Month: April 2016

Looking back at the dajaz1.com case, and related issues

Some time ago, I wrote about the improper seizure of the domain dajaz1.com, which was at the time a legitimate blog (whether or not it’s about music is, of course, up to debate). I had not followed up on this story immediately after its resolution, but after finding out that the records were finally unsealed motivated me to write a somewhat belated retrospective. The actual website at dajaz1.com is of course long gone, a victim of the lengthy period of time during which it was offline (over a year).

Whether or not I agree or identify with the content that is/was on dajaz1.com is immaterial. I still consider it absolutely outrageous that this was allowed to happen in the US, with (as far as I know) zero compensation paid to the owners of the domain for the time they were unable to use it. On a popular website, a year’s worth of advertising revenue can easily pay for not only the website itself but a good chunk of the personal expenses of the owners, and in some cases quite a bit more than that, to the point where the owner need not have a real “9 to 5” type of job.

There is no getting around it: the government basically robbed the domain’s owners, and then over a year later, said “oops, we slipped” and gave the domain back. By then, of course, dajaz1.com’s original audience was long gone and the domain was effectively worthless. It’s not unlike stealing a car (for the sake of argument, an exotic like a Lamborghini) and letting it sit somewhere in the sun for around a year without driving it, before giving it back to its rightful owners; sure, they have the car back. But how much is it going to cost to get it running again? How much value have the rightful owners lost?

It’s the same here. When dajaz1.com is up and running again, it will be a huge undertaking to rebuild the site to what it was. This would have been the case even if the website’s owners had been able to do so the moment they got the domain back.

Anyhow, on to other related matters. Three years ago today (on 2013-04-05), the documents related to the dajaz1.com seizure were unsealed. Some time after that, The Electronic Frontier Foundation published the documents from the dajaz1.com case for everyone to look over. I have made these documents available on BitTorrent as well, mainly for ease of downloading. I have also prepared a new page on BitTorrent for those new to it, with recommendations on software and configuration, as I expect to be making documentation related to other posts available this way as well.

(Sidenote: Originally when I downloaded the files from EFF.org, they all came up inside the browser and I had to save them individually. I didn’t realize the PDF link next to each one allowed saving to disk easily for offline viewing. I am keeping the torrent online though, just in case some might prefer that method.)

Finally, notice I said when dajaz1.com is up and running again? I looked at what was there just out of curiosity, and I found this:

Dajaz1.com is being relaunched 05-1-2016

Just on principle, this is good news. Once the site is back online, the good guys will have finally won this one.

[Edit 2023-10-13: Update BitTorrent magnet link to reflect new hybrid (v1/v2) torrent]

Revisiting dirty hockey play: aftermath of the Raffi Torres suspension

Shortly after the incident occurred, I wrote a piece about the Raffi Torres suspension for an illegal and dangerous hit in preseason play on Jakob Silfverberg of the Anaheim Ducks.

I looked up what happened to Torres since then. It’s not much of a suprise, really. He was assigned to the AHL affiliate the San Jose Barracuda on a conditioning loan, and then traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs along with two draft picks in exchange for two players, Roman Polak and Nick Spaling. According to Rotoworld, Torres is done for the season after undergoing a medical procedure possibly related to his past knee injuries.

I don’t wish injury or illness on anyone. That isn’t who I am today. But the facts speak for themselves, and it is rather oddly fitting that a player who has engaged in reckless hits that have injured other players in the past is now missing time himself due to injuries, and now will have missed two entire regular seasons due to a combination of injuries and suspensions. Call it karma, fate, poetic justice, or whatever you want.

While Torres did play six games in the AHL before hanging it up for the season, it’s quite possible that nasty hit on Jakob Silfverberg will be Torres’s last NHL appearance. My hope is that players new to the NHL get a chance to learn from Torres’s mistakes, and what happens when one keeps disregarding the rules and the safety of other players, and thus acquires a reputation as a habitually dangerous player.