Website Design Blog

Recently 1,219 web sites were closed down by Nominet, the body that runs .co.uk domains, on the instructions of the Metropolitan police. The Met were investigating the sites because the goods they sold were counterfeit or just plain non-existent. That’s great : web criminals should be caught, and web shoppers should be protected. But web shopkeepers need a little more protection from the law.

We own one counterfeit DVD. It’s the second Lord of The Rings film. A stall outside WH Smiths was selling it at half the cost of the version on sale inside the shop, so we bought it.

It’s given the family much more amusement than we expected, because at the point where the Orcs tell the Hobbits “No one will save you now” the sub-titles read “Gonads will save you now !”

The stall was shut down because the owner went to court then to jail. That’s fine. The police put their case in a court of law, the stall holder had the chance to put his case, and a judge made a decision.

Shutting down the online shops needed neither a court nor a judge, and the owners had no chance to put their case. The Met instructed Nominet to shut down the sites, so they did.

Some of the sites have since been reinstated. But that’s not enough. Shutting down a site – perhaps someones livelihood – should require the same level of proof as shutting down a shop or market stall.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 8:33 pm and is filed under Business .