U.S. Seizes 150 Websites in Cyber Monday Counterfeit Crackdown

The Department of Justice
used blockbuster shopping event Cyber Monday to announce the
blockbuster seizure of 150 websites that had been selling counterfeit
goods, the agency announced Monday.


The seizure was a joint operation that
united the DoJ with several groups, including the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations group and the FBI's Washington field office.


“For most, the holidays represent a season
of good will and giving, but for these criminals, it’s the season to
lure in unsuspecting holiday shoppers,” ICE director John Morton said in
a statement about the seizure.
The 150 seized domains are in the custody of
the federal government, the DoJ said. Visitors to the sites will now
find a seizure banner that notifies them that the domain name has been
seized by federal authorities and educates them that willful copyright
infringement is a federal crime.


The DoJ did not disclose a list of the
domain names or sites that had been seized. But the Reuters news service
identified several, including www.pumaoutlets.net,
www.myjerseyshop.com, www.uggbootsclearanceoutletstores.com.


“More and more Americans are doing their
holiday shopping online, and they may not realize that purchasing
counterfeit goods results in American jobs lost, American business
profits stolen and American consumers receiving substandard products,”
Morton added.


This operation is the eighth phase of Operation In Our Sites,
a sustained law enforcement initiative to protect consumers by
targeting counterfeit and piracy on the Internet, the DoJ said. This is
the second year that a phase of Operation In Our Sites has coincided
with Cyber Monday. In November 2010, 82 websites were seized during the
Cyber Monday-related operation.


Since the operation’s June 2010 launch, the
ICE-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR
Center) -- which the DoJ described as a key weapon in the fight against
counterfeiting and piracy -- has seized a total of 350 domain names, and
the seizure banner has received more than 77 million individual views.


Of the 350 domain names seized, 116 have now been forfeited to the U.S. government.
Source

STRANGEgenius wrote:hmm. interesting.

Amazing input there Strange, thanks for adding that...

You guys ever read the comments at IGN.com? They are plagued with spam posts from these two fake gucci websites trying to sell purses n shit. The funny thing about is that all the IGN users gets PISSED about it... so it makes me wonder how stupid the people are that own these websites. People that visit IGN.com are not the target audience for purses, obviously.

41OMaXiMuS wrote:

STRANGEgenius wrote:hmm. interesting.

Amazing input there Strange, thanks for adding that...

You guys ever read the comments at IGN.com? They are plagued with spam posts from these two fake gucci websites trying to sell purses n shit. The funny thing about is that all the IGN users gets PISSED about it... so it makes me wonder how stupid the people are that own these websites. People that visit IGN.com are not the target audience for purses, obviously.

Kinda like getting spam mail in Chinese right?

My spam meter is 0/10 when I get those...just simply delete.

GangusKahn wrote:

41OMaXiMuS wrote:

STRANGEgenius wrote:hmm. interesting.

Amazing input there Strange, thanks for adding that...

You guys ever read the comments at IGN.com? They are plagued with spam posts from these two fake gucci websites trying to sell purses n shit. The funny thing about is that all the IGN users gets PISSED about it... so it makes me wonder how stupid the people are that own these websites. People that visit IGN.com are not the target audience for purses, obviously.

Kinda like getting spam mail in Chinese right?

My spam meter is 0/10 when I get those...just simply delete.

yes it was.

yeah spammers cant spam me.