Man Arrested For Linking To Online Videos 308
SonicSpike writes "In a case against a New York website owner, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is claiming that merely linking to copyrighted material is a crime. DHS, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seized Brian McCarthy's domain, channelsurfing.net, in late January. The site has now been replaced with a government warning: 'This domain has been seized by ICE — Homeland Security Investigations, Special Agent in Charge, New York Office.' The advocacy group Demand Progress has claimed that McCarthy never reproduced copyrighted material, and that his website simply linked to other sites. A criminal complaint obtained by the group seems to acknowledge that agents knew that McCarthy was running a 'linking website.' While the criminal complaint alleges that McCarthy did engage in the 'reproduction and distribution' of copyrighted material, it is never clear that he actually reproduced any of the specified broadcasts."
McCarthy was arrested last week. Relatedly, TorrentFreak has posted a list of reasons why these domain name seizures are unconstitutional.
"Pssst, buddy, over here..." (Score:4, Funny)
Copyright linker: "Looking to find a lot of copyrighted material for free? Walk down this street, turn right, then left, and it's right there. In the building marked "library"".
Undercover Police officer: "You're busted."
Copyright linker: "Whaaaat?"
Undercover Police officer: "For aiding and abetting copyright infringers."
Re:DHS (Score:5, Funny)
They just want to outsource the work onto the tax payer's wallet. So we effectively are arresting ourselves.
ICE/DHS: Stop arresting yourself. Stop arresting yourself.
Citizen: Mooooom! Make him stop!
ICE/DHS: Stop arresting yourself.
Citizen: Mooooom!
SCOTUS: Will you two just get along already? Don't make me come back there!
[ICE/DHS winks at SCOTUS; SCOTUS winks back.]
Re:I didn't know that (Score:5, Funny)
Surely you didn't think you owned your private parts, did you?! Those are the property of the telephone company! Any unauthorized tampering or manipulation carries a hefty penalty.
If that's the case then I'm pretty sure many of us owe the telephone company a lot of money.