Originally published on ReadWriteWeb

You may have noticed the home pages of your favourite torrent-tracking sites look a little different today: fewer search fields and options than you’re used to, and maybe a few more U.S. Department of Homeland Security crests and seizure notices than before.

I for one had no idea that the same superagency charged with keeping American skies free from explosive devices was also responsible for keeping American hard drives free from bootleg copies of Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. (To the movie and recording industries, I’m sure that seems entirely appropriate – their only misgiving being that DMCA violations aren’t punishable with extraordinary rendition.)

The whole idea behind the DHS was to break down siloing and integrate security efforts. Reviews of the agency’s success on that count have been mixed. But maybe we should be careful what we wish for…