The Look of Censorship to Come

TAMPA - Federal authorities in New York City have shut down 10 websites they say have stolen and streamed pay-per-view and other live sporting events including NFL games.

One of those sites, ADTHE.net, became popular among local football fans for providing live feeds of blacked-out Tampa Bay Buccaneers games. At least five bars in the area received cease-and-desist letters from the NFL last year for using the websites to show games.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents executed seizure warrants based on a court order unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. The warrants direct domain managers to lock down the websites.

Channelsurfing.net, Rojadirecta.com, Firstrow.net and HQ-Streams.net are among the 10 sites seized by federal agents.

On Tuesday, visitors to those sites were greeted with a page that informed users the site had been seized by federal investigators. The seals of the Department of Homeland Security, which handles cybercrimes, and the U.S. Department of Justice replaced links that once directed visitors to live sporting events.

By Wednesday, most of the sites had been shut down and didn't open in Internet browsers.

Court papers cite several live broadcasts of pro wrestling, ultimate fighting and professional football games authorities say were pirated in recent weeks.

Investigators say they hope to identify the website operators and charge them with copyright infringement. None of the 10 sites operated in the U.S.

ADTHE.net was "hosted on a computer … which is located at an Internet Service Provider in Sweden," court documents state.

When the Bucs first home game last season was blacked out, word of ADTHE.net spread among fans via Twitter and Facebook. All eight Bucs home games were blacked out. The NFL requires that home games be sold out 72 hours before kickoff in order to be shown on local television channels.

ADTHE.net didn't embed live videos on its site. Instead, it provided links for feeds that existed on other sites. The feeds were either hacked or captured by connecting a television cable box to a computer then uploading the videos online, court documents state.