The Internet Blacklist Legislation – known as PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House – is a threatening sequel to last year’s COICA Internet censorship bill. Like its predecessor, this legislation invites Internet security risks, threatens online speech, and hampers Internet innovation. Urge your members of Congress to reject this Internet blacklist campaign in both its forms!
As drafted, the legislation would grant the government and private parties unprecedented power to interfere with the Internet’s domain name system (DNS). The government would be able to force ISPs and search engines to redirect or dump users’ attempts to reach certain websites’ URLs. In response, third parties will woo average users to alternative servers that offer access to the entire Internet (not just the newly censored U.S. version), which will create new computer security vulnerabilities as the reliability and universality of the DNS evaporates.
It gets worse: Under SOPA’s provisions, service providers (including hosting services) would be under new pressure to monitor and police their users’ activities. While PROTECT-IP targeted sites “dedicated to infringing activities,” SOPA targets websites that simply don’t do enough to track and police infringement (and it is not at all clear what would be enough). And it creates new powers to shut down folks who provide tools to help users get access to the Internet the rest of the world sees (not just the “U.S. authorized version”).
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has placed a hold on the Senate version of the bill, taking a principled stand against a very dangerous bill. But every Senator and Representative should be opposing the PROTECT IP Act and SOPA. Contact your members of Congress today to speak out!
We rarely post anything political here and we try to keep the comments non-polarizing when these topics come up – everyone is here to learn electronics, share and have fun. However, we’ve been asked by many many customers and friends to get the word out about SOPA. Please feel free to discuss this the comments, the smart community here has a lot to add to this we’re sure!
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I’m so glad you posted this. I, too, am not overly fond of throwing my political ideals into the public, but this is something everyone who uses the internet in any capacity should be standing together against.
I’m so glad you posted this. I, too, am not overly fond of throwing my political ideals into the public, but this is something everyone who uses the internet in any capacity should be standing together against.
We need less control of the Internet, not more! Please, people, read the SOPA for yourself. It puts the power to blacklist *suspected* pirate sites, at the root DNS level, in the hands of the MPAA and RIAA. Do those agencies really care about open standards and innovation? It also allows the blacklisting of any site that assists in “illegal content downloading”, which means bye-bye proxy servers. Please, support the EFF and help stop this terrible bill!
I’m so glad you posted this. I, too, am not overly fond of throwing my political ideals into the public, but this is something everyone who uses the internet in any capacity should be standing together against.
I’m so glad you posted this. I, too, am not overly fond of throwing my political ideals into the public, but this is something everyone who uses the internet in any capacity should be standing together against.
We need less control of the Internet, not more! Please, people, read the SOPA for yourself. It puts the power to blacklist *suspected* pirate sites, at the root DNS level, in the hands of the MPAA and RIAA. Do those agencies really care about open standards and innovation? It also allows the blacklisting of any site that assists in “illegal content downloading”, which means bye-bye proxy servers. Please, support the EFF and help stop this terrible bill!