SOPA

The internet protests SOPA / PIPA

For those who don’t know, a number of major websites will be going offline tomorrow to protest SOPA and PIPA, including wordpress, reddit, Wikipedia and the cheezeburger sites. Tomorrow may be the most productive day ever on the modern internet. Google will also be linking to information about SOPA tomorrow.
I had some people ask me about the bills today and have been looking for explanations of the issues and why these laws are so problematic.

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SOPA and PIPA update

There is quite a bit of vocal opposition to the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) making its way through the House of Representatives and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) making its way through the Senate. The opposition seems to have had an effect. I blogged about the bills late last year.
CNet reported today that the DNS provision was pulled from SOPA. This resolves one, but certainly not the only problem with SOPA. Also today, OpenCongress.org posted a letter from 6 co-sponsors of the Senate bill to Majority Leader Reid asking him to cancel the vote on PIPA.
Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make their voice heard by their elected representatives.
 

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The Constitutionality of SOPA

Lawrence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard, says SOPA violates the first amendment.

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SOPA / PIPA

I’ve not mentioned anything about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it’s companion bill the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) that are currently making their ways through Congress. Both bills put a lot of obligation on the ISPs to stop bad traffic on the Internet. Unfortunately, it seems no one writing the bill asked anyone with technical or operational experience for input. Many of the obligations are going to significantly impact ISP functioning and will probably degrade service for users.
The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group sent a letter to congress yesterday (PDF link), outlining the issues with SOPA and PIPA. I found it explained the bills and the flaws much better than many other summaries.

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