TorrentFreak

Earlier this year the U.S. authorities arrested Yonjo Quiroa of Comstock Park on suspicion of operating several websites that linked to unauthorized sports streams. Following his arrest, Quiroa was detained for more than nine months, and he has now been sentenced to time already served plus deportation to his home country. In addition the site admin has to pay restitution to five major sports leagues, totaling $13,000.

Following the news that the seized domains of streaming sports site Rojadirecta will be returned after the U.S. government backed away from a court battle, the fortunes of another streaming site admin could hardly be more different. Since his arrest in February and the seizure of nine of his domains, Yonjo Quiroa has been detained without bail. This month he pleaded guilty and will probably receive between 6 and 12 months in custody. After that he will be kicked out of the country.

As part of a criminal investigation the UK Government has shut down the popular blog RnBXclusive which posted news, commentary and links to music. Authorities have arrested the owners of the site for allegedly defrauding the music industry. In addition, the Serious Organised Crime Agency is threatening users of RnBXclusive that they face 10 years in prison if they downloaded music through the site.

In a new round of seizures the US authorities have taken control of domain names belonging to several popular sports streaming sites including Firstrowsports.tv, Firstrowsports.com and Soccertvlive.net. All affected sites now redirect to a notice from DOJ/ICE. In common with last year’s campaign, the new round of seizures appears to be part of another “Super Bowl Crackdown” targeting sites that link to unauthorized sports streams.

US authorities have initiated the largest round of domain name seizures yet as part of their continued crackdown on counterfeit and piracy-related websites. With just a few days to go until “Cyber Monday” more than 100 domain names have been taken over by the feds to protect the commercial interests of US companies. The seizures are disputable, as the SOPA bill which aims to specifically legitimize such actions is still pending in Congress.

Over the past several months a series of domain name seizures by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made headlines across the Internet. Under the flag of “Operation In Our Sites” the authorities shut down a dozen file-sharing and streaming sites and many more accused of selling counterfeit goods. The [...]

The U.S. Government is celebrating the importance of intellectual property by educating visitors to the domain names it seized in previous months. These visitors are now redirected to an anti-piracy video instead. The viral video is running on 65 of the seized domains which have now become property of the Government, and shows how illegal downloads can financially ruin innocent workers.