[Isoc India Chennai] Internet Goes on Strike Today
- From: Sivasubramanian M <isolatedn@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: isocmadras@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, isocchennaiannounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:46:50 +0530
Hello
The *Stop Online Piracy Act* (*SOPA*), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R.
3261 <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.112hr3261>, is a
bill<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%28proposed_law%29>that was
introduced in the United
States House of
Representatives<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives>on
October 26, 2011. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of
U.S. law enforcement and copyright
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright>holders to fight online
trafficking in copyrighted intellectual
property <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property> and counterfeit
goods <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit_consumer_goods>.
The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of
Justice<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Department_of_Justice>,
as well as copyright holders, to seek court
orders<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_order>against websites
accused of enabling or facilitating copyright
infringement <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement>.
Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include
barring online
advertising <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_advertising> networks and
payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing
website, barring search engines
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine>from linking to such
sites, and requiring Internet
service providers
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_service_provider>to block
access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized
streaming <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media> of copyrighted
content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten
such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to
Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated
to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who
knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.
A development such as this is extremely harmful to the Internet and would
significantly alter the way Internet works. This could not possibly be
construed as a US National issue. The implications of US decisions on
Internet Policy stretches beyond its borders, worldwide. SOPA / PIPA seek
intervention on sites that are non-US sites as well, and naturally US would
do extended work on the basis of an ACT like this to cover the rest of the
world with the 'wisdom' enshrined in the Act.
As far as Internet is concerned, the issues are transnational. So, it is
appropriate that we black out the Internet Society India Chennai for a day
to join the WebSites worldwide taking part in the SOPA strike.
http://isocindiachennai.org
For more information about the SOPA strike, http://sopastrike.com/
Sivasubramanian M
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