Police move to clamp down on illicit websites
Moves by the Metropolitan police and Serious Organised Crime Agency to seek the authority to shut down websites deemed to be engaged in criminal activity have raised concerns of increasing online censorship.
Both organisations are lobbying Nominet, the body which oversees the UK domain name registry, after laws introduced last year opened the door to it being taken over by the government if it failed to provide sufficient assistance to the police.
Nominet has already disabled the addresses of more than 3,000 “.uk” domain names, but authorities are now pushing for a permanent system.
At present most suspensions have been limited to those engaged in the distribution of counterfeit goods but police are seeking a broader remit to tackle all areas of e-crime.
Civil rights campaigners fear any expanded remit could be abused however, citing the removal from the web of a site offering advice to student demonstrators.