More Than 50,000 Americans Call On Homeland Security To Drop Baseless Charges Against Internet User

Momentum Building: More Than 50,000 Americans Call On Homeland Security To Drop Baseless Charges Against Internet User

Demand Progress members decry scurrilous charges against Brian McCarthy -- arrested for nothing more than linking to other websites

More than 50,000 Americans have signed a petition urging the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release Brian McCarthy. McCarthy ran a website, channelsurfing.net, that linked to various sites where Internet users could watch online streams of TV shows and sports networks. DHS and ICE seized his domain name in late January. And in an unprecedented move, they arrested him earlier this month and charged him with criminal copyright infringement -- punishable by five years in prison. As public outcry and media coverage of the story have grown, DHS and ICE have so far declined all requests for comment.

Fox News covers the petition here:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/12/group-challenges-arrest-man-linking-websites/

Huffington Post here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/newly-obtained-homeland-s_b_833535.html

TechDirt here:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110309/03003513413/feds-really-do-seem-to-think-that-linking-to-infringing-content-can-be-jailable-offense.shtml

Demand Progress has obtained a copy of the complaint that DHS and ICE made against McCarthy -- and they do not even allege that he made a copy of anything. Just that he ran what they call a "linking website" which linked to various sites with copyrighted material. The complaint may be found at http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/dhscomplaint/.

Prosecution for merely linking to a site that houses infringing materials is without precedent. Under the logic that governs the arrest, any Internet user who sends around a link to a copyrighted YouTube video -- or posts such a link on their personal blog -- is a criminal. This new enforcement regime is certain to have a chilling effect across the Internet.

According to Aaron Swartz, Executive Director of Demand Progress, "This is another shocking overreach by DHS and ICE, whose actions as self-appointed Internet police are growing increasingly bizarre. We need to push back -- and fast -- before they try to lock up the whole Internet."

Demand Progress is an online activism organization and political action committee with 350,000 members.

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