New bill threatening U.S. privacy rights passes U.S. House

While the first attempt to violate privacy rights of Americans called SOPA was withdrawn, it has now come back as CISPA( Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act). Opponents have already called it SOPA2. The new act was supposed to address concerns expressed by critics of the first bill.

Not only does the new bill not solve those concerns an amendment actually makes the new bill broader in its application. A large number of organizations and individuals oppose the bill. See this site and also here.

The bill passed in the house by a vote of 248 to 168, not even close. The bill will now go to the senate. There needs to be a lot more opposition before the bill will be withdrawn again. Although the bill strengthens information sharing it also encourages the intelligence community to collect more information on U.S. citizens whenever they think this could possibly enhance national security.Critics expected this new bill to reduce the authority to snoop and to make companies liable for illegally providing the government with information. An amendment did not do this but actually broadened grounds that government could use to collect information.

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) condemned passage of the bill and expects that by the time the bill reaches the Senate there will be more popular opposition. Although there is no date for the bill to be debated in Senate, some fear that the bill might be quickly introduced and debated to avoid scrutiny. For more see this article

ACTA an international agreement that challenges internet freedom

While U.S. anti-piracy legislation such as SOPA has been blocked for now internationally the move to censor the internet and protect big media companies is thriving with the passage of ACTA.

ACTA stands for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The agreement is being negotiated between the U.S. Canada, Japan, and South Korea among other countries. The bill would enforce copyright and outlaw counterfeit goods but critics say it would also censor the internet.

The agreement was all done in secret away from the public eye. One European Parliament official reportedly resigned because of the secrecy involved. The official said:"I condemn the whole process which led to the signature of this agreement: no consultation of the civil society, lack of transparency since the beginning of negotiations, repeated delays of the signature of the text without any explanation given, reject of Parliament's recommendations as given in several resolutions of our assembly."

There have been protests in Poland over ACTA. The entertainment industry is protecting their monopoly all in the name of Free Trade. The specific bills that we have already seen in the U.S. are carrying through on promises made in the ACTA treaty. SOPA will be back soon.

U.S. and New Zealand authorities arrest owners of file-sharing website

As if to show that the U.S. acting for lobbyists of the recording industry can shut websites without any new laws, authorities shut down MegaUpload a very popular file sharing site. Authorities claim the site violates existing piracy laws.

Police in New Zealand working with U.S. authorities arrested the two co-founders of the website and two other staff members. A New Zealand detective inspector said about 70 police were involved and raided 10 properties.

Prosecutors call the group a Mega Conspiracy insisting that the scheme costs copyright holders more than half a billion dollars and is earning 175 million in subscriptions and advertising. If convicted the group could face long prison sentences on several charges.

MegaUpload has itself been in a court battle with the Universal Music Group. That group forced You Tube to take down an ad for MegaUpload because they claimed that it violated copyright. But the ad was made for MegaUpload by artists who also were under contract with the UMG group. MegaUpload was taking UMG to court claiming that it wrongfully forced You Tube to remove their ad.

The timing of the U.S. action is suspicious since it comes just after an entire day of protests by many groups against the SOPA anti-piracy act. Groups such as Anonymous were quick to react.

The U.S. justice department website was attacked by hackers as well as sites belonging to the recording industry trade groups and Universal Music Group. Government action in shutting down sites is not going to be costless. While the MegaUpload group may be getting rich off their racket the other side get even richer by legally gaining monopoly rights to artistic works.

Many artists actually favor the file sharing sites since they make their work much more widely available. Some public celebrities have voiced support for MegaUpload without being paid to do so. Shutting down sites such as MegaUpload many regard as simply attempts to censor the internet. For more see this Al Jazeera article and also here.

For defenders of free markets copyright and patents have always been theoretically problematic. Copyright and patents both restrict production and trade and the free flow of knowledge in the interests of returning profits to the monopoly patent or copyright holder. The result is that black and grey markets develop as the market system works to destroy the monopoly powers. Hence the state must intervene to protect the monopoly. You then get the ludicrous situation where Free Trade agreements have at their core monopoly Intellectual Property Rights. Such Rights are key to the expansion of global capital and even without world government means will be found to enforce such rights as the coöperation between New Zealand and U.S. authorities shows.

In all this the consumer has no power. The consumer to purchase legally must pay the price set by the monopoly copyright holder. But the grey and black markets offer cheaper prices often for the same quality product. It is hardly surprising that there is often much popular support for sites such as MegaUpload.

SOPA not dead or shelved but surging back

 Some news reports sound as if the SOPA, legislation designed to stop on-line piracy, was in effect killed by the House of  Representatives in the U.S. However, the act is simply delayed.
   Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas and author of the bill said “To enact legislation that protects consumers, businesses and jobs from foreign thieves who steal America’s intellectual property, we will continue to bring together industry representatives and Members to find ways to combat online piracy. “Due to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks, markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act is expected to resume in February. “I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that saves American jobs and protects intellectual property.”
  In other words the bill is simply delayed. As soon as a consensus is reached it  will return. No doubt the hope is that the huge surge in opposition will subside and the legislators can quietly pass the bill without much fuss. Of course it will be a new and improved version!'
   Wikipedia and other sites are going dark for a whole day today and Google has announced that it will insert a link to a page that details their opposition to the bill.

Google Facebook and Twitter oppose Online Piracy Act

   A New York Times op-ed has called SOPA the Great Firewall of America and noted that the bill is quite broad, too broad for critics. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is supported by Hollywood corporations.'
    Google, Facebook, and Twitter see the legislation as threatening them. The co-founder of claimed that the act would rank the U.S. with the most oppressive nations in the world. Perhaps the U.S. is trying to catch up and surpass China in Internet control. Of course the Chinese are not noted for their enforcing laws against piracy!
     Co-founders of  Twitter also lashed out at the legislation claiming that the act gave federal regulators too much power to censor the web. Google, Amazon, Facebook, and others are threatening to turn their pages black and with Internet censorship warnings that will ask users to contact politicians about voting on the bill.
  There is a Senate debate scheduled for January 24 on the bill. Perhaps the bill will have been changed by then. If it isn't there could be big news before the debate even starts if  the Big Guns on the Internet take on the Hollywood Internet Copyright Protection Gang.  For more see this article and here as well.
 
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