So was it ICANN that actually did the seizing?

On 11/26/2010 7:25 PM, Michael Haffely wrote:
> The concerning part about the report from today is that the domain 
> owner never received any complaint or due process before the domains 
> were seized.  It appears that no Cease and Desist, warrant, suit, or 
> other criminal complaint was brought up before the domain was taken.  
> What if (for an example) this behavior is taken up by the Patent and 
> Copyright "trolls".  What happens to an 
> individual/nonprofit/organization when they have their domain yanked 
> out from under them?
>
> If ICANN is to seize domains from their rightful owners by demand of a 
> law enforcement agency we need to have a clear, *rapid* appeals 
> process to prevent abuse by corporations, law enforcement agencies, 
> and governments.
>
>
> -Mike H.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 8:46 PM, Andrew A. Adams <[log in to unmask] 
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>     Very similar moves are happening in the UK, with Nominet (UK
>     non-profit with
>     the .uk (and .gb) country-code delegation) engaging with the UK's SOCA
>     (Serious and Organised Crime Agency *) to remove 1200 "sites
>     engaged in
>     selling counterfeit goods" recently and now doing a more explicit
>     deal with
>     the police to take down the DNS registration for sites "alleged to be
>     involved in criminal activity".
>
>     http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/25/nominet_crime/
>
>     (*) The SOCA is a rather dodgy organisation, IMHO. When it was set
>     up the
>     then home secrewtary made a big thing of it not being actually
>     police and
>     therefore not bound by the requirements that the police have to
>     respect the
>     human rights of citizens. THat's a recipe for a secret police
>     operating
>     extra-judicially and here we see exactly that kind of approach.
>
>     I am very worried by these kinds of moves. Zittrain's "The Future
>     of the
>     Internet" and Mueller's "Networks and States" concerns about
>     censorship
>     becoming the norm not the exception online seem to be coming true.
>     While I'm
>     not in favour of criminals having free reign, the trouble is that
>     all the
>     hard won freedoms such as due process, balance of rights, etc.
>     seem to be
>     being thrown out in the digital domain.
>
>
>
>     --
>     Professor Andrew A Adams [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>     Professor at Graduate School of Business Administration,  and
>     Deputy Director of the Centre for Business Information Ethics
>     Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan http://www.a-cubed.info/
>
>