US Government Begins Global Internet Censorship Without Court Orders

[Fluffy Frufflebottoms]

exactly... like every other unlawful thing...

partial Punishment first, questions and discussion later in court.
if the government sees or has reason to belive there is somthing unlawful happing, they shut it down.. not just for websites but for ALL aspects of crime.

alone they may be legal, but if they can be used to commit an illegal act then they can be deemed illegal.

for example, is a crowbar legal? yes. can you be arrested for walking down the street with one? yes. because it is something that could be used to commit a crime.

What you guys need to understand is that private torrenting isn't criminal. Copyright infringement without intent to profit is a civil tort, just as the rights holders want it to be. In a civil case, the plaintiff merely requires a preponderance of evidence to win a case, whereas in criminal law, guilt beyond reasonable doubt must be proven, which would be both incredibly difficult, and incredibly expensive to establish.

The rights holders make use of the liberties that civil cases grant them, running operations that essentially mimic extortion rings, targeting infringers and entirely innocent people alike. At the same time, they want to enjoy the protections and advantages of having their business models protected by criminal law, without giving up their aggressive litigation schemes, and they're lobbying a corrupt legislature to grant them criminal enforcement of civil matters.

You may think that the end is justified, but the entire legislative and judicial foundation of this country speaks to the fact that the means aren't.