More Domain Seizures By Feds Just in Time for Super Bowl

The Department of Justice and Homeland Security ICE division are at it again, and have this time seized more than 300 domains in advance of the Super Bowl. The overwhelming majority of the domains shut down today were selling counterfeit NFL merchandise, but 16 were linking to copyrighted content or video streams. The proprietor of several of those sites had been arrested in Michigan.

“We are grateful for Homeland Security Investigations’ tireless efforts in combating intellectual property theft,” said the NFL’s VP of legal affairs. The streaming domains had names like firstrow.tv, and sports95.org. Now all that users will get when visiting those domains is the now familiar DOJ/ICE warning banner. These controversial seizures have thus far resulted in 669 domains disappearing from the net. 

Several sites seem to have slipped past law enforcement, and have set up shop at other domain names. This is not the first time sports streamers and counterfeiters have been targeted at this time of year, and it probably won’t be the last.