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mdlbearOriginally posted by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nagasvoice at Signal Boost--contact the House re: censorship of the Net
nagasvoice at Signal Boost--contact the House re: censorship of the NetNot just gakked but copied completely from ![[personal profile]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nikibee via other folks who are likewise concerned.
That's here:
http://nikibee.livejournal.com/398789.html
Just the fact it will involve use of censorship programs developed by China should be enough to send off warning klaxons for everybody.
And I'm not just talking about USians, I'm talking everybody, because this will clamp the entire WWW.
The first is the PROTECT-IP Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_IP_Act
Description
The Act establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court. The PROTECT IP Act would allow copyright owners – movie studios and other content providers – simply to accuse a website of infringement, which could lead to that site being shut down by court order and entire links to the site being wiped clean from the Internet. The bill is so poorly written that it would allow any copyright owner to shut down a legitimate retail website, such as Amazon or Best Buy, by alleging that one product being sold on the site could “enable or facilitate” an infringement. It could even allow any content owner to block access to the Patent Office website if it receives and posts a patent application for a product that is believed to use content without permission. The PROTECT IP Act will hurt American innovation. This bill will give one side the power to put the other side out of business and this is dangerous beyond words. [6]
Opposition
The legislation is opposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Yahoo!, eBay, American Express, Google, Reporters Without Borders, and Human Rights Watch. Internet entrepreneurs including Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley signed a letter to Congress expressing their opposition to the legislation. [3]
Current status
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill [last spring], but Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on it. [3]
The second, and main one today, is the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
Description
SOPA is something of a companion bill to the Senate's Protect IP Act that passed the Senate earlier this year. Protect IP aimed to target Web companies hosting unauthorized content from movies, songs or software. It also dealt with the trade of counterfeit goods over the Internet. SOPA however, goes much further than the first bill. It grants the government further powers to go after web sites that are using copyrighted content, makes many more people susceptible to legal action, and would shut down entire domains for a singular violation. [5]
The House Stop Online Piracy Act will expand the powers of domestic law enforcement to police even foreign Web sites that violate U.S. copyright and intellectual property law. It would allow the FBI to seek injunctions against foreign Web sites that steal music, films, software and other intellectual property created by U.S. firms. The bill also includes provision that could hold third parties — payment-processing and other partners — responsible for piracy and counterfeiting on other sites. It would also do away with the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and make social websites like YouTube, Tumblr and Facebook, that host user content responsible for ensuring that their users do not post infringing material. [2][4]
Risks:
Website Blocking - The government can order service providers to block websites for infringing links posted by any users.
Risk of Jail for Ordinary Users - It becomes a felony with a potential 5 year sentence to stream a copyrighted work that would cost more than $2,500 to license, even if you are a totally noncommercial user, e.g. singing a pop song on Facebook.
Chaos for the Internet - Thousands of sites that are legal under the DMCA would face new legal threats. People trying to keep the internet more secure wouldn't be able to rely on the integrity of the DNS system. [1]
Opposition and their actions:
Opponents of the bill include tech giants such as Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Reddit, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay and Wikimedia Foundation, as well as human rights organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Human Rights Watch. [2] Other opponents include Reddit, MetaFilter, 4chan, Boing Boing, and Creative Commons.
Yahoo left the Chamber of Commerce because of the Chamber's support of these bills. [7]
Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay, and Mozilla co-wrote a letter to Senate and House lawmakers urging Congress to reconsider the measures. They fear the proposals would invite lawsuits and empower law enforcement to shut down their operations if a copyrighted movie or song appeared on their sites without their authorization. They also believe that this would create an "internet blacklist bill" that would encourage censorship, kill jobs and give US authorities unrivalled powers over the world's websites. That letter appeared in The New York Times as a full-page ad on Wednesday. [5][8]
On November 16, Tumblr, Mozilla, Reddit, MetaFilter, 4chan, Boing Boing, and Creative Commons were among many other Internet companies that protested the Stop Online Piracy Act by participating in a so-called "American Censorship Day". They displayed black banners over their site logos with the words "NO CENSORSHIP".[2]
Current status
There’s a hearing on that bill going on today (Nov. 16) in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill has a good chance of passage, because it’s backed by powerful corporate interests and bipartisan majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate.
Where to go for more information:
Americancensorship.org
http://americancensorship.org/
Infographic
http://americancensorship.org/infographic.html
SOPA Should Be Stopped: 5 Things To Know About the Controversial Bill
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/250888/20111116/sopa-stopped-5-things-know-controversial.htm
ONTD Political: Today is Internet Censorship Day
http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/8945044.html
The US Stop Online Piracy Act: A Primer
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/244011/the_us_stop_online_piracy_act_a_primer.html
My opinion:
Guys, clearly both of these bills are A Bad Idea. I was concerned enough to contact my representative about it and I'm not one to contact members of congress willy nilly. In fact, the only other time in my life that I can recall contacting anyone was when I sent a message to Obama about DOMA/DADT/ENDA. Please take a a few seconds to contact your representative about this.
What you can do:
1. Email your representative! There are many options for this.
Go to this site,
http://americancensorship.org/
enter your name and address, and a form email will be sent to your representative; or,
Use this site
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/pipa_house
which is Protect IP specific; or,
Write your own, personalized message by going to this site
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
to get the name and contact info of your house representative.
I just sent mine this message:
I am writing because congress is considering two well-intentioned but deeply flawed bills, the PROTECT-IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
As written, they would betray more than a decade of US policy and advocacy of Internet freedom by establishing a censorship system using the same domain blacklisting technologies pioneered by China and Iran.
The Internet is an amazing tool that has made a huge difference in my life and the lives of everyone that I know. I urge you to vote no on these bills.
Thank you,
My full name
My city
2. Call your representative and leave a message! They take calls more seriously than form emails.
Sources for this post:
1 - http://americancensorship.org/
2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
3 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_IP_Act
4 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/stop-online-piracy-act-sopa-sparks-backlash-from-facebook-google/2011/11/16/gIQAnaSOSN_story.html
5 - http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/250888/20111116/sopa-stopped-5-things-know-controversial.htm
6 - http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-internet-control-bill-now
7 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/stop-online-piracy-act-sopa-sparks-backlash-from-facebook-google/2011/11/16/gIQAnaSOSN_story.html
8 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/16/sopa-condemned-internet-blacklist-bill?newsfeed=true
nikibee via other folks who are likewise concerned.That's here:
http://nikibee.livejournal.com/398789.html
Just the fact it will involve use of censorship programs developed by China should be enough to send off warning klaxons for everybody.
And I'm not just talking about USians, I'm talking everybody, because this will clamp the entire WWW.
The first is the PROTECT-IP Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_IP_Act
Description
The Act establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court. The PROTECT IP Act would allow copyright owners – movie studios and other content providers – simply to accuse a website of infringement, which could lead to that site being shut down by court order and entire links to the site being wiped clean from the Internet. The bill is so poorly written that it would allow any copyright owner to shut down a legitimate retail website, such as Amazon or Best Buy, by alleging that one product being sold on the site could “enable or facilitate” an infringement. It could even allow any content owner to block access to the Patent Office website if it receives and posts a patent application for a product that is believed to use content without permission. The PROTECT IP Act will hurt American innovation. This bill will give one side the power to put the other side out of business and this is dangerous beyond words. [6]
Opposition
The legislation is opposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Yahoo!, eBay, American Express, Google, Reporters Without Borders, and Human Rights Watch. Internet entrepreneurs including Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley signed a letter to Congress expressing their opposition to the legislation. [3]
Current status
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill [last spring], but Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on it. [3]
The second, and main one today, is the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
Description
SOPA is something of a companion bill to the Senate's Protect IP Act that passed the Senate earlier this year. Protect IP aimed to target Web companies hosting unauthorized content from movies, songs or software. It also dealt with the trade of counterfeit goods over the Internet. SOPA however, goes much further than the first bill. It grants the government further powers to go after web sites that are using copyrighted content, makes many more people susceptible to legal action, and would shut down entire domains for a singular violation. [5]
The House Stop Online Piracy Act will expand the powers of domestic law enforcement to police even foreign Web sites that violate U.S. copyright and intellectual property law. It would allow the FBI to seek injunctions against foreign Web sites that steal music, films, software and other intellectual property created by U.S. firms. The bill also includes provision that could hold third parties — payment-processing and other partners — responsible for piracy and counterfeiting on other sites. It would also do away with the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and make social websites like YouTube, Tumblr and Facebook, that host user content responsible for ensuring that their users do not post infringing material. [2][4]
Risks:
Website Blocking - The government can order service providers to block websites for infringing links posted by any users.
Risk of Jail for Ordinary Users - It becomes a felony with a potential 5 year sentence to stream a copyrighted work that would cost more than $2,500 to license, even if you are a totally noncommercial user, e.g. singing a pop song on Facebook.
Chaos for the Internet - Thousands of sites that are legal under the DMCA would face new legal threats. People trying to keep the internet more secure wouldn't be able to rely on the integrity of the DNS system. [1]
Opposition and their actions:
Opponents of the bill include tech giants such as Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Reddit, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay and Wikimedia Foundation, as well as human rights organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Human Rights Watch. [2] Other opponents include Reddit, MetaFilter, 4chan, Boing Boing, and Creative Commons.
Yahoo left the Chamber of Commerce because of the Chamber's support of these bills. [7]
Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay, and Mozilla co-wrote a letter to Senate and House lawmakers urging Congress to reconsider the measures. They fear the proposals would invite lawsuits and empower law enforcement to shut down their operations if a copyrighted movie or song appeared on their sites without their authorization. They also believe that this would create an "internet blacklist bill" that would encourage censorship, kill jobs and give US authorities unrivalled powers over the world's websites. That letter appeared in The New York Times as a full-page ad on Wednesday. [5][8]
On November 16, Tumblr, Mozilla, Reddit, MetaFilter, 4chan, Boing Boing, and Creative Commons were among many other Internet companies that protested the Stop Online Piracy Act by participating in a so-called "American Censorship Day". They displayed black banners over their site logos with the words "NO CENSORSHIP".[2]
Current status
There’s a hearing on that bill going on today (Nov. 16) in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill has a good chance of passage, because it’s backed by powerful corporate interests and bipartisan majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate.
Where to go for more information:
Americancensorship.org
http://americancensorship.org/
Infographic
http://americancensorship.org/infographic.html
SOPA Should Be Stopped: 5 Things To Know About the Controversial Bill
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/250888/20111116/sopa-stopped-5-things-know-controversial.htm
ONTD Political: Today is Internet Censorship Day
http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/8945044.html
The US Stop Online Piracy Act: A Primer
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/244011/the_us_stop_online_piracy_act_a_primer.html
My opinion:
Guys, clearly both of these bills are A Bad Idea. I was concerned enough to contact my representative about it and I'm not one to contact members of congress willy nilly. In fact, the only other time in my life that I can recall contacting anyone was when I sent a message to Obama about DOMA/DADT/ENDA. Please take a a few seconds to contact your representative about this.
What you can do:
1. Email your representative! There are many options for this.
Go to this site,
http://americancensorship.org/
enter your name and address, and a form email will be sent to your representative; or,
Use this site
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/pipa_house
which is Protect IP specific; or,
Write your own, personalized message by going to this site
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
to get the name and contact info of your house representative.
I just sent mine this message:
I am writing because congress is considering two well-intentioned but deeply flawed bills, the PROTECT-IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
As written, they would betray more than a decade of US policy and advocacy of Internet freedom by establishing a censorship system using the same domain blacklisting technologies pioneered by China and Iran.
The Internet is an amazing tool that has made a huge difference in my life and the lives of everyone that I know. I urge you to vote no on these bills.
Thank you,
My full name
My city
2. Call your representative and leave a message! They take calls more seriously than form emails.
Sources for this post:
1 - http://americancensorship.org/
2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
3 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_IP_Act
4 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/stop-online-piracy-act-sopa-sparks-backlash-from-facebook-google/2011/11/16/gIQAnaSOSN_story.html
5 - http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/250888/20111116/sopa-stopped-5-things-know-controversial.htm
6 - http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-internet-control-bill-now
7 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/stop-online-piracy-act-sopa-sparks-backlash-from-facebook-google/2011/11/16/gIQAnaSOSN_story.html
8 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/16/sopa-condemned-internet-blacklist-bill?newsfeed=true
no subject
Date: 2011-11-19 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-19 02:29 pm (UTC)