Website Closures Escalate US War on Piracy

A federal crackdown that shut more than 70 websites last week is the latest sign of an escalating war against counterfeit and pirated products, using legal tactics that may be closely scrutinized by civil-liberties groups.

Domain names of the affected sites -- which offered such diverse goods as scarves, golf gear and rap music -- were seized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, under court-approved warrants. Owners of copyrights and trademarks commonly use civil procedures to try to stop sales of disputed goods on the Web. A law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, for example, established a procedure under which site owners are required to take down pirated media -- such as videos and music -- after being notified by the copyright holder. But the rapid proliferation of sites selling pirated goods -- many of them from outside the US -- has made that process unworkable, some U.S. companies and trade groups say. ICE's latest crackdown is based on procedures used in criminal cases, including seizing domains and assets of suspect websites without prior notification of their owners.