In a worrying move for people who like their internet uncensored, a federal judge in Nevada has ruled that Chanel has the right seize 700 domain names that have been peddling fake Chanel products – and that search engines and social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Bing, and Google, are to “de-index” the domains.

Obviously the bit about the copyright-infringing retailers makes sense – in spite of the one-sided nature of the hearings – but there are some serious concerns about the judge claiming authority over issues of domain registry and search listings, given that no domain registrars, search engines or social networks were parties in the case.

Wrote attorney Venkat Balsubramani:

I’m not sure how this court can direct a registry to change a domain name’s registrar of record or Google to de-list a site, but the court does so anyway.
…
There’s no clear basis to authorize a transfer of a defendant’s property pending resolution of a lawsuit to the plaintiff.

The sorts of rights being doled out to Chanel, and those being denied the plaintiffs and the various search engines and social media networks, illustrate the framework that the Stop Online Piracy Act is trying to establish.

That this case sets a precedent for that kind of censorship is problematic.

[Source: Ars Technica]