Super Bowl Streaming Takes Hit After DoJ Shuts Down Sites

Were you hoping to catch the Super Bowl online via a sports streaming site? You’re out of luck then.

TorrentFreak is reporting that that DoJ and ICE are back at it again in a new round of domain seizures. The targets this time are sports streaming sites. It can’t be merely coincidence with the Super Bowl airing this Sunday.

The Department of Justice usually makes an announcement of domain seizures, patting themselves on the back on the good job they’re doing. There has been no such comment yet.

The first sites to go down today are Firstrowsports.tv, firstrowsports.com, firstrowsports.net and Soccertvlive.net, but more are likely to go down in the next few hours.

As TorrentFreak points out, this is the first time that Web sites with the .TV extension have been targeted. The .TV domain belongs to islands of Tuvalu, but is operated by U.S.-based company Verisign.

There were similar domain seizures before last year’s Super Bowl. The sites taken down last year still operated under different domain names which have been targeted today.

Last year’s seizures targeted domains linked to Rojadirecta, owned by the Spanish company Puerto 80. The sites were declared legal by two Spanish courts, but U.S. authorities ruled that they were a criminal operation. The company is fighting the decision in U.S. courts.

Channelsurfing.net, owned by Texas citizen Brian McCarthy, was also taken down last year. McCarthy was taken into custody on charges of criminal copyright infringement and is still awaiting his trial.

This is all just a reminder that the feds don’t need SOPA or PIPA to take down Web sites. This latest move will only stoke the fire of those fighting for and against Internet regulation.

There are 2 Comments. Add Yours.

dw herndon
February 2, 2012 at 12:56 pm

why is this a problem? nfl.com and nbc sports are both streaming this year’s superbowl for free.
- Zach Walton
  February 2, 2012 at 2:01 pm
  
  The problem isn’t really about U.S. consumers. They have that choice. These sites served people who were outside of the U.S. where region blocking prevents them from watching games in the United States.
  
  It’s the same reason why there are so many foreign streaming sites for American TV shows. Property holders make it inconvenient or outright impossible for foreigners to enjoy their programs so they have to restort to illegal means to see them.