For those who have not heard, the Federal Government of the United States (specifically the Immigrations & Customs Enforcement aka ICE) have seized the domain names of several websites that link to, or have embedded, streaming tv shows, movies, documentaries and other video content. Unlike previous stings, such as Operation Site Down, back in 2005, in which top-sites hosting content and actual scene-members were busted, Operation In Our Sites is a clear violation of our collective right to Freedom of Speech on the Internet. TVShack.com (since TVShack.cc) and the other websites taken down did nothing but link or embed to content provided by other websites, such as MegaVideo, MegaUpload, DivxDen, WiseVid and in some situations, even News Corp's HULU (which provides legally-hosted content) as well as other video hosting websites.
It's no extreme statement to say that this is an over-reach by the United States government, as the act of linking to content hosted on other websites has no judicial precedent or law showing it to be illegal-- and any law created would be a clear violation of the 1st Amendment of the United States which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech", and any such law that could be used to justify the actions of ICE, has yet to exist, irregardless, such a law would be in clear violation.
To make matters worse, ICE has violated the 1st Amendment in an additional way, closing down one website NinjaThis!-- which was nothing more than a forum
used for discussion, having very loose ties to any allegations of wrong-doing that could be associated with the video
streaming site, NinjaVideo. The closure and
theft of this domain name/website is in violation of the 1st Amendment's right to assemble:
Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble
and the 5th Amendment's anti-deprivation of property:
No person shall be...deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
especially when considering that NinjaThis did not host, embed, nor link to "Toy Story 3" or other films used as the
excuse to violate the constitution.
Aside from the fact that TVShack and others were not in violation of any law, there is the moral argument of the debate, which the stalinists at the RIAA and MPAA attempt to use in order to prey on your emotions, using silly claims that downloading will put artists in the poor house and result in a massive amount of lost jobs, damaging an already, suffering economy. Let's not forget these organizations are responsible for ludicrous episodes, such as the infamous Dancing Baby case, in which a mother recorded her baby dancing to the song "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince. Universal Studios threatened YouTube for the 29-second clip of barely audible music in the background of the video.
These are also the same people who sued and settled with a 12-year-old girl living in NYC public housing, forced to publicly apologize for her actions and pay a $2,000 settlement, for unknowingly sharing songs on the gnutella p2p network, via Limewire. The same people who sued a dead woman, claiming that she made more than 700 songs available on the Internet, proving just how accurate their mass suit campaign was against the 20,000+ individuals they bullied into giving them money-for-nothing. The same people who sued a college student over 675,000 USD for pleading guilty to sharing (a pathetic) 30 songs. The same people who want to see their Three-Strikes Campaign end with individuals who have been accused (not proven guilty in a court of law) of downloading/uploading copyrighted content three times to be banned from the Internet, which Finland just accurately declared as a fundamental right, in opposition to.
These are also the same people who wanted to make even more undeserved profit by charging roylaties on the re-sale of CDs in used record stores and proving even more that these conglomerates are true control-freaks, they don't even want you to have the ability to purchase imported CDs that they do not approve of, thus forcing customers to turn to P2P networks and then be labeled as "criminals".
Most importantly, these copyright conglomerates, seek to circumvent the democratic process and have been working towards a new treaty called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), in which member nations of the EU, United States, Canada, Australia and other countries will be loyal to a treaty that was never properly passed and voted on by representatives of the people, and would lead to forcing ISPs to act as copyright-police (exactly opposite of Net Neutrality that President Obama promised to defend), among many other violations of your rights.
Why am I pointing all of this out? Because those on the fence need to be reminded of who it is the governments are obsessed with defending the rights of. We are living in democracies being run as corporate dictatorships, in which copyright holders are above the law and can have the government seize domain names, raid houses and arrest website owners who are not in violation of any law or court precedent, all on the tax-payer's dime.
Furthermore, this is also an obvious case of selective enforcement (in the pretend world where there is a law to enforce) upon certain websites which must follow the law, yet websites like YouTube actually host countless videos which are copyrighted by third parties and no one is kicking their door in. MegaVideo is hosting millions of copyrighted videos, and making profit from advertising and premium accounts, yet the action was not taken against the hosts who are in violation of the law, it was taken against websites which embedded their videos or linked to them.
To give those who are still on the fence a clearer picture, let's say you have a blog or a Facebook account and you decide to share an embedded YouTube link of a Seinfeld episode with your readers or a friend. Now instead of YouTube being blamed for hosting the video, they seize your blog or Facebook account, raid your house and arrest you, while not even lifting a finger at Youtube. This is all that TVShack and the other targeted websites were guilty of, sharing a link by posting it or embedding it on a webpage.
All of this being said, I strongly urge anyone reading this little post, to consider donating to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is truly the most active organization standing up for the people's rights on the Internet. Websites, hosts, P2P networks come and go, but your rights on the Internet are more important than any one website. Your money is much better donated to the EFF than it is to any warez, streaming, p2p or torrent site, because that can truly make a difference.
And as a last note, never buy a CD which is under a RIAA-label again (see: RIAA-Radar), unless it is used or buy/see a movie which is made by a film studio under the MPAA (unless it is used). Instead, rent and copy DVDs, download, share music with your friends and most importantly, do something to really hurt them.
If we boycott those who wish to take away our rights, and support those who wish to uphold them, we can have a truly open Internet free from the clutches of the government and the corporations that run it.
Posted by: Z & Shadow D
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