U.S. Authorities Shut Down WordPress Host With 73,000 Blogs

[TheSarge]

After the U.S. Government took action against several sites connected to movie streaming recently, nerves are jangling over the possibility that this is just the beginning of a wider crackdown. Now it appears that a free blogging platform has been taken down by its hosting provider on orders from the U.S. authorities on grounds of “a history of abuse”. More than 73,000 blogs are out of action as a result.

Hot on the heels of recent threats from Vice President Joe Biden and Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel directed at sites offering unauthorized movies and music, last month U.S. authorities targeted several sites they claimed were connected to the streaming of infringing video material.

‘Operation In Our Sites‘ targeted several sites including TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org, ZML.com, NinjaVideo.net and NinjaThis.net. In almost unprecedented action, the domain names of 7 sites were seized and indications are that others – The Pirate Bay and MegaUpload – narrowly avoided the same fate.

Fears remain, however, that this action is only the beginning, and that more sites will be targeted as the months roll on. Indeed, TorrentFreak has already received information that other sites, so far unnamed in the media, are being monitored by the authorities on copyright grounds.

Now, according to the owner of a free WordPress platform which hosts more than 73,000 blogs, his network of sites has been completely shut down on the orders of the authorities.

http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-authorities-shut-down-wordpress-host-with-73000-blogs-100716/

[Chris_]

Whoa, that is messed up.  I'd like to know what was so incriminating in those 73,000 blogs.  It wasn't about the videos.  That's highly doubtful.

[diesel driver]

To quote a favorite scifi series of mine from the '90s:

"And so it begins."

("Babylon 5", the Vorlon Ambassador Kosh, on the start of the Shadow War)

[TheSarge]

To quote a favorite scifi series of mine from the '90s:

"And so it begins."

("Babylon 5", the Vorlon Ambassador Kosh, on the start of the Shadow War)

I remember that!  Love that show!

E-C is wasn't the blogs per se...it was the hosting site WordPress that got shut down.  And when they got shut down all the blogs went with them.

I'm surprised the DUmmies aren't in a rage about this.  Some of their favorite hate America sites were hosted at Word Press.

[zeitgeist]

I remember that!  Love that show!

E-C is wasn't the blogs per se...it was the hosting site WordPress that got shut down.  And when they got shut down all the blogs went with them.

I'm surprised the DUmmies aren't in a rage about this.  Some of their favorite hate America sites were hosted at Word Press.

Whoa baby, I know nothing about Babel on 5 but I that many dummies rely on Wordpress blog info you are absolutely correct.  Seems like that is where I have run across the most links to the wacko blog sites. 

Chilling indeed. 

[formerlurker]

Once again, a 3 second google search to research this story yields what really happened:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Wave-of-Injection-Attacks-Targets-WordPress-Blogs-147976.shtml

[TheSarge]

Once again, a 3 second google search to research this story yields what really happened:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Wave-of-Injection-Attacks-Targets-WordPress-Blogs-147976.shtml

Two different things going on here I believe.

The article I posted has quotes from the word press folks confirming that they'd been shut down by the Feds.  And the manner in which they did it took out all of the little blogs posted through their site.

It's part of that "kill switch" that Obama has installed on the internet.

[formerlurker]

Two different things going on here I believe.

The article I posted has quotes from the word press folks confirming that they'd been shut down by the Feds.  And the manner in which they did it took out all of the little blogs posted through their site.

It's part of that "kill switch" that Obama has installed on the internet.

Actually I am wrong about that -- they are two different things.    However,

Please note that this was not a typical case, in which suspension and notification would be the norm. This was a critical matter brought to our attention by law enforcement officials. We had to immediately remove the server.

Law enforcement brought it to their attention -- is not the same as shut them down. That is conjecture.   Let me look into it some more.

[formerlurker]

http://gadgetsteria.com/2010/07/16/73000-blogs-taken-offline-isp-remains-silent/


I am sure the blog owners will start mouthing off soon, but it looks more like a strong arm from the government to the server, who caved in an overkill reaction.  

All for music sharing.   The thing that bothers me about this is the amount of money we are spending to monitor music sharing -- seriously?  

[TheSarge]

http://gadgetsteria.com/2010/07/16/73000-blogs-taken-offline-isp-remains-silent/


I am sure the blog owners will start mouthing off soon, but it looks more like a strong arm from the government to the server, who caved in an overkill reaction.  

All for music sharing.   The thing that bothers me about this is the amount of money we are spending to monitor music sharing -- seriously?  

Former....it's a topic for an entire thread on it's own.  But the RIAA is one of the biggest bullies out there that has been using the same old argument since the invention of the blank cassette tape.

There is a percentage of $$$ on every blank CD-R/RW etc you buy that goes to them over their baseless claims of "lost wages" for musicians....actors...etc

[zeitgeist]

http://gadgetsteria.com/2010/07/16/73000-blogs-taken-offline-isp-remains-silent/


I am sure the blog owners will start mouthing off soon, but it looks more like a strong arm from the government to the server, who caved in an overkill reaction.  

All for music sharing.   The thing that bothers me about this is the amount of money we are spending to monitor music sharing -- seriously?  

Does this sentiment of yours also apply to the money we spend on other forms of theft, like say bank robbery?    How about software piracy do we spend enough on that?  Should clubs that play music without paying proper license fees be fined? (as was recently the case locally)?   Where do you draw the enforcement line?  Ignoring the law versus working to change the law is never a good position in my opinion.

[PatriotGame]

Fortunately http://thepiratebay.org/ and FOSI (The best BTW - http://fosi.zyaxx.nl/) remain...

[formerlurker]

Does this sentiment of yours also apply to the money we spend on other forms of theft, like say bank robbery?    How about software piracy do we spend enough on that?  Should clubs that play music without paying proper license fees be fined? (as was recently the case locally)?   Where do you draw the enforcement line?  Ignoring the law versus working to change the law is never a good position in my opinion.

Where did I say anything about ignoring the law? 

[Chris_]

I remember that!  Love that show!

E-C is wasn't the blogs per se...it was the hosting site WordPress that got shut down.  And when they got shut down all the blogs went with them.

I'm surprised the DUmmies aren't in a rage about this.  Some of their favorite hate America sites were hosted at Word Press.

I know NOTHING about servers, hosting sites, etc.  Sorry.  lol

Wordpress.com is still working.  It's up and viewable to all.  So was it just one of their servers that was shut down? 

[TheSarge]

Does this sentiment of yours also apply to the money we spend on other forms of theft, like say bank robbery?    How about software piracy do we spend enough on that?  Should clubs that play music without paying proper license fees be fined? (as was recently the case locally)?   Where do you draw the enforcement line?  Ignoring the law versus working to change the law is never a good position in my opinion.

The problem is...and what the RIAA always leaves out of their sob story...is that the music industry....hasn't been hurt by people...like myself...downloading music from LimeWire....BearShare etc.

The one study that came out...that was quickly swept away showed that while sales of singles had dipped slightly...album sales actually INCREASED over the same time.

Music downloading wasn't hurting overall sales...it was actually helping.

But you won't hear that from the RIAA.  Plus you'll never hear just how much in royalties are collected every year through BMI...ASCAP and SESCAP.  Try being a bar owner with a DJ or a doctors office that plays commercial music and NOT have one of those stickers on your front window.

Sorry...I don't by the cry me a river BS from the folks that want to get their panties in a bunch over someone downloading songs via the internet. 

There are far more serious violations of law and more serious crimes that need to be investigated and prosecuted than little ol me or some 15 year old kid with a couple thousand songs on their hard drive.

[DefiantSix]

Does this sentiment of yours also apply to the money we spend on other forms of theft, like say bank robbery?    How about software piracy do we spend enough on that?  Should clubs that play music without paying proper license fees be fined? (as was recently the case locally)?   Where do you draw the enforcement line?  Ignoring the law versus working to change the law is never a good position in my opinion.

Zeit, I love ya like a brother, but I think you're comparing apples to oranges here, and setting up a straw man argument in the process.

Baen Books is now making available — for free — a number of its titles in electronic format. We're calling it the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online — no conditions, no strings attached. (Later we may ask for  an extremely simple, name & email only, registration. ) Or, if you prefer, you can download the books in one of several formats. Again, with no conditions or strings attached. (URLs to sites which offer the readers for these format are also listed. )

Why are we doing this? Well, for two reasons.

The first is what you might call a "matter of principle." This all started as a byproduct of an online "virtual brawl" I got into with a number of people, some of them professional SF authors, over the issue of online piracy of copyrighted works and what to do about it.

There was a school of thought, which seemed to be picking up steam, that the way to handle the problem was with handcuffs and brass knucks. Enforcement! Regulation! New regulations! Tighter regulations! All out for the campaign against piracy! No quarter! Build more prisons! Harsher sentences!

Alles in ordnung!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I, ah, disagreed. Rather vociferously and belligerently, in fact. And I can be a vociferous and belligerent fellow. My own opinion, summarized briefly, is as follows:

1. Online piracy — while it is definitely illegal and immoral — is, as a practical problem, nothing more than (at most) a nuisance. We're talking brats stealing chewing gum, here, not the Barbary Pirates.

2. Losses any author suffers from piracy are almost certainly offset by the additional publicity which, in practice, any kind of free copies of a book usually engender. Whatever the moral difference, which certainly exists, the practical effect of online piracy is no different from that of any existing method by which readers may obtain books for free or at reduced cost: public libraries, friends borrowing and loaning each other books, used book stores, promotional copies, etc.

3. Any cure which relies on tighter regulation of the market — especially the kind of extreme measures being advocated by some people — is far worse than the disease. As a widespread phenomenon rather than a nuisance, piracy occurs when artificial restrictions in the market jack up prices beyond what people think are reasonable. The "regulation-enforcement-more regulation" strategy is a bottomless pit which continually recreates (on a larger scale) the problem it supposedly solves. And that commercial effect is often compounded by the more general damage done to social and political freedom.

In the course of this debate, I mentioned it to my publisher Jim Baen. He more or less virtually snorted and expressed the opinion that if one of his authors — how about you, Eric? — were willing to put up a book for free online that the resulting publicity would more than offset any losses the author might suffer.

The minute he made the proposal, I realized he was right. After all, Dave Weber's On Basilisk Station has been available for free as a "loss leader" for Baen's for-pay experiment "Webscriptions" for months now. And — hey, whaddaya know? — over that time it's become Baen's most popular backlist title in paper!

And so I volunteered my first novel, Mother of Demons, to prove the case. And the next day Mother of Demons went up online, offered to the public for free...
<snip>

I read your objection and it immediately reminded me of this little explanation, from someone who does stand to "lose money" from online piracy, but chose more freedom as the tool to short-circuit the pirates, rather than restricted freedom.

It's all good, bro.

[Airwolf]

I keep this handy for when this comes around.

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-07-1.html

The RIAA has been more of a threat to us then anyone since the start of entertainment

[Mr Mannn]

Piracy on a few sites shuts down 73,000? Why not just target the offending sites?

Whats going on here is a govt test. They're looking to see how far a vague law can take them.

[zeitgeist]

Where did I say anything about ignoring the law? 

Based on your statement you either wanted to spend more or less on the issue.  I found it hard to imagine you wanted to spend more.   But not spending money to enforce the law would mean ignoring the law. I wasn't really trying to jerk your chain with this line.

Rather than ignore the law or spend ever increasing amounts of time and money I would suggest that the law be decriminalized or repealed all together to be made a strictly civil matter.

We need fewer laws which we actually enforce rather than more that we can't or won't.

As several point out in this thread intellectual property and copyright laws are poorly written and difficult to enforce and I am not real sure why we are waisting the time and money on it either.





 

[ColonialMarine0431]

I've seen several stories on this. Some say there was a virus floating around, hence the need to shut the sites down. Some say it was because of copywright infringement. But given Oblahblah's lust to control everything I'm not sure what to believe.

[formerlurker]

Based on your statement you either wanted to spend more or less on the issue.  I found it hard to imagine you wanted to spend more.   But not spending money to enforce the law would mean ignoring the law. I wasn't really trying to jerk your chain with this line.

Rather than ignore the law or spend ever increasing amounts of time and money I would suggest that the law be decriminalized or repealed all together to be made a strictly civil matter.

We need fewer laws which we actually enforce rather than more that we can't or won't.

As several point out in this thread intellectual property and copyright laws are poorly written and difficult to enforce and I am not real sure why we are waisting the time and money on it either.
 

If a record label is getting their copyrighted material stolen, then it is their responsibility to monitor for infringement.   

Taxpayers shouldn't be paying for it, as they wouldn't pay for surveillance cameras at banks or in stores.

[thundley4]

I've seen several stories on this. Some say there was a virus floating around, hence the need to shut the sites down. Some say it was because of copywright infringement. But given Oblahblah's lust to control everything I'm not sure what to believe.

Viruses on file sharing sites are a given.  People know that and act accordingly.  Personally, I haven't gotten a virus from a file sharing site.

[RobJohnson]

If a record label is getting their copyrighted material stolen, then it is their responsibility to monitor for infringement.   

Taxpayers shouldn't be paying for it, as they wouldn't pay for surveillance cameras at banks or in stores.

I agree.

[Thor]

Fortunately http://thepiratebay.org/ and FOSI (The best BTW - http://fosi.zyaxx.nl/) remain...

Gotta be careful with Fosi........... and have a GOOD anti-virus. I don't know if they've cleaned up their act, but in the early part of this decade, there were some nasty viruses getting passed along through Fosi.

[Ptarmigan]

My understanding is that some blog sites use WordPress blogging software for their blogs. Wordpress serves as a host and software company for blogs. I want to know what are these 73,000 blogs are about.