The American Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continue to seize domain names of illegal file sharing sites and counterfeit sites, Torrentfreak.com announced.  

Over the last several months the DoJ and the ICE started a major project under the name “Operation In Our Sites”. This operation consists of the seizure of domain names of websites distributing or selling counterfeit products or copyrighted works. 

The seizures have been quite controversial, as a federal judge approves the seizure without a prior warning towards the domain name holder and without the opportunity for the domain name holder to protest against this seizure. 

One could wonder how effective these seizures actually are, as only the .com, .org and .net domain names can be seized and the sites can still be active under other URLs that do not fall under the scope of the US jurisdiction. (The topleveldomains .com, org. and .net are run by American companies and therefore fall under the American jurisdiction.) However the .com, arguably the most popular extension for an internet user is indeed seized. 

Furthermore it is interesting that the Spanish sport-streaming site Rojadirecta was seized, although the Spanish court ruled twice that the site was legal. The owner of the website, Puerto 80, is the first party to appeal the seizure of the court. 

The following domain names were seized in the past 24 hours:

• choosepuma.com

• ebayshoppingjoy.com

• newerahatsnow.com

• newerahatss.com

• pumaforever.com

There seems to be an increased focus on the seizure of counterfeit sites. Whether ICE and DOJ’s increased focus on these sites means that the illegal file sharing sites are no longer the number one priority has yet to be seen.

Reference: Torrentfreak.com