[clue] [NON-TECHNICAL] Fwd: [FSF] Stop the Internet Blacklist legislation

[Lorin Ricker]

With apologies for any perceived political/activist slant, I do think 
that things like the following are important and worth consideration... 
After all, it's *our* Internet, and Congressional intervention cannot 
possibly help make it a better thing.

Please read this, and consider lending your own signature to the online 
petition.  So far, I've found EFF to be very considerate with personal 
information (email address in particular), but make your own decision.

Thanks,
   -- Lorin

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[FSF] Stop the Internet Blacklist legislation
Date: 	Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:17:38 -0400
From: 	Free Software Foundation <info at fsf.org>
Reply-To: 	Free Software Foundation <info at fsf.org>
To: 	Lorin Ricker <lorin at rickernet.us>

Join us, EFF, Demand Progress, and Fight for The Future in opposing the
latest round of Internet Blacklist legislation.

Take action and sign petitions on the following sites:

     * EFF
 
<https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=%208173>
     * Demand Progress <http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/protectip_docs>
     * Fight For the Future <http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/>

The EFF explains the legislation, which is titled the PROTECT-IP Act in
the Senate and SOPA in the House, as follows:

     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”).

This legislation is an example of the severely flawed thinking you get
when approaching issues in terms of "intellectual property
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html>".

We helped stop this bill before
<http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/the-internet-blacklist-coica-is-back-take-action-before-thursday>, 

but now it's back under a different name. Please take a minute and help
stop this one too!

In Solidarity,

Josh, John, Matt, and Richard

--
Follow us on identi.ca at http://identi.ca/fsf | Subscribe to our blogs
via RSS at http://fsf.org/blogs/RSS
Join us as an associate member at http://fsf.org/jf

Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

51 Franklin Street
Fifth Floor
Boston, MA 02110-1335
United States