> Why is the DHS tracking down copyright infringers
When DHS was established, a bunch of existing government agencies were rolled into it. One of them was Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is the federal agency with the most staff handling international IP law enforcement (traditionally, mostly counterfeiting). Copyright also falls under that category, so now DHS ends up being the one that investigates copyright infringement at the federal level.
I'd guess the GP's point was why are the DHS getting involved in what is primarily a civil action (tort) between a rights holder and an alleged infringer.
The FBI shuts down a site with hundred of thousands of user because of 36(!) infringing files
This I've never understood. I thought the US upheld the principal of due process. Is it really possible to shut down a person's business without a civil or criminal conviction?
What I find odd is that I'm not familiar with any cases outside of the Internet space where a business was shutdown during the process of an investigation. I'm sure there are examples somewhere, but it still seems wrong that the executive branch has the power to shut down a business without judicial review.
The US does not in any way uphold the principal of due process. I don't have time to write about it right now, but read up about civil forfeiture laws:
* Why is the DHS tracking down copyright infringers?!
* The FBI shuts down a site with hundred of thousands of user because of 36(!) infringing files
* These files were ordered by the DHS not to be deleted
* (From other articles) megaupload's users still do not have access to their data
* (From other articles) the ISP running megaupload's servers is not allowed to shut them down (or repurpose them) and has to foot the bill.
There's probably some other stuff going on that we do not know about, but this looks like a big clusterf*ck.