Federal Officials Take Down 132 Websites In "Cyber Monday" Crackdown

coondoggie writes "A team of world-wide law enforcement agencies took out 132 domain names today that were illegally selling counterfeit merchandise online. The group, made up of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and law enforcement agencies from Belgium, Denmark, France, Romania, United Kingdom and the European Police Office, targeted alleged counterfeiters selling everything from professional sports jerseys, DVD sets, and a variety of clothing to jewelry and luxury goods."

Re:Question

[Thud457]

"when you buy that fake Movada, you're rolling with al Qaeda [nytimes.com]."

Re:Question

[MrEricSir]

Because Homeland Security is just an umbrella for several pre-existing agencies, one of which is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.)

Re:Question

[Tontoman]

"Intellectual property rights theft is not a victimless crime. It threatens U.S. businesses and robs hard-working Americans of their jobs, which negatively impacts the economy. It can also pose serious health and safety risks to consumers, and oftentimes, it fuels global organized crime." Here is a link to Homeland Security's rationale: http://www.dhs.gov/topic/intellectual-property-rights [dhs.gov]

Re:Question

[Mitreya]

Because Homeland Security is just an umbrella for several pre-existing agencies, one of which is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.)

HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) appears to be at least a separate branch of ICE. The article even implies that these are two organizations working in tandem

From the website:

HSI investigates immigration crime, human rights violations and human smuggling, smuggling of narcotics, weapons and other types of contraband, financial crimes, cybercrime and export enforcement issues. ICE special agents conduct investigations aimed at protecting critical infrastructure industries that are vulnerable to sabotage, attack or exploitation.

One of these things is not like the others (emphasis mine).
Good to know that designer handbag manufacturers are now part of the "critical infrastructure industries".

Re:How many of these

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm for one am looking forward to the obligatory article in coming days:Cyber Monday Crackdown Takes Down 131 Websites by Mistake