[AfrICANN-discuss] Will 2012 be the year the Internet dies?

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/bert-knabe/2012-01-02/will-2012-be-year-internet-dies#.TwHYi4HNmCc

Will 2012 be the year the Internet dies?
Submitted by Bert Knabe on January 2, 2012 - 6:00am

This month two very dangerous bills will continue to be pushed in the
House and Senate. The "Stop Online Privacy Act" (SOPA) and the
"Protect IP Act" (PIPA) are among the most anti-Constitutional bills
considered in the last decade. If passed they will make it possible
shut down websites in the U.S. without warning and limited right to
appeal. It's only because of the "National Defense Authorization Act"
President Obama signed into law Saturday that they aren't the worst of
2011. More on the NDAA next time.

Eighty three of the scientists and engineers who created and developed
the internet have signed an open letter to Congress expressing their
concerns. Their concerns aren't minor. The technical concerns should
be enough to lay the bills to rest:

    If enacted, either of these bills will create an environment of
tremendous fear and uncertainty for technological innovation, and
seriously harm the credibility of the United States in its role as a
steward of key Internet infrastructure. Regardless of recent
amendments to SOPA, both bills will risk fragmenting the Internet's
global domain name system (DNS) and have other capricious technical
consequences. In exchange for this, such legislation would engender
censorship that will simultaneously be circumvented by deliberate
infringers while hampering innocent parties' right and ability to
communicate and express themselves online.

Unlike laws against yelling "fire" in a crowded theater, these bills
don't really do anything to protect anything, but do quite a bit to
damage everything. When you start looking at possible political and
economic consequences, it's even worse:

    The US government has regularly claimed that it supports a free
and open Internet, both domestically and abroad. We cannot have a free
and open Internet unless its naming and routing systems sit above the
political concerns and objectives of any one government or industry.
To date, the leading role the US has played in this infrastructure has
been fairly uncontroversial because America is seen as a trustworthy
arbiter and a neutral bastion of free expression. If the US begins to
use its central position in the network for censorship that advances
its political and economic agenda, the consequences will be
far-reaching and destructive.

In the end, these bills are perfect censorship tools. Having a site
removed from the DNS listings is insanely easy. That's the idea. Make
it easier for the groups owning intellecutal property to take down
sites that might be stealing it - or helping others steal it. It's so
easy you don't even have to give any evidence, just the accusation is
enough to get a site taken down.

The companies that would be hurt most by these bills are well aware of
the potential damage. An article by Declan Mcullagh at CNET.com says
that some of the largest companies on the internet - Google, eBay,
Amazon and others - are contemplating an Internet blackout, possibly
for the January 23rd, the day before the Senate starts debate on PIPA.
Imagine what would happen if for a day you couldn't access Facebook,
Twitter, or any other major social network. You couldn't go to eBay or
Amazon to buy or sell stuff. Youtube and other video sites are down.
And all of them have a placeholder telling you that this is exactly
what could happen if the Congress passes an Internet censorship bill
similar to PIPA and SOPA. Would you sit up, pay atten, and contact
your representatives? You should, because that is exactly what could
happen.

SOPA and PIPA are dangerous. They don't do anything for the problem
they are allegedly trying to solve and could do a whole lot of damage.
A good place to learn more is the EFF website. The article 2011 in
Review: Fighting the Internet Blacklist Bills is a good place to
start. Then contact your congressmen. For your senators go to the U.S.
Senate website. For your Representative go the the U.S. House website.
Tell them to fight SOPA (House) and PIPA (Senate).