This is why SSL is important; it lets you authenticate that the server you're connected to is the server that you think you're connected to.

Plus, it will be pretty interesting when the government starts ordering forged SSL keys.

Would non-EV SSL do anything here? Once you have control over DNS for a domain, you own its mailboxes and can buy SSL certificates validated against that domain. So whether you're connecting to the original site or the new server some government pointed it to, you're getting a valid SSL certificate for that domain.

Yes, but the precedent will be interesting. SSL will become useless and a new decentralized trust system will have to be developed in its place. This will make the Internet even more resistant to censorship and tampering (much like how encrypted Bittorrent stopped greedy or "well-meaning" ISPs from censoring your Linux DVD distribution).

Heh, that would be interesting for sure. I can't imagine any provider that would willfully do that. Once the public/server administrators found out, the provider would be ruined.

Homeland Security? Intellectual property infringement of media corporations is now relevant to the safety of our nation?

Here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1944418

ICE is part of Homeland Security, which makes sense because they are the homeland's 'perimeter defense' to some extent, but they aren't solely concerned with finding terrorists, it's immigration and customs.

I don't see where 'security' fits in with this.

This statement comes across as absolutist. You seem to want to say that every branch of Homeland Security that does anything that is not directly related to security is 'wrong.' IIRC, the Coast Guard is part of Homeland Security. Were you there the last time that they rescued someone at sea claiming that they, "have no business doing this, because it's not related to security?"

Should the government have further created more bureaucracy by splitting all of the agencies that were swallowed up into Homeland Security into the parts that directly relate to security, and the parts that don't? Now we need double the boats and double the crews for the Coast Guard and the Coast Rescue agencies...

I'm not necessarily arguing that in this case ICE going after these domains makes a whole lot of sense, but holding onto this, "it's not related to security," angle with a death grip doesn't really do much to progress any type of argument.

security of property. pff.

Shouldn't Homeland Security be securing something?

As people in the other thread on this mentioned, ICE is tasked with counterfeit items, and apparently they are classifying copyright infringement in with that (notice that a lot of the domains seized look like they are for selling counterfeit jerseys, etc). So while ICE is part of Homeland Security they aren't solely concerned with finding terrorists.

That's interesting: a group tasked with protecting corporate economic interests that shares the broad powers, not to say the lack of proper oversight, of a group that's tasked with protecting the lives of people against terrorist threats. :-/

Our liberty, of course

This is now covered in the NYT, although with no mention of any confirmation from ICE (or lack thereof.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html?...

Oh, there is confirmation. I misread.

I'm still leaning toward the hoax theory. If I'm wrong, I'm really going to have to reconsider any support of the Obama administration. This is renegade government.

The ICE confirmed:

“ICE office of Homeland Security Investigations executed court-ordered seizure warrants against a number of domain names,” said Cori W. Bassett, a spokeswoman for ICE, in a statement. “As this is an ongoing investigation, there are no additional details available at this time.”

From the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html?...

It looks fake, but it is not (just read on the NYT as well).

I would imagine that they would just blackhole the ip addresses instead of that ugly image...

Suggested (in all seriousness) search terms:

gangster government michael barone

Stomping on the Rule of Law is not exactly a new thing for Team Obama.