Mozilla – Bugger off Uncle Sam

Mozilla to U.S. Government: This is how we politely say no
by Steve Ragan – May 6 2011, 19:50
Nope. Not going to happen. (IMG:J.Anderson)

After the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) asked Mozilla to remove a Firefox add-on that helps people access domains seized under alleged copyright violations, their general counsel was at least polite when he responded with a few questions of his own and essentially said no.

ICE is a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Earlier this year, ICE seized hundreds of domains accused of streaming pay-per-view sports by using an ex-parte order. The process allowed ICE to gain control over the domains without their owners being made aware, or afforded the ability to respond to the copyright infringement charges.

Their efforts were viewed as a failure. Many of the domains simply moved to other domain names in places where ICE has no control. Previously ICE has come under fire for using the same tactics on music sites, essentially issuing warrants with legally flawed logic. [More information on that topic is here and here.]

With all the negative press surrounding the domain takedowns, a group of developers had an idea, and within days had a working add-on that would allow Internet users to circumvent the ICE actions. The add-on is called MAFIAAfire [Link], and it’s a rather straightforward program. If a site seized by ICE is operating on an alternate domain, MAFIAAfire will redirect users using the old address to the new one.

Mozilla General Counsel Harvey Anderson, commenting on the request made by ICE, wrote that Mozilla’s policy is to comply with valid court orders, warrants, and legal mandates, “but in this case there was no such court order.” …more