DHS Continues Attacks on Privacy, Seizes Internet Domains

By Ann Kane

The Department of Homeland Security has been taking its job very seriously lately. First, the DHS flexed its muscles by implementing the naked body scanners and their contingent backups-the groping pat downs at airports during the busiest travel season of the year. Americans should be thankful for protection against "terrorists" like the little 80 year old lady and a cancer survivor with a prosthetic breast.

Now Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under DHS, shut down over 70 internet websites suspected of piracy without notice to some of the owners. There's no indication other than "court orders" which explain how in the world the government had the legal right to simply block all of those domains. From Fox News:

The seizures come as Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., vows to block an online copyright enforcement bill that was unanimously approved last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill would allow the Justice Department to seek expedited court orders blacklisting websites suspected of piracy.

The bill hasn't even been made into law yet. The DoJ couldn't go after the pirates, so Homeland Security did. This from BigGovernment:

The Attorney General is the chief enforcer of federal law and, accordingly, is responsible for enforcing federal copyright protections. And, he doesn't have the authority that Homeland Security is asserting for itself.

Whatever happened to that quaint notion of someone being innocent until proven guilty? It's been replaced with an overreaching political agenda which has one goal-to control as many private industries, and by extension, every American's privacy rights, as it can before the president's term is up.

The DHS along with the Department of Justice have become the chief enforcers of the president's agenda. The claims by the DHS about their latest tactics being used for our security are bogus. Taking away our privacy and individual rights fits into the administrations plans to have ultimate control over the means of production.

In addition, the Department of Justice has the appearance of conflict of interest with regard to several of its top lawyers. According to p2pnet in April of 2009, many of these lawyers used to work for the law firm, Jenner and Block, which are representatives for the recording industry trade group known as Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Implicated in the brewing scandal was:

Thomas Perrelli, nominated as Associate Attorney General on January 5, confirmed March 12. Perrelli's position is second-in-command in the DoJ, behind Attorney General Eric Holder. He was one of the leading RIAA lawyers on file-sharing DMCA cases. In one case, he argued for the release of ISP customer information without a subpoena.

The DoJ may not have made the first move in seizing internet sites because of its questionable staff, but there is no question the DHS has Holder's back.