BitTorrent Site Owners Fear European Domain Name Seizures

[NelsonG]

Over the past two years a series of [url="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-seizes-bittorrent-search-engine-domain-and-more-101126/"]domain name seizures[/url] by Homeland Security’s ICE unit have resulted in a mild panic among the owners of file-sharing and streaming sites.

Knowing that they could lose their domain names without warning or due process, many have secured alternatives. Others have taken things a step further by moving their sites to non-U.S. controlled domains as a precaution.

The Pirate Bay, for example, [url="http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-moves-to-se-domain-prevent-domain-seizure-120201/"]traded in[/url] its .org domain for a Swedish .se TLD earlier this year. Others BitTorrent sites including Demonoid, Torrentz and KickassTorrents took [url="http://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-moves-to-kat-ph-110422/"]similar measures[/url], as did several file-hosting and streaming portals.

The operators of these sites chose domain names that don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the United States under the assumption that they are better protected against seizures. However, yesterday it became clear that this is not necessarily the case.

On ‘Cyber Monday’ ICE announced yet another round of seizures, this time with help from European law enforcement agencies and Europol and dubbed Project TransAtlantic.





[b]Seized[/b]