Breaking: Newly Obtained Homeland Security Documents Reveal Radical Shift In Internet Policy

Internet user arrested for linking toother websites.

Demand Progress

Brian McCarthy ran a website,channelsurfing.net, that linked to various sites where you could watch online streams of TV shows and sports networks. A couple months ago, the government seized his domain name and on Friday they arrested him and charged him with criminal copyright infringement -- punishable by five years in prison.  

We just obtained a copy of the complaint (below) that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made against him -- and they don't even allege that he made a copy of anything!   Just that he ran what they call a "linking website" which linked to various sites with copyrighted material. Under that sort of thinking, everyone who's sent around a link to a copyrighted YouTube video is a criminal.  

This is another shocking overreach by DHS and ICE -- a steamship-era department that's proving once again that it doesn't understand the Internet. We need to push back -- and fast -- before they try to lock up more Americans.

PETITION TO JANET NAPOLITANO, DIRECTOR OF HOMELAND SECURITY, AND JOHN MORTON, DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT:  There's nothing wrong or illegal about posting a link to a website.  This is another shocking overreach by ICE:  You need to drop the charges against Brian McCarthy right away.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE: we'll deliver the petition to DHS and ICE later this month. 

 

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