American Censorship Day

[Jerichi]

I know I'm two days late for this, but it's too important not to make a post about...

http://americancensorship.org/

Today, Congress holds hearings on the first American Internet censorship system.
This bill can pass. If it does the Internet and free speech will never be the same.
Join all of us to stop this bill.

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.

And an article...

Imagine a world in which any intellectual property holder can, without ever appearing before a judge or setting foot in a courtroom, shut down any website's online advertising programs and block access to credit card payments. The credit card processors and the advertising networks would be required to take quick action against the named website; only the filing of a “counter notification” by the website could get service restored.

It's the world envisioned by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) in today's introduction of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the US House of Representatives. This isn't some off-the-wall piece of legislation with no chance of passing, either; it's the House equivalent to the Senate's PROTECT IP Act, which would officially bring Internet censorship to the US as a matter of law.

Calling its plan a “market-based system to protect US customers and prevent US funding of sites dedicated to theft of US property,” the new bill gives broad powers to private actors. Any holder of intellectual property rights could simply send a letter to ad network operators like Google and to payment processors like MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal, demanding these companies cut off access to any site the IP holder names as an infringer.

The scheme is much like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) "takedown notices," in which a copyright holder can demand some piece of content be removed from sites like YouTube with a letter. The content will be removed unless the person who posted the content objects; at that point, the copyright holder can decide if it wants to take the person to court over the issue.

Here, though, the stakes are higher. Rather than requesting the takedown of certain hosted material, intellectual property owners can go directly for the jugular: marketing and revenue for the entire site. So long as the intellectual property holders include some “specific facts” supporting their infringement claim, ad networks and payment processors will have five days to cut off contact with the website in question.

The scheme is largely targeted at foreign websites which do not recognize US law, and which therefore will often refuse to comply with takedown requests. But the potential for abuse—even inadvertent abuse—here is astonishing, given the terrifically outsized stick with which content owners can now beat on suspected infringers.

I, personally, am outraged. This is absolutely ridiculous and against the spirit of both the Internet and the idea of free speech. This is also not the first time Congress has tried to pull this shit.

Please, contact your representatives, those who are in the US (and 18 years or older because I'm not). This cannot stand.

[Talon87]

We have a thread on this, Jerikins. Check the debate forum. ^^; But your thread is cool too.

[Jerichi]

Dammit.

[unownmew]

Unfortunately, the bills are not down, and not out, despite vast public opposition.


http://www.opencongress.org/articles...o-Hard-to-Kill

[Princess Ana]

This is pure bullshit.

FUCKING LOBBYISTS!

Sorry, but really? About ready to just completely ignore this bill if it goes through. It is bullshit.

If this bill goes through, we need to organize a boycott of the entertainment industry. They need to see that this is government of the people, not of money.

[deoxys]

And how exactly do you plan on ignoring a bill that will directly block sites and change the way you use search engines?

Boycott's never work. Especially one that would effect the entertainment industry. America is too complacent to care.

edit: 1,000th post woo

[unownmew]

Unfortunately, I have to agree. The bill allows Internet service providers to censor whatever they feel like, and will make many attempts by most people to act on the internet, as they did in the past normally, criminal.

The only thing we can do, is, lobby against it ourselves, and keep mailing our representatives. A boycott wouldn't work unless it was fully organized and included the majority of the millions of complacent, citizens.

The problem is, the entertainment industry, besides being a political donation goldmine, is also a key factor in creating the very complacency in citizens that allows lawmakers to enact such ridiculous bills. That's how they did it in the Roman Empire. Make life entertaining enough that people forget about the miserable conditions, and you're home free to rule against the benefit and desires of the people for quite some time. By the time resentment has reached the tipping point and sparked violent revolts, the rulers and their vassals (Politicians and the entertainment industry in this case) who created the miserable state of affairs, are long dead, having enjoyed their power and money "very much, thank you "

That's why, the less government, and the less it can get done to "fix problems," the better off we all will be.