seize
Latest
US customs faces lawsuit over copied iPhone data
A US Muslim woman whose iPhone was taken from her by US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) is suing to have her property returned. But the property in question isn't the phone itself, which was eventually returned, but the data stored on it and retained by CPB. As searches of electronic devices belonging to people entering or returning to the US continue to become more frequent, this case and others are raising important questions about what can and should be searched and retained by the US government.
US government seizes domain names, claims to have a warrant
We're all for bashing botnets, but the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may have crossed a line -- in the midst of nabbing counterfeiters this weekend, the government organization seized the domains of a torrent meta-tracker and a trio of music sites. Today, the picture above is the only thing you'll see if you go to Torrent-Finder.com, RapGodFathers.com, Dajaz1.com or OnSmash.com, as the ICANN domain registration for the four are now in the ICE's possession, presumably on suspicion of piracy. If you ask the original domain owners however, they'll vehemently refute such allegations -- the torrent site reportedly didn't even distribute torrents themselves, merely cross-referenced other sites that do, and a RapGodFathers representative told TorrentFreak that it had complied with all DMCA takedown notifications. Apparently the websites and servers themselves are still intact, and it's only the URLs at stake, as two of the four websites are already up and running at domains ending in .info. We have to admit, this particular brand of domain squatting could be an intriguing business model. Expect "seized domains" to be tacked onto the laundry list of "Valuable Items You Too Can Buy at Government Auction!" any day now. [Thanks, Brian]
OJ gotta give All-Pro Football 2K8 money to Goldmans
Thanks to GameTrailers.com's self-made video of OJ Simpson playing on a team called The Assassins in 2K Sport's All-Pro Football 2K8, Reuters linked the two together in the first paragraph of a story on how the relatives of murder victim Ron Goldman won a court order today to seize all money Simpson makes off the game. Simpson was aquitted of Goldman's murder in a trial many moons ago, but lost the wrongful death suit where he was ordered to pay $33.5 million.For those just catching up, we explained this Assassins connection away weeks ago when the controvery first broke. Simpson can be placed on any team, GameTrailers (either for yucks or accidentally) made a video of Simpson on a team called The Assassins. At the time 2K Sports clearly stated that they had nothing to do with the video and it was not created by their marketing or publicity department. Some people still got all uppity about it. Simpson has been ordered by the court to turn over copies of his Take-Two contract and any related documents.[Thanks Fyreblazer]
Chinese government raids company, attempts to seize funds
The folks at Insert Credit recently received a disturbing e-mail from an employee of Chinese electronics/game peripheral manufacturing company, Firstsing. According to the letter, the Chinese government raided the headquarters, seized the computers, and have held most of the employees for questioning. Some have been kept in excess of 100 hours. The authorities are trying to get someone to admit wrongdoing so the government can "legally" take the company's funds, apparently because Firstsing is doing well in a poorer neighborhood and the government wants a piece of the action. It isn't known if Firstsing is guilty of any sort of chicanery, but the way employees are being treated is distressing. They've been told that their families may be held in captivity for up to a month, and the author of the e-mail fears for their safety.
