However, I should expect nothing less from Illinois politicians. Everyone in this state will easily kowtow to whatever lobby is willing to throw money at their coffers.

I’m not sure what the best action is if one’s representatives are not directly involved with the bill.

One assumes that this bill would face court challenges if it’s as terrible as all that.

pirate DNS servers.

I predict a lot of new traffic to places like opendns, and that these servers will relocate to friendlier nations like canada, india, or (ironically) russia.

There will also be sites dedicated to tracking the dns changes for the sites primarily used for infringement.

Then they will have to recursively create laws which go after the sites to track the dns changes for the sites primarily engaged in infringement.. then the sites to track the dns changes for the sites to track the dns changes.. etc etc etc ad nauseum.

In the mean time, the piracy will continue while legitimate free speech takes yet another hit.

If plucky little Britain couldn’t stop the DE bill when there was a lot of opposition in the houses of parliament, I fear that there is no way this bill is going to be stopped.

PS – and that goes double for internet petitions

I would have expected better from congress. Orrin, you’ve been bought and paid for for years, and this is the best you can do? Shutting down arbitrary websites with no justification? Shit son, we’ve been able to do that since 1998.

Look to the new blood. The Obama administration wants to legally mandate encryption backdoors. THAT’S the kind of tyrannical power grab we’d like to see more of. Know what the best part is? It can’t even be enforced, so we get to do ALL KINDS of fun things in the name of pursuing justice! Like widespread and systematic man in the middle attacks! How cool will that be?

And all you’re bringing to the table is harassing websites without due process? Like anyone follows that anyway!

If this bill passes, I move that the final line of the American National Anthem be removed. The paranoia over terrorism these bast 10 years has certainly made “home of the brave.” false, and any attempt to ban knowledge is a good knock against “land of the free”.

The gist of it is this: if the site exists for the SOLE purpose of distributing pirated material with NO protections or counter-measures whatsoever, the government may order ISPs block their DOMAIN NAME(s) — if they registered the names within the US, provide service to the US, or list their prices in US dollars.

I’m not a lawyer, but it sounds like it means that pirate sites can still operate on IP addresses or just ban US traffic (measures I’m _sure most pirates would know how to get around). Just sayin’

-Anon (yes, definitely, anonymous)

Or of course, torrent and video hosting sites will simply play the cat and mouse game they’ve always been playing, and life goes on.

Either way, Congress is acting in a manner that can be sufficiently be described as following the idiot (MPAA). How’s that MPAA war going against copyright infringement?

It’s time to start voting for left wing no chance socialist candidates or right wing no chance libertarian candidates…anybody with a conscience. The more people do it, the more other people will do it and maybe in a couple of elections we’ll hit some critical mass.

I don’t work for free – got to cover my satphone time, you know – but if you want more specifics on strategy, my rates are reasonable.

Sponsor:
Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT]

Cosponsors:
Evan Bayh [D-IN]
Benjamin Cardin [D-MD]
Thomas Coburn [R-OK]
Richard Durbin [D-IL]
Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Lindsey Graham [R-SC]
Charles Grassley [R-IA]
Orrin Hatch [R-UT]
Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]
Herbert Kohl [D-WI]
Charles Schumer [D-NY]
Arlen Specter [D-PA]
George Voinovich [R-OH]
Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]

Bill text:

It’s terrible through-and-through. In addition to the core issue of creating a de facto national internet filter, it would also prevent any non-domestic sites from receiving donations or ad revenue through US based services. The judicial procedures are imbalanced, the definitions are expansive, the AG office is required to spend resources on enforcement, and it empowers the AG to create a second blacklist of sites based on allegations without judicial action (which providers will be pressured to filter as well though a selective immunity grant).

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with your recent decision to co-sponsor the outrageous S. 3804. This bill proposes another unconstitutional power grab on behalf of the movie and music industry, erecting a Great Wall of China around the Internet in the U.S., with no recourse or oversight from citizens or blackballed internet sites. Turning copyright law into a weapon for censorship and destruction of First Amendment freedom will certainly lead to more jail time and fines for Americans sharing information as they surely will circumvent the bans on world internet sites, but it will degrade American freedom, as our democracy is already degraded by the introduction of bills such as this.

Those who wish to protect “intellectual property” with such vehemence often point out that it is our only industry that remains strong during these economic times. Maybe it is time to review why our main export requires legions of lawyers, international agreements written in secret (ACTA), extension of copyright duration beyond the lifetime of any original creators, and the gross purchase of laws in this country by lobbyists.

Where are the great groups of citizens demanding these laws? They simply don’t exist. Americans don’t need to be protected from illegally copied content on the internet. We are perfectly safe from it. This is yet another example of how the U. S. Senate is a tool for lobbyists. I voted for President Obama. If this bill even gets out of Committee, it’s the final straw: I won’t vote for him again because he is associated with Democrats who play these silly games at the behest of vested interests and corporations who care nothing about the Constitution, only profits. Yours and the actions of Senator Leahy make the Tea Party voters in this country seem to actually make sense. I would say, though, that Government is not out of control, but it is no longer in the control of the people. Rather it is out to control the people at the behest of corporate masters.

Please reconsider this grossly negligent attack on the Constitution.

Very truly yours,

LOL