Seized Domains Fight Back

Abigail Phillips
EFF

Since last year, we’ve watched withdismay Immigration and Customs Enforcement's increasing use of domain name seizures as part of its stepped-up IP enforcement strategy. Today, one of the seized domains is taking the issue to court.

Puerto 80, the Spanish company behind Rojadirecta.com and Rojadirecta.org, which were seized in January of this year, today filed apetition in the Southern District of New York for the return of those domains. The Rojadirecta site, which is made up of user forums and link indexes, has been found by two Spanish courts specifically not to violate copyright. The substantive brief in support of the petition outlines not only the reasons why the domains should be returned, but also the absurd roadblocks Puerto 80 has encountered in its efforts to work with government authorities to get this matter resolved without judicial intervention.

We're very glad that Rojadirecta is fighting back so that this and other domain name seizures can receive more careful judicial consideration. We'll be following the case closely and expect to weigh in as amicus as well.

Attachment                                                                       Size
Petition for Release of Seized Goods Final.pdf            96.55 KB
MPA ISO Petition For Return of Property.pdf              208.51 KB

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CA Officials say man must tear down ‘Phonehenge’ house or face jail

Yahoo image

Liz Goodwin
Yahoo

Los Angeles county officials are demanding that a creative homeowner tear down a 20,000-square-foot domicile he calls "Phonehenge West"--or face up to seven years in jail.

Former telephone technician Alan Kimble Fahey began building the structure three decades ago in Acton, the Los Angeles Times reports. Fahey, who christened the project "Phonehenge" because it sits atop pilings modified from phone utility poles, says he intends to turn the compound into a museum.

The labyrinthine network of buildings where Fahey, his wife, and teenage son live even includes a 70-foot tower covered in Italian stained-glass windows, and a barn. Fahey uses a "motorized cart" to get between buildings, an earlier report said.

The paper describes the compound as "a hodgepodge of reddish buildings braced with scores of utility poles and steel beams and connected by bridges and ramps." Inside, the castle is filled with more than 20,000 books, and a yurt--though Fahey and his wife sleep on a single-sized water bed and cook on a tiny stove. Tourists come from all over to gaze at the creation, Fahey says, and Glamour magazine even staged a photo shoot there.

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A Workaround For Domain Name Seizures?

David Makarewicz, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

A group of anonymous developers have concocted a clever antidote to Government domain seizures.  MAFIAA Fire is a Firefox add-on that automatically redirects a user to a website's alternative domain name if the original domain was seized.

MAFIAA Fire exploits the fact that when a domain is seized, although it appears that the Government has taken control of the entire website, they have really only gained control over the domain name.  The Government redirects the domain name to a Government IP address and website rather than the IP address containing the original website.  When a user types in a seized domain name, such as rapgodfathers.com (seized last November), their browser is not directed to the original website, it is directed to a site containing the famous DHS/ICE seal.

If a user types in the IP address or an alternative domain name for the site,  the website content would still be accessible.  The problem is that users don't know the IP address or alternative domain name, they only know the original domain name.