Congress Considers Bill to Censor Internet
(image source: PrisonPlanet.com)
US Senate
Protect IP Act (PIPA)
US House of Representatives
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
From the bill: “To prevent online threats to economic creativity and theft of intellectual property, and for other purposes.”
The Washington Post says,
If passed, PIPA would give the government and rights holders dramatic new powers to target websites accused of the unlicensed distribution of copyrighted content. Once identified, accused sites would have their domains disabled in DNS servers (the servers that match the domain name with the numerical IP address and make sure you go to the websites you want to), and search engines, advertising companies and any affiliated websites could be required to remove links to the offending site – effectively blacklisting the URL and placing undo burden on those associated with it to prove their innocence.
In many cases, website proprietors won’t even know PIPA has targeted them until their site has already been blacklisted under a temporary restraining order. They wouldn’t even get their day in court until their business has already been shut down.
This would be a problem under any legal regime that cared about the rights of the accused, but it’s quite more egregious given law enforcement’s sloppy use of its existent powers in the Internet realm — accidentally shutting down 84,000 websites earlier this year…
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, said,
The bills would overdo it — giving copyright holders and government the power to cut off Web sites unreasonably. They could be shut down, and search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo could be stopped from linking to them.
“The solutions are draconian,” “There’s a bill that would require ISPs [Internet service providers] to remove URLs from the Web, which is also known as censorship last time I checked.”
the weekly Standard says,
The bills essentially call for censorship of online speech in such a way, and with so little recourse for those accused of “infringing” on intellectual property rights.
Even in China they are calling it the “Great Firewall of America.” At least the Chinese are enjoying the irony of the U.S. government moving toward a legal regime that would give it carte blanche to seize and take down websites on the basis of “infringement.”
Modern Survival Blog says,
Congress and the executive branch sure seem to be in a hurry to rip up more of our liberties.
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The more that you can get away with the more that has to be hidden. If the government had their way the internet would be ONLY commerce driven in which every site visited would either have something to sell, sites that are charged for visting and of course taxed, or government oriented material suitable for viewing, at of course for a tiny fee. I know this sounds cynical and radical, but those in charge NEVER want you to think for yourself. The internet is free information from free thinking people that have wonderful ideas and thoughts that we progress much in the learning curve. Case in point this site and so many other sites that help us prepare and be ready, and of course teach us much that we don’t know.
The censorship of the internet is just about the final straw before the government CONSIDERS banning any free thought. The government AGAIN, tries to spin away from what they REALLY want by TELLING us that they are protecting us against unlicensed copyrighted material from being distributed. Shall we say what we mean fearless leaders, “protecting” us from free thoughts from influencing the general public. Shut down of pirate radio stations will become the shutdown of “PIRATE” internet sites that they deem as illegal, immoral, or a bad disruptive influence.
The difference between pirate radio and the internet is that with pirate radio you need mega watts to get your message out to enough people. With the internet it only takes a simply blog or someone that posts your ideas and opinions where countless numbers can see it. This is what any government is afraid, too many people listening to some sound reason that is not in line with what those in control desire. You might as well have an solar flare EMP knock out communications if the government gains full censorship of the internet, just about the same results.
Some of the laws regarding intellectual property and copyright make no sense especially in the light of modern technology. It’s a shame that we are probably going to cripple the single greatest technological breakthrough in the 20th century to accomodate laws and precedents from the 19th century.
There is an on going information war and the powerz want to turn off their competitions lights, i.e. MSB, The intel hub, Before it’s news, etc. Alternative news sites are the antidote for the state run, main stream media, brainwashing drug being fed to us. This is becoming more and more obvious as our own government turns its legislation against the people instead of any of the many other items in today’s long list of crisis’. Our government always has been and always will be the masters of provocation, case in point, Iran. In my humble opinion, our 1% in DC is passing bazaar, constitution killing legislation in an attempt to draw people into a fight to justify their despicable actions. This is no different than saying, “We need to pass laws to cage up all wild animals because they are all dangerous. And to prove my point, just walk up to any of them, start beating them with this stick and see what happens.” This is classic, SOP for the way our 1% spin merchants operate.
I just want to thank you for being the only place I could find an article on this topic. Keep the good stories coming.