STOP SOPA, SAVE THE INTERNET

Blog boingboing.net ^ | Friday, Nov 11, 2011 | Cory Doctorow

[RicocheT]

The worst bill in Internet history is about to become law. This bill is a workaround to net neutrality and is bigger than net neutrality. PROTECT IP (S. 968)/SOPA (HR. 3261) creates the first system for Internet censorship - this bill has sweeping provisions that give the government and corporations leeway and legal cover for taking down sites.

This is the worst piece of Internet legislation in history - the lawmakers who have been sponsoring (Leahy, Lamar Smith, Conyers) are wasting taxpayer dollars on a bill that would break the very fabric of the Internet, create an Internet blacklist, kill jobs and great startup companies, huge blogs, news sites and social networks.

Every site which has user-generated content, posts links or videos to anything copyrighted in it could face new legal threats. If a copyrights holder disliked links you have on your site, they could simply file a complaint with a payment processor (Visa, PayPal), who would then have 5 days to respond to their request or risk legal ramifications. If bills like this are allowed to pass, we'll be spending another $47 million dollars every year to help corporations fill out and enforce Internet blacklists.

Sites that would be legal under the DMCA and its safe harbor provisions would now risk losing everything for allowing user generated content. It also has added in the streaming felony bill that would make it so ordinary Internet users are at risk of going to jail for 5 years for post any copyrighted work that would cost $2,500 to license. And because copyright is so broad, that means videos with copyrighted music in the background, kids in a school play, people singing karaoke could all be a risk.

[RicocheT]

Here they go again - so called liberals line up to stop free speech, fair comment and incidental links in the name of copyright.

[basil]

Ping!

[skinkinthegrass]

BUMP

[TBP]

This is how liberals demonstrate their commitment to free speech.

[OnlyTurkeysHaveLeftWings]

So... start calling your congress people and tell them to cut it out, what’re you waiting for?

[af_vet_rr]

http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/11/16/mpaa.okay.with.internet.blocks.mum.on.dns.issues/

MPAA members during a Congressional hearing for the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) largely evaded questions of the possible censorship and technical security problems from the proposed bill. The movie studio-backed group's representation, headed by executive affairs and policy lead Michael O'Leary, argued that it was acceptable for the bill to enforce a blacklist of websites because such policies had worked well in other countries. The commentary went so far as to imply that there might be a model to follow in countries like China, where blacklists are used not just for generally transgressive content but also to silence political dissent.

"Did the MPAA just suggest that the U.S. should follow China's Internet lead?" CNET's Declan McCullagh said in mid-hearing. "I'm sure I misheard that [SOPA] hearing comment. Right?"

Unfortunately the members of the MPAA have bought off enough Congress critters to make this happen.

[af_vet_rr]

So... start calling your congress people and tell them to cut it out, what’re you waiting for?

Chances are the MPAA got to them first, and you'd have to cough up a lot of money to get their attention.