Feds Crack Down on Piracy, Counterfeit Websites

The U.S. government is zeroing in on Internet websites in the illegal sale of counterfeit goods and copyrighted works.

At a news conference Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder said law enforcement authorities have seized 82 domain names of commercial websites, disrupting the sale of thousands of counterfeit items such as sports equipment and illegal copies of music and software.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton says the government is turning the tables on counterfeiters who prowl the back alleys of the Internet.

The government last week launched its crackdown by seizing dozens of web domains linked to illegal file sharing and counterfeit goods.

The domains of "torrent" file-sharing sites that link to illegal copies of music and movie files and sites that sell counterfeit goods were seized by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security. Visitors to such sites as Torrent-finder.com, 2009jerseys.com, and Dvdcollects.com found that their usual sites had been replaced by a message that said, "This domain name has been seized by ICE--Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court."

One domain owner said he was surprised by the action. (See an example of a seized domain.)

"My domain has been seized without any previous complaint or notice from any court!" the owner of Torrent-Finder told TorrentFreak, which listed more than 70 domains that were apparently part of the massive seizure.

The seizures came after a Senate committee unanimously approved a controversial proposal earlier this month that would allow the government to pull the plug on Web sites accused of aiding piracy. The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) allows a Web site's domain to be seized if it "has no demonstrable, commercially significant purpose or use other than" offering or providing access to unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.