RRD:There is a bill in Congress that threatens the functioning of the internet,and,potentially,your free speech rights.
It is a bill that has been drafted and redrafted in different versions with different names:COICA,(the Combating Online Infringements & Counterfeits act),PIPA(the Protect Intellectual Property Act) aka the Protect IP Act,The E-Parasite Act,& SOPA(the Stop Online Piracy Act).
Under whatever name all the variants share two things in common: 1.They are intended to stop online piracy of intellectual property. 2.They go to far and give the government broad powers to take down legitimate,non-infringing content.And those powers could be abused to suppress free,speech.
The history of the legislation is convoluted.Rather than rehashing it, in detail I will give you a brief overview & then point you to the links which support my assertions. 1.The bill permits content and blogs to be taken down without adequate legal safeguards to protect the innocent.(See "legal problems with the bill" below) 2.The bill will have the unintended side effect of "breaking" the internet by its requirement to block certain DNS addresses(the technical details are spelled out in the letter of the internet engineers linked to below).
RRD:The technical problems with the law. An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the Senate Judiciary Committee | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/open-letter Tim Berners-Lee Comes Out Against COICA Censorship Bill; Shouldn't You? | Techdirt
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100927/10290611182/tim-berners-lee-comes-o... RRD:Argues that Protect IP could outlaw TOR (The Onion Router),a service used by political dissidents to protect themselves from their dictatorships.
PROTECT-IP Act Becomes E-PARASITE (And Gets Much Worse) - HotHardware
http://hothardware.com/m/News/PROTECTIP-Act-Becomes-EPARASITE-And-Gets-Much-W... RRD:The legal problems with the law:
The Volokh Conspiracy » Once Again, the Copyright/Trademark Tail Tries to Wag the Internet Dog
http://volokh.com/2010/11/13/once-again-the-copyrighttrademark-tail-tries-to-... The PDF of Law Professors arguing COICA(the original bill)was unconstitutional,referred to above.Though the name has changed,the bill presents the same problems. http://www.publicknowledge.org/files/docs/LawProfCOICA.pdf OTHER LINKS: Sequel To COICA Bill, The PROTECT IP Act, May Be Even Worse - TechCrunch
http://m.techcrunch.com/2011/05/10/sequel-to-coica-bill-the-protect-ip-act-is...
Son Of COICA: PROTECT IP Act Will Allow For Broad Censorship Powers, Even Granted To Copyright Holders | Techdirt
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110510/13285714230/son-coica-protect-ip-ac...
Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back – And It’s Worse than Ever | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/disastrous-ip-legislation-back-%E2%80%9... What Congress Can Learn from the Recent ICE Seizures | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/02/what-congress-can-learn-recent-ice-seiz... New Letter From Artists & Content Creators Against PROTECT IP/E-PARASITE Act | PHP Hosts http://www.phphosts.org/blog/2011/10/new-letter-from-artists-content-creators...
Ron Wyden Speaks Out Against COICA: We Shouldn't Toss Out The First Amendment Just To Go After A Few Bad Actors | Techdirt
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110216/11305113129/ron-wyden-speaks-out-ag...
It is a bill that has been drafted and redrafted in different versions with different names:COICA,(the Combating Online Infringements & Counterfeits act),PIPA(the Protect Intellectual Property Act) aka the Protect IP Act,The E-Parasite Act,& SOPA(the Stop Online Piracy Act).
Under whatever name all the variants share two things in common: 1.They are intended to stop online piracy of intellectual property. 2.They go to far and give the government broad powers to take down legitimate,non-infringing content.And those powers could be abused to suppress free,speech.
The history of the legislation is convoluted.Rather than rehashing it, in detail I will give you a brief overview & then point you to the links which support my assertions. 1.The bill permits content and blogs to be taken down without adequate legal safeguards to protect the innocent.(See "legal problems with the bill" below) 2.The bill will have the unintended side effect of "breaking" the internet by its requirement to block certain DNS addresses(the technical details are spelled out in the letter of the internet engineers linked to below).
RRD:The technical problems with the law. An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the Senate Judiciary Committee | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/open-letter Tim Berners-Lee Comes Out Against COICA Censorship Bill; Shouldn't You? | Techdirt
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100927/10290611182/tim-berners-lee-comes-o... RRD:Argues that Protect IP could outlaw TOR (The Onion Router),a service used by political dissidents to protect themselves from their dictatorships.
PROTECT-IP Act Becomes E-PARASITE (And Gets Much Worse) - HotHardware
http://hothardware.com/m/News/PROTECTIP-Act-Becomes-EPARASITE-And-Gets-Much-W... RRD:The legal problems with the law:
The Volokh Conspiracy » Once Again, the Copyright/Trademark Tail Tries to Wag the Internet Dog
http://volokh.com/2010/11/13/once-again-the-copyrighttrademark-tail-tries-to-... The PDF of Law Professors arguing COICA(the original bill)was unconstitutional,referred to above.Though the name has changed,the bill presents the same problems. http://www.publicknowledge.org/files/docs/LawProfCOICA.pdf OTHER LINKS: Sequel To COICA Bill, The PROTECT IP Act, May Be Even Worse - TechCrunch
http://m.techcrunch.com/2011/05/10/sequel-to-coica-bill-the-protect-ip-act-is...
Son Of COICA: PROTECT IP Act Will Allow For Broad Censorship Powers, Even Granted To Copyright Holders | Techdirt
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110510/13285714230/son-coica-protect-ip-ac...
Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back – And It’s Worse than Ever | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/disastrous-ip-legislation-back-%E2%80%9... What Congress Can Learn from the Recent ICE Seizures | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/02/what-congress-can-learn-recent-ice-seiz... New Letter From Artists & Content Creators Against PROTECT IP/E-PARASITE Act | PHP Hosts http://www.phphosts.org/blog/2011/10/new-letter-from-artists-content-creators...
Ron Wyden Speaks Out Against COICA: We Shouldn't Toss Out The First Amendment Just To Go After A Few Bad Actors | Techdirt
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110216/11305113129/ron-wyden-speaks-out-ag...
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