PROTECT IP Act

[Niklas]

I`ve just stumbled upon this and it make me gasp with a loud noise.

What do you guys think of this Bill? Though i`m not of American Heritage, it seems like a possibility for the whole World, to pass such Bill`s or Law`s in other Countries as well.

Censorship of the Internet. This is the main Goal imo.

There is a Website dedicated to the topic. I`m baffled about the fact that this hasn`t been discussed here before. (The Search didn`t bring anything related up i might add)

http://americancensorship.org/

There`s a Video on Vimeo about the topic.


http://vimeo.com/31100268

/discuss

[Star Scream]

damn........... cant believe that they are going to pass a bill on about this

[Snackman]

damn........... cant believe that they are going to pass a bill on about this

Aren't they taking a vote?

[travz21]

Gotta love Obama. It's amazing people even think up these bills, much less Obama letting them see the light of day. Should be auto-vetoed. This the worst bill proposed since the Patriot Act. Ultra dangerous to liberty, not just to Americans, but to everyone in the world. The DOJ could shut down sites from anywhere in the world.

[Jordan]

Lol good luck America. Seems we've avoided this in Australia, for now.

[Benjamin]

I'm also surprised how little attention this is getting. It looks like major internet companies are teaming up to plead for the bill's rejection:


Dear Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Grassley, Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Conyers:

The undersigned Internet and technology companies write to express our concern with legislative measures that have been introduced in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, S. 968 (the “PROTECT IP Act”) and H.R. 3261 (the “Stop Online Piracy Act”).

We support the bills’ stated goals — providing additional enforcement tools to combat foreign “rogue” websites that are dedicated to copyright infringement or counterfeiting. Unfortunately, the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of web sites. We are concerned that these measures pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation, as well as to our Nation’s cybersecurity. We cannot support these bills as written and ask that you consider more targeted ways to combat foreign “rogue” websites dedicated to copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, while preserving the innovation and dynamism that has made the internet such an important driver of economic growth and job creation.

One issue merits special attention. We are very concerned that the bills as written would seriously undermine the effective mechanism Congress enacted in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to provide a safe harbor for internet companies that act in good faith to remove infringing content from their sites. Since their enactment in 1998, the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions for online service providers have been a cornerstone of the U.S. Internet and technology industry’s growth and success. While we work together to find additional ways to target foreign rogue sites, we should not jeopardize a foundational structure that has worked for content owners and Internet companies alike and provides certainty to innovators with new ideas for how people create, find, discuss, and share information lawfully online.

We are proud to be part of an industry that has been crucial to U.S. economic growth and job creation. A recent McKinsey Global Institute Report found that the Internet accounts for 3.4 percent of GDP in the 13 countries that they studied, and, in the U.S., the Internet’s contribution to GDP is even larger. If Internet consumption and expenditure were a sector, its contribution to GDP would be bigger than energy, agriculture, communication, mining, or utilities. In addition, the Internet industry has increased productivity for small and medium-sized businesses by 10%. We urge you not to risk either this success or the tremendous benefits these new platforms have brought to hundreds of millions of Americans and people around the world.

We stand ready to work with the Congress to develop targeted solutions to addressing the problem of foreign rogue websites.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Sincerely,

AOL
eBay
Facebook
Google
LinkedIn
Mozilla
Twitter
Yahoo!
Zynga

[Pidgeon]

If it passes where am I gonna get my porn, jk jk :shifty:

[Jeff]

This bill goes hand in hand with the S. 978 bill. More internet censorship bullshit that is probably going to end up being passed.

[travz21]

Lol good luck America. Seems we've avoided this in Australia, for now.

We can shut down sites you use, too. This bill will affect everyone.

[Ryo Hazuki]

I've been meaning to make a post about this but every time I start to or even thought about it I got really depressed at the state of things and how shitty our leaders are at the moment and I guess I forced myself into an abyss of gloom.

Really, I don't have any good feelings about this situation at all.

[Jordan]

We can shut down sites you use, too. This bill will affect everyone.
The bill definitely won't be passed in its current form, and most of the sites I use are smart enough to avoid it in any case.

[Timothy]

Lobbying dollars at work.

[Rebecca Black]

I have no proof of this, but I did read it on a youtube comment that Obama himself opposes the bill, and will veto if it passes through. But then again I've reserached and could not find this anywhere. :/

But yeah, the bill is one of the most rediculous things I've ever seen.

[Jordan]

Probably because Obama has a tumblr.