Presented to the American Bar Association Committee 355, February 22, 2012 (Washington, DC)
Is it piracy or old business models, billions of dollars lost or billions of dollars earned, or Hollywood or Silicon Valley? Understanding how the Internet and Domain Name System (DNS) works and various proposals to enhance intellectual property protection is important, no matter where one stands on the business issues. This talk will give a high level overview of how the DNS works, typical criminal attacks on the DNS, and how those attacks are mitigated. It will then go over the mechanics of domain seizures, domain blocking, and domain filtering. Current law such as the DMCA and some legislative initiatives, such as OPEN, SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA all touch upon these technologies.