How To Stop Domain Names Being Seized By The US Government

http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-stop-domain-names-being-seized-by-the-us-government-110205/

by iwwr • 15 years ago

77 25 15 years ago

jdp234• 15 years ago

These are great recommendations and anybody starting up a web-based business should pay attention to them. I probably would have made a lot of unnecessary mistakes if I hadn't read this.

benologist3• 15 years ago

Nobody making a web-based business should care unless their business relies on showing people a bunch of ads on their way to pirate the latest movies etc.

cosgroveb• 15 years ago

Putting up a place on your website to receive DMCA takedown notices, having a policy in place, and responding swiftly seems like good practice for any app that accepts user-generated content.

jdp234• 15 years ago

Nonsense. Read up on which sites the DHS has been shutting down and the sloppiness of their processes. Any site with any kind of user-generated content should seriously think of basing itself outside of the US.

hsmyers• 15 years ago

The OP is paraphrasing:

First They came... - Pastor Martin Niemoller

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Only a moments thought should be enough to demonstrate why this should matter to anyone with a site 'web-based business' or no.

iwwr• 15 years ago

The whole aspect of being guilty until proven innocent should give a future US-tied web businesses some pause to consider their choices.

yread• 15 years ago

Useful advice on how to actually get to the seized sites from a commenter there:

http://www.hm2k.com/posts/find-the-ip-address-of-a-seized-we...

3pt14159• 15 years ago

That is really cool, but there are a couple of problems with this:

1. An IP can have many domains, (and a domain many IPs), so it may not resolve to the right page.

2. Many sites benefit from the network effect. Ten people seed, 100 download initially, then continue to seed, allowing 1000 to download, etc. Without mass adoption of snooping for who-is information people are basically going to move on anyways.

But I think I've thought a partial solution. What we want is two things: Have a significant portion of the semi-technical (a hacker's girlfriend or boyfriend, for example) internet population be able to get back to the site they want. Secondly we want the government to not be able to take down the server that we are communicating with once we found out where it is.

All that is really needed to make domain name seizure irrelevant is a little browser addon "IP History" or "Website Time Machine" or something that will passively remember where the IPs are of sites you've browsed. Each time you try to go to a URL the addon will make a check to see what percentage of the internet browsers have reverted to the old IP address. If this % goes greater than a threshold, say 0.5%, it can slide out a window saying "Some people have used the time machine on this page recently, are you sure this is what you want?"

It makes DNS a less distributed thing. I don't think manipulation would be all that much of a problem, (I can think or 3 counter measures right off the bat).

As for the IP problem, if this browser addon becomes widely used enough then it could support some sort of standard that admins could solve the one-ip-but-many-domains problem.

mkinnan• 15 years ago

"4: Avoid incorporating as a US business"

It's one thing if you are a big company, but if I was creating a startup and planning to incorporate in the near future do I (as a startup) want to consider incorporating in another country like Ireland?

jdp234• 15 years ago

good question. i'm wondering that myself.

treitnauer• 15 years ago

Related article from a ccTLD perspective:

http://internetnz.net.nz/news/blog/2011/nz-right-choice-Kiwi...

meric• 15 years ago

http://torrentfreak.com/us-resume-file-sharing-domain-seizur...

"Rojadirecta is an unusual target for several reasons, not least because the site has been declared legal twice by Spanish courts. The site’s owners have previously fought a three year legal battle in Spain, which they won, but a single seizure warrant from US authorities has made this victory pointless."

Qz2• 15 years ago

"US authorities had begun another round of domain name seizures, this time against sites connected with sports streaming."

I'll just assume the fact that this is Superbowl Weekend is purely coincidence here...

Qz2• 15 years ago

It occurs to me that governments and computer programs are not that different. Both suffer immensely from code rot.

lambda• 15 years ago

It is sad, that a set of instructions on how to avoid unilateral seizure of your assets with no due process for engaging in speech on the internet involves "avoid any presence in the US at all costs, and follow US laws even if you are not doing business in the US."

How To Stop Domain Names Being Seized By The US Government

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