designer handbags.

This and other articles refer to takedowns of various sites that link to live streams of sporting events--not coincidentally, just before the Super Bowl. Many sites taken down aren't even in the United States, such as Rojadirecta.org, and none of them actually host the streams. Rojadirecta, in Spain, has even been ruled completely legal by Spanish courts. Yet, the heavy-handed US government continues to push its weight around the globe.

The web domain for Defense Distributed was recently seized, and a notice was placed on the home page stating that individuals involved with the website are being indicted under a grand jury investigation for violating various gun control and intellectual property regulations.

Soccer fan makes a statement and gets mauled by four police men. When the sticks get applied, the spectators took action.

An Iranian cartoonist has been sentenced to 25 lashes depicting an MP in a soccer stadium, dressed as a player, with his foot resting on a soccer ball.

Websites that link to pirated music and movies or sell counterfeit goods could soon be blocked in America.

The sleepy Morses Line border crossing between Vermont and Quebec has fewer than 15,000 vehicle crossings per year. So, naturally, the Department of Homeland Security wants to improve it through property seizure:

It intends to acquire 4.9 acres of border land on a dairy farm owned for three generations by the Rainville family. Last month, the Rainvilles learned that if they refuse to sell the land for $39,500, the government intends to seize it by eminent domain.