

U.S. Gov Seizes BitTorrent search site (torrent-finder) – Technical details - fseek2
http://fseek.me/2010/11/u-s-gov-seizes-bittorrent-search-site-torrent-finder-technical-details/

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jrockway
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.

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dangrossman
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.

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jrockway
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).

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

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pyre
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_.

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

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pyre
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.

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rbanffy
Shouldn't Homeland Security be securing something?

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pyre
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.

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rbanffy
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. :-/

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aneth
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?...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html?_r=1&ref=technology)

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aneth
Oh, there is confirmation. I misread.

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aneth
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.

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patrickaljord
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?...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/technology/27torrent.html?_r=2&ref=technology)

