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In a move that has alarmed free speech advocates, the Justice Department has seized a news Web site containing information on pirated software and hardware, turning it into a government-run site containing warnings about software piracy and links to antipiracy investigations.

The seizure of ISONews.com was part of a plea agreement with the government by David Rocci, also known as "krazy8," who pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to import, market, and sell modified computer chips for Microsoft's Xbox, according to a statement released by the Justice Department.

Site Revamped

Rocci helped run the site, which provided information about--but not access to--pirated computer software and hardware devices, called "mods," that can circumvent copyright protections in game consoles such as Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2.

ISONews.com also offered online discussion groups for individuals interested in the "mod" scene.

On Thursday, visitors to the ISONews.com domain were instead greeted by a low-tech Web page displaying the logos of both the Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service.

The Web page said, in part, "The isonews is now the property of the United States government. The domain and Web site were surrendered to U.S. law enforcement pursuant to a federal prosecution and felony plea agreement for conspiracy to violate criminal copyright laws."

Links to a Justice Department press release regarding the seizure and to a government site with information on federal antipiracy investigations were also provided.

Emerging Tactic

While requiring a criminal to forfeit the instruments used in a crime is common in plea agreements, it has not been common for the government to take over whole domains and use them to relay messages.

A government official close to the investigation said the iSONews.com forfeiture is not the first time the government has taken such steps, and similar seizures are likely to become more frequent.

"I think you're going to see more of it. If we feel that forfeiting the Web site is appropriate we're going to do that," the source said. Still, the government has no guidelines for when Web site forfeiture is recommended and when it isn't. "We will have to look at each case to make that determination," the source said.

Despite the government's seizure of the ISONews.com domain, the original ISONews.com site was still accessible Thursday afternoon at the site's IP address, http://66.201.243.169. Most of the site's features, including online discussion groups, continued to function.

It is not clear whether the government is administering that site, or whether authorities have also seized the content on the ISONews.com Web servers.

Privacy Challenged?

"This raises some very interesting privacy issues," says David Sobel, general counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

"If the government has the logs to this site, is an unsuspecting person who thinks they're going to this site because it has useful information having their IP address captured by the government as part of a criminal investigation?" Sobel says.

The source close to the investigation would not comment on the fact that iSONews.com's site is still accessible, or say whether iSONews.com content is being used by the government to fuel other investigations. "It's part of our investigative technique," the source said.

Content on the ISONews.com site indicates that Rocci and the site's other managers tried to steer clear of becoming a site associated with creating or obtaining copies of pirated software, or "iso-images."

"Lets get some things straight. The staff here at iSONEWS.COM will in no way help anyone to obtain these iso-images reported here. iSONEWS.COM's sole purpose is reporting and giving you the latest news from the ISO scene, not to teach or help people to gain access to illegal software in any form," says a message on the site.

Users inquiring about where to find pirated software or tools would be banned from the site, according to the statement.

Terms of Service

Nevertheless, the government contends Rocci used ISONews.com as "the exclusive means to advertise and market the sale of mod chips to individuals in the online warez community," and a condition of Rocci's plea agreement was that the ISONews.com site would be surrendered to the government, the Justice Department statement says.

It was not clear whether Rocci was merely advertising his product on iSONews.com or whether the Web site itself was a vehicle for selling the mod chips. However, such distinctions were irrelevant, because Rocci owned and managed the site and its content.

"I don't think the distinction is well-founded. It was not an arms-length transaction here," the government source said.

While the government's seizure was, in theory, voluntary because it was part of a plea agreement, EPIC's Sobel sees links between the Justice Department's move with ISONews.com and the recent effort by the Drug Enforcement Administration to have visitors diverted to that agency's site when they attempt to access certain Web sites selling drug paraphernalia.

"This is a new law enforcement tactic, trying to seize Web sites in a variety of ways, either under duress or by court order," Sobel says. "It raises interesting issues about compelled speech, forcing somebody to substitute their content for government-sanctioned content, that I don't think anybody has thought through."

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