Quote:
Originally Posted by gideongallery
right now in congress senetor backing sopa are saying they need the law to go after foreign infringers because the current laws don't cut it
taking down a foreign infringer with the current "inferior" laws absolutely proves that argument false.
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Except that it is my understanding that MegaUpload.com is not a "foreign site" as that term is defined under SOPA.
Under SOPA both the terms "foreign site" and "foreign domain name" are defined in the negative -- meaning that they are defined as an "internet site that is not a domestic Internet site," and "a domain name that is not a domestic domain name."
Here is SOPA's statutory definition of a domestic domain name:
Quote:
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(3) DOMESTIC DOMAIN NAME- The term `domestic domain name' means a domain name that is registered or assigned by a domain name registrar, domain name registry, or other domain name registration authority, that is located within a judicial district of the United States.
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As the argument goes (and it's an argument the U.S. courts have accepted, thus far), since all .COMs are under the auspices of Verisign, by the statutory definition above,
all .COM sites, including MegaUpload.com, are "domestic." This has actually
been identified as an ironic weakness of SOPA by some of its critics, in fact.
Further, under Section 102 of SOPA, a "foreign infringing site" is a site that "
would, by reason of acts described in paragraph (1), be subject to seizure in the United States in an action brought by the Attorney General
if such site were a domestic Internet site."
I think it is safe to conclude, based on the fact that MegaUpload.com has now been seized in an action brought by the US Attorney General (actions taken by the US DOJ are actions taken on behalf of the US AG), that MU is therefore NOT a foreign infringing site as that term is defined under SOPA.