Could Congress be crippling the Internet?

[Klukie]

Two pieces of legislation making their way through Congress could change the Internet completely, for site owners and users.

The bills, backed by major players like the MPAA and RIAA, are set to be passed before Christmas, against the objections of tech advocacy groups and major tech companies, including Google.

PROTECT IP and SOPA
The threat facing the Internet comes in the form of two bills -- the Senate version known as PROTECT IP (SB 968) and the House version of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), HR 3261. Both pieces of legislation accomplish the same goal: Passing sweeping provisions that give governments and corporations the legal cover to take down sites for not doing enough to protect copyright holders.

So what does that mean, exactly? If a copyright holder believes a portion -- any portion -- of a website infringes on copyright, under PROTECT IP/SOPA, they can file a complaint and force payment processors, ad services and search engines to cut off a site, giving them five days to stop financial support. Even sites that are legally protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbors would be vulnerable to economic consequences, making both bills function as end-runs around the protections established by DMCA.


http://current.com/groups/news-blog/93542130_could-congress-be-crippling-the-internet.htm

[Aerows]

1. No

They can't. They can try, but there are too many knowledgeable people that will prevent it.

[Klukie]

2. Oh...Thanks for clearing that up...I was worried until you provided that reassurance. n/t

[Aerows]

3. I'm serious

I'll die before that happens.

[MedleyMisty]

4. A lot of us would

Sent messages to my representatives and told them that. I said "If you want to make Occupy grow to the point where you can't put it down by violence unless you're willing to massacre people, then go ahead and vote for this."

[snot]

5. Are you kidding??? They & their bosses have already crippled it somewhat, &

they're hard at work to bring it under total control.

Sure, a tiny percentage of highly-skilled hackers can find cracks and maybe always will; but the people who really know will tell you, the internet is already partly f*cked and fast getting f*cked-er.

See, e.g., Lawrence Lessig at http://www.lessig.org/content/columns/foreignpolicy1.pdf .