Film industry lauds Web crackdown on violators of federal copyright law

The motion picture industry praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for seizing Web domains linked to online piracy. “Operation In Our Sites has not only put illegal sites out of business, but has raised public awareness about this specific form of crime on the Internet,” wrote a group of film industry stakeholders including the Motion Picture Association of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the major film studios. “Most importantly, these enforcement efforts have resulted in most of these entities ceasing their illegal activity.” The Obama administration has made online copyright enforcement a priority in recent months, tasking ICE with shutting down domains that repeatedly link to pirated movies, music and webcasts of live sporting events. The groups argue the digital theft is particularly troublesome because ordinary users are often unaware that they are downloading pirated content or do so willfully.