http://www.naturalnews.com/030542_censorship_internet.html
US Government seizure of the internet has begun; DHS takes over 76 websites
Saturday, November 27, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) As
part of a new expansion of government power over information, the
Department of Homeland Security has begun seizing and shutting down
internet websites (web domains) without due process or a proper trial.
DHS simply seizes web domains that it wants to and posts an ominous
"Department of Justice" logo on the web site. See an example at http://torrent-finder.com
Over 75 websites
were seized and shut down last week, and there is no indication that
the government will stop such efforts. Right now, their focus is
websites that they claim "violate copyrights," yet the
torrent-finder.com website that was seized by DHS contained no
copyrighted content whatsoever. It was merely a search engine website
that linked to destinations where people could access copyrighted
content. Google also links to copyrighted content -- does that mean the
feds will soon seize Google, too?
These seizures
were conducted on the basis of language in the DMCA law, which is
vastly overreaching in its powers (it was passed to appease the music
recording industry and the RIAA). Even so, the U.S. Senate is right now
considering passing yet another law -- COICA -- the Combating Online
Infringement and Counterfeits Act
(http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/...), a new law that would give the
federal government even more power to shut down websites it opposed.
Read more about COICA here: http://www.usa-anti-communist.com/w...
And here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris...
Here's the list of 19 US Senators who voted to censor the internet via the COICA bill: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...
Government could shut down alternative health websites
Where is all this going? Today the U.S. government is targeting
websites focused on copyright violations, but if the public tolerates
this government-sponsored censorship of the web, it's only a matter of
time before these government powers are expanded to control the content
of the internet.
Over the last few
years, several U.S. Senators have already attempted to outlaw vitamins
and nutritional supplements. One lawmaker even suggested that
"alternative health" information should be outlawed on the internet in
order to "protect" people from information that isn't aligned with the
drugs-and-surgery approach to sick care. It's only a matter of time, it
seems, before the U.S. government uses its new power of seizing
internet websites as an information warfare weapon to silence anyone
who opposes FDA and the Big Pharma agenda.
In fact, under
these new laws, there's no limit to what websites the U.S. government
could choose to seize and shut down. This is the beginning of the
federal takeover of the internet, where all websites that don't fall in
line with "official" government-approved information are now potential
targets of DHS seizures.
One music website
seized by DHS -- RapGodFather.com -- was seized merely because its
users posted comments linking to file-sharing websites
(http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/...). The site had 150,000 members,
but as of today, it is the property of "Homeland Security
Investigations." (http://rapgodfathers.com/)
See the TorrentFreak.com news report on this important story here: http://torrentfreak.com/music-linki...
All websites using the word "Face" could soon be seized
The reach of tyrants knows no limits. As widely reported throughout the
popular press last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
has assigned Facebook a trademark monopoly over the word "Face."
(http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/23/pa...) This means that any website
using the word "face" could theoretically be seized by the DHS under the
DMCA.
Lest you think
this is some impossible exaggeration of the law, keep in mind that
governments always misuse laws to go far beyond their original intended
purpose. The RICO Act, for example, which was originally passed in
1970 to combat the mafia, is now used nearly every day against
individuals and small businesses (http://www.ricoact.com).
Similarly, the
Patriot Act signed into law by President Bush after the 9/11 attacks
was originally intended to be applied to international terrorists. But
now in the United States, it is routinely used against animal rights
activists and environmental protection groups
(http://www.aclu.org/national-securi...).
These rogue
abuses of federal law create a pattern of expanding government powers
that increasingly threaten the Constitutional rights of American
citizens. To seize a person's website without due process is both a
violation of that person's First Amendment rights (Free Speech) as well
as their Fifth Amendment rights.
The Fifth Amendment states:
No person shall
be... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just
compensation.
And yet this seizure of websites by the DHS is doing precisely that -- depriving people of property without due process of law.
The U.S. federal
government, as we have increasingly seen through the actions of the
TSA, DEA and DHS, does not recognize nor honor the Bill of Rights. Nor
does it believe the U.S. Constitution has any authority whatsoever. The
upshot of this is that all Americans citizens are now living under a
system of government tyranny, where government agents may molest you at
the airports or seize your website if they don't like what you're
saying online.
Take action: Sign the petition
Help stop the government takeover of the internet. Sign this petition:
http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/
In order to
protect your access to NaturalNews.com and stay in contact with us in
case the DHS ever attempts to seize our web domain, be sure to join our
email list by entering your email address at http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRe...
That way, we will be able to reach you by email with any important updates or announcements.
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