Due process went out of the window a long time ago when the US showed everyone that it is certainly possible and even admissible to seize domains without any sort of process. The US (department of homeland security, no less!) started seizing domains about 2 years ago. They went and basically took down any domain that was related to large scale piracy (demonoid) or counterfeit goods (sites that sold fake gucci bags, that kind of stuff..). The other kind of site that they targeted were mostly sports streaming sites (ones that streamed ESPN, etc.).
It was obvious that the UK would follow soon enough seeing that such a thing was entirely possible. Of course when the US seized a spanish website (rojadirecta) domain, they were challenged in court and lost. [0] There were also several other incorrect seizures where the US government ended up seizing sites that had nothing to do with any illegal activity and then returning them a year later [1]. This is what happens when you ignore due process.
Most small service providers and ISPs feel threatened when a big government like the US comes after them. Unless they have properly defined protocols for dealing with this kind of stuff, the support rep will probably buckle under pressure and hand over the data.
Personally, I've seen instances where domain registrars are often requested for private registration data without court orders or any sort of legal basis. Some registrars hand out the data. Some registrars email their customers asking them to transfer away (so stop being our customers) to continue protecting their privacy. Some registrars actually have the guts to say no. It really varies.
We're certainly at a point now where governments can easily coerce internet businesses to bend to their will. There will be a brave few who will stand tall but I don't know how long it will be before their backs/businesses are broken and bent (lavabit being a recent example).
Of course the UK government probably doesn't have access to the root name servers and therefore is left with sending out notices. But there's no telling when governments (who are of course sponsored by corporations as we all know by now..) will start cooperating with each other for such take down requests. Sort of like the reverse surveillance agreements with Germany/Australia/etc. (can't spy on my own citizens ? no worries, you spy on mine, I'll spy on yours, and we'll exchange notes!)
And I thought the dark days of the internet were in the 90s...
It was obvious that the UK would follow soon enough seeing that such a thing was entirely possible. Of course when the US seized a spanish website (rojadirecta) domain, they were challenged in court and lost. [0] There were also several other incorrect seizures where the US government ended up seizing sites that had nothing to do with any illegal activity and then returning them a year later [1]. This is what happens when you ignore due process.
Most small service providers and ISPs feel threatened when a big government like the US comes after them. Unless they have properly defined protocols for dealing with this kind of stuff, the support rep will probably buckle under pressure and hand over the data.
Personally, I've seen instances where domain registrars are often requested for private registration data without court orders or any sort of legal basis. Some registrars hand out the data. Some registrars email their customers asking them to transfer away (so stop being our customers) to continue protecting their privacy. Some registrars actually have the guts to say no. It really varies.
We're certainly at a point now where governments can easily coerce internet businesses to bend to their will. There will be a brave few who will stand tall but I don't know how long it will be before their backs/businesses are broken and bent (lavabit being a recent example).
Of course the UK government probably doesn't have access to the root name servers and therefore is left with sending out notices. But there's no telling when governments (who are of course sponsored by corporations as we all know by now..) will start cooperating with each other for such take down requests. Sort of like the reverse surveillance agreements with Germany/Australia/etc. (can't spy on my own citizens ? no worries, you spy on mine, I'll spy on yours, and we'll exchange notes!)
And I thought the dark days of the internet were in the 90s...
[0] - https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-returns-seized-domains-to-strea...
[1] - http://torrentfreak.com/feds-return-seized-domain-111208/