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[ NNSquad ] Another mass takedown of domains by U.S. authorities + discussion 

Another mass takedown of domains by U.S. authorities + discussion

http://j.mp/tE2Xtu  (TorrentFreak)

    "TorrentFreak has identified more than 130 domains taken over by the
     government during the last 24 hours, which makes this the largest
     seizure round to date. The authorities have yet to comment via
     official channels, but we assume that they will use the same
     justification for the domain seizures as they did last year."

 - - -

The authors of the above referenced article ask why there's the big
push for SOPA/PIPA when authorities seem able to seize domains on
demand even today.  I would assert a key factor is wanting to censor
sites that provide information that could circumvent those seizures,
and that's not limited to search engines like Google.

Historical IP address data for the seized sites is widely available,
meaning that with a bit of effort, virtually anyone can still connect
to those sites (either manually or through automated means).

So clearly, the focus of U.S. SOPA/PIPA efforts is an attempt to
censor any and all sites that can provide that historical data or
other workarounds, which is an ever expanding circle of sites that
carry all manner of search results and Internet retrospective data.

This has very much an Orwellian feel to it, as the U.S. government
wants to delete all references to these sites regardless, it seems, of
likely collateral damage.

And this is why SOPA and PIPA will not be effective at cutting off
access to sites around the world targeted by U.S. authorities, but do
carry the potential of creating a vast censorship regime and
accompanying "Darknet" workarounds, pushing more and more 
legitimate Internet activity protectively underground.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org 
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com 
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com 
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com