<nettime> Homeland Security Request to Take Down MafiaaFire Add-on
nettime's avid reader
nettime at kein.org
Fri May 6 02:12:41 PDT 2011
http://lockshot.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/homeland-security-request-to-take-
down-mafiaafire-add-on/
>From time to time, we [the mozilla foundation] receive government requests
for information, usually market information and occasionally subpoenas.
Recently the US Department of Homeland Security contacted Mozilla and
requested that we remove the MafiaaFire add-on. The ICE Homeland Security
Investigations unit alleged that the add-on circumvented a seizure order
DHS had obtained against a number of domain names. Mafiaafire, like
several other similar add-ons already available through AMO, redirects the
user from one domain name to another similar to a mail forwarding service.
In this case, Mafiaafire redirects traffic from seized domains to other
domains. Here the seized domain names allegedly were used to stream content
protected by copyrights of professional sports franchises and other media
concerns.
Our approach is to comply with valid court orders, warrants, and legal
mandates, but in this case there was no such court order. Thus, to
evaluate Homeland Securitybs request, we asked them several questions
similar to those below to understand the legal justification:
- Have any courts determined that the Mafiaafire add-on is unlawful or
illegal in any way? If so, on what basis? (Please provide any relevant
rulings)
- Is Mozilla legally obligated to disable the add-on or is this request
based on other reasons? If other reasons, can you please specify.
- Can you please provide a copy of the relevant seizure order upon which
your request to Mozilla to take down the Mafiaafire add-on is based?
To date webve received no response from Homeland Security nor any court
order.
One of the fundamental issues here is under what conditions do
intermediaries accede to government requests that have a censorship effect
and which may threaten the open Internet. Others have commented on these
practices already. In this case, the underlying justification arises from
content holders legitimate desire to combat piracy. The problem stems from
the use of these government powers in service of private content holders
when it can have unintended and harmful consequences. Longterm, the
challenge is to find better mechanisms that provide both real due process
and transparency without infringing upon developer and user freedoms
traditionally associated with the Internet. More to come.
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