Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 1st amendment, copyright, copyright police, DHS, Dictatorship, Empire, free speech, global government, global police, global police force, homeland security, ICE, internet enforcement, internet police, IP, IP enforcement, john morton, new world order, Police State, Rojadirecta, spain, us constitution, us customs, Victoria Espinel, world government, world police
Homeland Security Seizes Domain Names From Other Countries
Tech Dirt
February 1, 2011
It appears that Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division, and their incredibly sloppy domain seizure operations, have moved on to the next phase — as was promised by both ICE boss, John Morton, and IP Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel. The timing on this one is particularly bizarre — and politically stupid.
That’s because the the domain seizure is for the Spanish streaming site Rojadirecta. Yes, ICE seized the domain name of a foreign company. And it gets worse. Rojadirecta is not just some fly-by-night operation run out of someone’s basement or something. It’s run by a legitimate company in Spain, and the site’s legality has been tested in the Spanish courts… and the site was declared legal. The court noted that since Rojadirecta does not host any material itself, it does not infringe.
So, a full-on trial and legal process that took three years in a foreign country, and involved a series of appeals leading to a final judgment…. all totally ignored by a bunch of US customs agents.
You might think some folks in Spain would have a pretty serious issue with this move.
And the timing is especially ridiculous, given that the US has been pushing very, very hard for Spain to implement a new copyright law, driven in large part by Hollywood. With many in Spain already furious about US meddling in their own copyright laws, I can’t imagine that having US customs agents reaching across the Atlantic to just out and out seize a Spanish company’s domain name is going to go over very well.
Imagine if a Spanish law enforcement agency did that to a US company? How quickly would we see American politicians screaming about this “international incident.” Yet, here we have Homeland Security reaching out to seize the domain name of a foreign company that has been explicitly declared legal, after going through a lengthy trial and appeals process in its native country. And, in typical Homeland Security fashion, no one bothered to contact the company and let them know or express its concerns. Instead, it just seized the domain.
I would imagine that doing so may upset Spanish citizenry even more than the attempt to rewrite copyright laws in Hollywood’s favor.
And of course, it appears that, despite the serious questions raised about the last domain seizures, in particular of blogs with substantial non-infringing uses, ICE has also seized another blog, called StrikeGently, which appears to have included lots of other content. Yes, it did also include some links to downloads hosted on other sites, but did not host any content directly itself, and appears to have included plenty of other content beyond the links to downloads. Once again, no one is saying that the site is clearly legal. It may, in fact, be liable for inducement. However, that’s something that’s supposed to be determined at trial, and not after the government steps in with no notice whatsoever and takes the domain name away.
Apparently, Homeland Security and ICE have decided that the mistakes it made last time are so minor that it will repeat them again and again, even if it involves shutting down protected speech and interfering in international relations.
Filed under: 2008 Election, al-qaeda, bilderberg, Cintra, citigroup, colombia, Credit Suisse, Fred Thompson, global elite, Globalism, Goldman Sachs, GOP, Greg Abbott, Mexico, Michael Mukasey, money laundering, NAFTA Superhighway, neocons, North American Union, Pakistan, Rick Perry, Rudy Giuliani, Texas, Toll Roads, TTC, TxU, Vicente Fox | Tags: Cliff Kincaid, Gonzáles Parás, Greg Abbott, Grupo Modelo heiress María Asunción Aramburuzabala, Kohlberg, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Macquarie, Mary Peters, PAC, spain, Terri Hall, Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, Texas Pacific Group Hafiz Naseem, tony garza, TURF
The Ties That Bind Rick Perry & Rudy Giuliani
Aaron Dykes
JonesReport
December 14, 2007
As Texas Governor Rick Perry goes on the road to stump for Giuliani’s campaign, it is increasingly clear that the two figureheads not only share a penchant for presiding over thinly-veiled corruption, but do their presiding in the same globalist circles.
Perry’s appearance at the secretive Bilderberg meeting in 2007 gives credence to whispers about the Texas Governor becoming a GOP running mate alongside Giuliani, even as Perry denies interest in being VP. Bilderberg has a noted and well-deserved reputation as kingmaker.
Together, Rick Perry, as Governor, and Rudy Giuliani, as a named partner in the Houston-based Bracewell & Giuliani, have been instrumental in selling off Texas infrastructure and utilities while ushering in agents of globalism and (North American Union) regional control.
TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR
Giuliani’s law firm is heavily tied to Rick Perry’s Texas-style ‘Big Dig’– a highly contentious and very real Trans-Texas Corridor that has foreign firms building up on land seized in the face of opposition from both the state legislature and the people.
Bracewell & Giuliani is exclusively representing the Spanish-owned Cintra and essentially won the contract to build the first ever private toll road in Texas. The Online Journal refers to Bracewell & Giuliani as “the ‘guiding’ law firm on the privatization of Texas State Highway 121”
Cintra is further partnered with the Australian company Macquarie, who “previously acquired the business and assets of an investment bank known as Giuliani Capital Advisors,” according to Cliff Kincaid who further observes:
Terri Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), notes that Giuliani clients with an interest in acquiring Texas roads and infrastructure have also invested in his presidential campaign. She comments, “This could explain why Giuliani has spent so much time fundraising in Texas. The monied proponents of the Trans-Texas Corridor, of which there are many, would like to see this man become President.“
Perry’s advocacy for the TTC has been unwavering and he has refused to back down even after the legislature passed a two-year moratorium. Perry called in U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters to lobby against the moratorium while publicly declaring that there is no alternative to toll roads (Peters has, of course, been present at a number of NAFTA super-highway meetings as well).
Bracewell & Giuliani gave Rick Perry $20,000 in PAC money in the 2006 cycle. Current Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was also a partner in Bracewell & Giuliani, which Lobby Watch suggests was related to his run for office after stepping down from the Texas Supreme Court. He received $25,000 in PAC contributions in the 2006 cycle.
TxU BUYOUT
As we previously reported, the ‘largest ever’ buyout of TxU (now slashed from $45 billion to $32 billion) was managed by KKR, who are represented annually at Bilderberg by partner Henry Kravis.
“Energy Future bought TXU Corp. in a $32 billion leveraged buyout that closed in October. It was formed by Kohlberg, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., TPG, formerly Texas Pacific Group, and other investors,” reports the Dallas Morning News.
The deal stalled over environmental issues with TxU’s plans for new coal plants, but never faltered thanks to cheerleading by Rick Perry as well as personal appearances by Henry Kravis, who is known as a virtuoso in the world of leveraged buyouts (see Barbarians at the Gate which dramatizes his infamous high-priced buyout with R.J. Reynolds and also features a younger but no less-aged Fred Thompson).
Governor Perry was involved in facilitating the TxU buyout, including the issuance of an executive order to instigate fast-track approval for TxU plant deals:
“Last year, after private meetings with TXU executives, Perry fast-tracked the permitting process for TXU’s 11-plant expansion through an executive order, slashing the time frame in half, to six months….”
“The bottom line: Only Governor Perry and TXU, which stands to make a lot of money, are championing these plants.”
Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston (both deeply nested in Bilderberg) were also involved in the deal while Bracewell & Giuliani represented TxU (as they handle a number of energy companies). A number of criminal insider trading cases involving Pakistani financiers working inside these firms– including Hafiz Naseem– have already been prosecuted as a result of the buyout. Others, still under investigation, are potentially outstanding.
In fact, Hafiz Naseem, then a Credit Suisse investor, was defended by Bracewell & Giuliani’s Marc Mukasey, who is the son of U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Bracewell’s Mukasey commented that the “case is inference built on inference built on inference.” However, prosecutors were investigating other links to alleged inside trading that went as high as Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz, who is also a former Citigroup chairman. Investigators also believe there was a link to al Qaeda money laundering.
MEXICO
And what about Mexico? If a continent-wide merger is underway, it seems to coincide with the cozy relationship Perry and Vicente Fox had as contemporaries. As WND reports, the vision to expand the Corridor into Mexico is heavily discussed and well under way.
On May 24, Gonzáles Parás announced during his recent meetings in Austin, Perry had agreed the envisioned Trans North America Corridor would pass through Laredo and connect with San Antonio, just as Mexico ultimately planned to extend the superhighway south into Colombia.
Note also that the current U.S. ambassador to Mexico is none other than Bracewell & Giuliani partner Tony Garza (who is, incidentally, married to Mexico’s richest woman, billionaire Grupo Modelo heiress María Asunción Aramburuzabala).
What is the ‘North American Union’?
noworldsystem.com 
