STOP the internet blacklist

shopdeal

shopdeal

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May 2, 2010
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Saw this on demoniod when i logged in

COICA

In the United States, a new law proposal called The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) was introduced last week, and there will be a hearing in front of the Judiciary Committee this Thursday.

If passed, this law will allow the government, under the command of the media companies, to censor the internet as they see fit, like China and Iran do, with the difference that the sites they decide to censor will be completely removed from the internet and not just in the US.

Please see the following article from the Huffington Post for more information.

Stop the Internet Blacklist

And if you are a US citizen, please take the time to sign this petition
DemandProgress.org - Petition to Stop the Internet Blacklist!


Update: Also for US citizens, you can email your Senator from the following link and tell him or her your concerns about this bill

Tell Your Senator: No Website Blacklists, No Internet Censorship!
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It was put on the shelf, so it's essentially frozen, for now.

Even Without COICA, White House Asking Registrars To Voluntarily Censor 'Infringing' Sites | Techdirt

While there's been increasing attention paid to the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act" (COICA), the proposed law that would allow the government to require ISPs and registrars to block access to websites deemed to be "dedicated to infringing activities," it looks like the White House (which we had thought was against censoring the internet) appears to be working on a backup plan in case COICA doesn't pass.

That is, while most folks have been focused on COICA, the White House's Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IP Czar) Victoria Espinel has apparently been holding meetings with ISPs, registrars, payment processors and others to get them to agree to voluntarily do what COICA would mandate. While the meeting is carefully focused on stopping websites that sell gray market pharmaceuticals, if registrars start agreeing to censoring websites at the behest of the government, it's as if we're halfway to a COICA-style censorship regime already. ICANN, who manages the internet domain name system was asked to attend the meeting, but felt that it "was not appropriate to attend" such a meeting.

While Espinel has certainly been a lot more open to talking with those of us concerned about the state of intellectual property laws (and has actually seemed quite willing to pay attention to what we're saying -- which I appreciate), these kinds of meetings appear quite troubling. I understand why the meetings are focused on so-called "illegal pharmacies," because then everyone supporting these actions can hide behind the claim of "protecting Americans from dangerous fake drugs." But the truth is that while some online pharmacies are quite questionable, many are simply "gray market" attempts to import drugs to the US from elsewhere where the identical drugs are sold for much less. In a global economy, that should be allowed. In fact, one could argue that keeping drugs artificially expensive in the US does a lot more harm to Americans than the chance of them getting a fake pill.

On top of that, it seems out of line for the US government to be involved in pressuring these companies, whether they're ISPs, domain registrars, payment processors or ICANN itself, to "voluntarily" block websites without a trial or due process. Yes, I can recognize that there can be legitimate health concerns with some of these websites, but those are better dealt with elsewhere. If a company is selling fake or harmful drugs, then laws within that country should be able to deal with it. If there are concerns about such drugs getting across the border, then it seems like a matter for border control. Asking internet companies to act as de facto "voluntary" censors seems like a big step too far.

And, of course, if it starts with such gray market pharmacies, you can only imagine how long it will take until the RIAA/MPAA/etc. come calling for the same sort of "voluntary cooperation" from the same companies for sites "dedicated to infringing activities," potentially killing off all sorts of innovation, before the market has a chance to adapt. When world wide web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and tons of other internet luminaries have come out against COICA, shouldn't the White House be a bit more careful before trying to get various internet players to voluntarily do the same thing with even less due process?
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If this happens there would be a civil war, 4chan would be leading it. Can you imagine paying for porn, movies, and music?! Fuck the government
 
Regardless, no site should be blocked unless opted in by the visitor themselves. Not even Antivirus software will block a website totally - you can still click on a link to go.

Also, playing Devil's Advocate here:

How many additional sales has a software like Adobe Photoshop received from people who downloaded it off a Torrent, then went and stated the brand either in passing, at a meeting with a client, or by writing additional tutorials on how to use it? I know I converted at least 100+ people (that I know for a fact) before I had enough spare cash that I wanted to buy the suite.

While I doubt they could stop all piracy from said list, I do see a lot of software companies taking a hit or never becoming a brand name that they could have been otherwise.
 
Since the Senate Judiciary Committee approved, all that has to happen is for the President to sign the bill right? (I doubt he will veto it, since the November elections are over.)

This bill isn't just about fighting piracy and illicit sites, it's about shutting down free speech for the patriot movement in the infowar as it is gaining ground thanks to the internet and this bill is a way to shut us down. They can claim that anything that goes against the government views as being copy written and shut them down.

The government and the mega corporations are just like the mafia except they are legitimate because they own the country/world.
 
This was in my inbox this morning from DemandProgress.org

Looks like a slightly different spin . . .

_____ -- big news! Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to send the Internet blacklist bill to the full Senate,
but it was quickly stopped by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) who denounced it as "a bunker-buster cluster bomb" aimed at the Internet and
pledged to "do everything I can to take the necessary steps to stop it from passing the U.S. Senate."

Wyden's opposition practically guarantees the bill is dead this year -- and next year the new Congress will have to reintroduce the bill
and start all over again. But even that might not happen: Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Hollywood's own senator, told the committee that even
she was uncomfortable with the Internet censorship portion of the bill and hoped it could be removed when they took it up again next year!

This is incredible -- and all thanks to you. Just a month ago, the Senate was planning to pass this bill unanimously; now even the senator
from Hollywood is backing away from it. But this fight is far from over -- next year, there's going to be hearings, negotiations, and even more
crucial votes. We need to be there, continuing to fight.
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zimok said:
DISCLAIMER: TOR actually DECREASES your anonymity unless used in conjunction with encryption.
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Well yeah. Whenever I used it I encrypted. I just liked checking out all the .onion sites. Some neat stuff but also some "Holy shit" stuff.
 
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