Just scrolling through /. and noticed this article:

“Michael Geist reports that last week State of Maryland prosecutors were able to obtain a warrant ordering Verisign, the company that manages the dot-com domain name registry, to redirect the website to a warning page advising that it has been seized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The message from the case is clear: all dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org domain names are subject to U.S. jurisdiction regardless of where they operate or where they were registered. This grants the U.S. a form of ‘super-jurisdiction’ over Internet activities, since most other countries are limited to jurisdiction with a real and substantial connection.”

I’ve been fearful of this for a while and watching this develop over the last year or so. I’ve never understood the legailities involved with the US seizing a site with it’s information when it’s clearly hosted in another country. I guess the loophole has been the ownership of the .com registrar, allowing a pivot for governments to obtain the remainder of the information past the actual domain name. A loophole which is now firmly stated.

I guess the only hope now is one that comes from more awareness. If you don’t want to have your domain seized due to the content on your site – don’t register it through a .com .net or .org.