AfterDawn: News

Man facing jail time for embedding video

Brian McCarthy, the owner of channelsurfing.net, is now facing up to five years in prison after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused him of linking to copyrighted material.

The site linked to copyrighted material, none of which was hosted by the site or its owner.



Regardless the DHS, along with ICE took the domain, leaving this message:

This domain has been seized by ICE - Homeland Security Investigations, Special Agent in Charge, New York Office.

It is unlawful to reproduce copyrighted material, such as movies, music, software or games, without authorization... First-time offenders convicted of a criminal felony copyright law will face up to five years in federal prison, restitution, forfeiture and fine.

If the government is successful in their case, it could set a precedent that would mean all users who have ever even linked to copyrighted content (sharing a video link via email, etc) could be prosecuted.

You can view the complaint here: New York man faces five years in jail for ‘linking’ to online videos

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Mar 2011 2:07

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• 15 comments

• scorpNZ

  Is it just me or is anyone else wondering what this has to do with homeland security talk about being in the back pocket
  

  14.3.2011 02:32 #1

• Mrguss

  It seems like a twisted report to me....but:
  
  For File Shering ? Give me a F***** Break here !
  What is next? ....The govt. trolling forums ?
  
  The internet is all about links !!!
  
  This is another sample that the Laws in USA, etc. are made to protect rich people, media Corporations interest and their greed !
  
  How about those criminals on Wall Street ?
  
  Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?
  Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them....
  
  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackernewsyc+%28Hacker+News+YC%29&utm_content=Twitter&page=1
  
  How about BOA (Bank of America):
  Anonymous To Release Documents Proving BOA Committed Fraud on Monday 3-14-11 #BlackMonday
  http://goo.gl/fb/dHdrk
  

  +4000

  14.3.2011 03:14 #2

• ivymike

  It's nice to see the DHS is going after foreign terrorists. Yea right.
  
  Makes me ashamed to be an american.

  14.3.2011 03:57 #3

• xnonsuchx

  Originally posted by scorpNZ: Is it just me or is anyone else wondering what this has to do with homeland security talk about being in the back pocket
  DHS is composed of multiple federal law enforcement agencies...not just anti-terrorism/etc.

  14.3.2011 04:02 #4

• xboxdvl2

  load of bs.all they need is a judge with a tiny bit of common sense and the case should be thrown out.glad i live in australia.
  

  married to my car and computer.both of them have problems.

  14.3.2011 04:14 #5

• morean51

  i am glad i was in America later moved back permanently to India
  

  morean51

  14.3.2011 04:45 #6

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by xnonsuchx: Originally posted by scorpNZ: Is it just me or is anyone else wondering what this has to do with homeland security talk about being in the back pocket
  DHS is composed of multiple federal law enforcement agencies...not just anti-terrorism/etc. Perhaps, but when they demand more funding, they never say that they want to sue people for having links to Youtube videos...they always say it is to fight terrorism.
  
  I guess they have to do something tho...I mean when the terrorist leaders are dining with heads of state inside the Pentagon, it is clear that you cannot go after the terrorists without going after the most powerful men in the US government ( http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/20/al-qaeda-terror-leader-dined-pentagon-months/ )...so rather than dicking around pretending to fail to find their terrorists bosses, they just attack people who post links to things that have links to things that may or may not be illegal.
  
  [sarcasm]Thank you DHS, I am so relieved that you busted some guy for posting a link to a website that I don't even mind that the government is being run by terrorist masterminds who have attacked the USA before.[/sarcasm]
  
  DHS...how about this?: We give you your blood money, and you just go on vacation. It is a given that you will do nothing good, so just doing nothing at all would be a huge improvement.
  

  
  

  14.3.2011 05:50 #7

• pensfan12

  Originally posted by Mrguss:
  
  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackernewsyc+%28Hacker+News+YC%29&utm_content=Twitter&page=1
  hmmm whenever i need a political fix i go straight to rollingstone.com Hahaha
  

  
  

  14.3.2011 06:00 #8

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by pensfan12: Originally posted by Mrguss:
  
  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackernewsyc+%28Hacker+News+YC%29&utm_content=Twitter&page=1
  hmmm whenever i need a political fix i go straight to rollingstone.com Hahaha Is wallstreet legal?
  don't they say bring your own money? ;)
  

  +4000

  14.3.2011 06:08 #9

• ZippyDSM

  All the more reason IP needs to either be limited to 5 years before falling to public domain or distribution (links,indexing,ect) can only be questioned if their is monetary gain involved(donations,ad rev,illicit sale).
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  14.3.2011 10:34 #10

• shummyr

  Quote: ZippyDSM
  Visit user's personal pageSend private message to this user
  AfterDawn Addict
  
  All the more reason IP needs to either be limited to 5 years before falling to public domain or distribution (links,indexing,ect) can only be questioned if their is monetary gain involved(donations,ad rev,illicit sale). I personally like the model you are describing, due to the fact that if you make money off of someone elses work then they will go after but if you do not then you dont have anything to worry about.... *** Shouldnt Someone Look At YouTube ***
  

  14.3.2011 12:14 #11

• xnonsuchx

  So is the article headline wrong? The story just says a link was posted while the headline says video was embedded?

  14.3.2011 15:39 #12

• HxCMANIAC

  Pretty soon, sites linking to sites linking to illegal content will be illegal. Better start going after search engines like Google and Bing next.
  

  14.3.2011 17:40 #13

• KillerBug

  They should make a law that says that going to a site with pirated content is illegal...that way, it would be illegal for investigators to go to the sites!
  
  Oh wait, these people don't care about the law unless it is someone else breaking it.
  

  
  

  15.3.2011 03:04 #14

• u812 (unverified)

  Originally posted by scorpNZ: Is it just me or is anyone else wondering what this has to do with homeland security talk about being in the back pocket This is a perfect example why you should never ask the government to regulate anything. They always abuse their power and turn on it's own citizens. They have no accountability. This is government Intrusion into your private life
  What started out to be a shield for terrorist is now an enemy of the people.

  15.3.2011 18:46 #15