Court Must Vacate ‘Baseless’ Domain Name Seizure

Three public interest groups have filed a "friend of the court" brief urging a Kentucky appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling that authorized the seizure of more than 100 Internet domain names associated with websites operating around the globe. The brief, from CDT, Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union, says that if the lower court’s ruling allowing Kentucky to seize the domain names is allowed to stand, it would wreak havoc with Internet free speech and governance. "If the Kentucky order is upheld, no speech that conflicts with any law, anywhere in the world, would be safe from censorship," said John Morris, general counsel for CDT.