Some good news in the world of copyfighting! I mentioned this bill in last week’s link purge [11], but under the authorship of the entertainment Mafioso, PIPA [12] was intended to provide the DHS [13] and private corporations with additional authority to seize the top-level domains of dangerous terrorists file sharing websites and bring lawsuits against those, such as Google, who provide links to them (Google has already vowed to fight [14] any such measures). I don't know if the bill is officially dead, but for the time being it has been effectively put on hold by Senator Ron Wyden [15] (D-Oregon).
“The internet represents the shipping lane of the 21st century,” Wyden said in a statement. “It is increasingly in America’s economic interest to ensure that the internet is a viable means for American innovation, commerce, and the advancement of our ideals that empower people all around the world. By ceding control of the internet to corporations through a private right of action, and to government agencies that do not sufficiently understand and value the internet, PIPA represents a threat to our economic future and to our international objectives,” he said.
Even if you equate file-sharing with digital piracy you should care about killing this bill for several reasons:
When you consider the the War on Drugs [20] whose crippling expense is paralleled only by its spectacular failure, It’s inconceivable that we want to extend such tactics to the virtual world on behalf of a few, dying private companies.
Links:
[1] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/congress
[2] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/copyright-copyfighting-piracy
[3] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/entertainment
[4] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/intellectual-property
[5] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/internet
[6] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/law-enforcement
[7] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/piracy
[8] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/politics
[9] http://thehindsightfactor.com/category/blog-posts/techie-tuesday
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bun-Pirate.JPG
[11] http://thehindsightfactor.com/throwaway-thursday%E2%80%93copyfighting-edition
[12] http://www.publicknowledge.org/files/docs/Bill-PROTECT-IP-Act-2011.pdf
[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security
[14] http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20063963-261.html
[15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Wyden
[16] http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/04/us-customs-domain-se.html
[17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act
[18] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_security
[19] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/user/5688412/?src=api
[20] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs
[21] http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/once-again-sen-ron-wyden-puts-hold-in
[22] http://paidcontent.org/article/419-senator-throws-a-roadblock-in-front-of-anti-piracy-bill/
[23] http://www.americablog.com/2011/05/sen-wyden-places-hold-on-second.html
[24] http://www.zemanta.com/
[25] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthehindsightfactor.com%2Ftechie-tuesday-%25E2%2580%2593-leahy%25E2%2580%2599s-orwellian-protect-ip-act-blocked&linkname=Techie%20Tuesday%20%E2%80%93%20Leahy%E2%80%99s%20Orwellian%20Protect%20IP%20Act%20blocked%21
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