US government officials believe they have "worked very hard to shut down rogue websites" a year after they introduced an initiative to clamp down on IP theft. This was the message from Erik R Barnett, assistant deputy director at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ahead of last month's anniversary of the Operation in Our Sites programme. The operation, which targets internet counterfeiting and piracy, was initiated on June 30 2010 by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) – the arm of ICE that deals with IP theft.