What are the Implications of the Passing of SOPA, and PROTECT IP?
Protecting an open internet, the people who are content users, and especially the creators of said content are some big issues facing today's legislature. Some ideas for new regulations known as The PROTECT IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property) Act of 2011, or S.968, and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), or H.R. 3261, or In the days of Parliament, even the invention of the printing press made the British government attempt to control the source of media production. However, now even Parliament is criticizing us. (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/244247/european_parliament_joins_criticism_of_sopa.html) Since 1996, Congress and the Senate have attempted to pass several bills regarding these issues; most have been dropped after one proposal, or modified and included in The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The DMCA, for short, changed the United States copyright law to change with the growing pace of digitized media formats. Copyright infringement, distribution, and reproduction were criminalized to punish those who attempted to bypass control measures already in place. (http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf) Since enacted in 1998, many changes or amendments have occurred but most importantly WIPO Copyright Treaty to keep up with the advancing technologies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIPO_Copyright_Treaty) .
Some mentionable proposed, but dismissed acts consist of The Pirate Act, or The Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004, the Fair Use Act (Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing United States Entrepreneurship Act of 2007), and COICA, or Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act. (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-108s2237rfh/pdf/BILLS-108s2237rfh.pdf) All mentioned acts consider the individual's right to protect their own productions, while balancing a share of power with the amount of governmental regulating. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAIR_USE_Act#cite_note-0) Because cyberspace has no national boundaries, it has become a big challenge to control, police, and cease the existence of many “rogue” websites, considered offensive.
Intellectual properties, or original works are protected by copyrights. Copyrights protect the rights of the creators and owners (artists, writers, photographers, composers) “from unauthorized and uncompensated appropriation”. (p. 335) The invention of moveable type included in the printing press was a large proponent of the Protestant Reformation. The ease and speed of reproduction helped Martin Luther to exploit the financial wrongdoings of the Catholic Church. (p.40-41) In the beginning of our fight for freedom of speech, the government had attempted to censor all printers of press. Woodrow Wilson enacting the Espionage Act, and Congress passing the Smith Act in 1940 represent attempts at the governmental control of information, or censorship.
Our text quotes that “Prior restraint occurs when the government tries to stop someone from publishing or airing a story that it fears will damage the government”. In some ways, I feel this passing could be viewed as an attempt at prior restraint of new social media outlets. It also will definitely kill jobs. (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111117/15492016808/senators-rand-paul-jerry-moran-maria-cantwell-all-warn-that-protect-ip-will-kill-jobs.shtml)
Copyright piracy or copyright infringement one of the first copyright laws, originally protected American authors and American publishers only, was a challenge to have recognized Internationally. The Copyright Law of the United States was enacted in 1976. It states that original intellectual properties are pieces of “work” that can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated directly like books- or through indirect means through a music playing device, or such as choreography. (p. 335)
Two International Conventions have been held regarding copyright protection and infringement laws. The Berne Convention first held in 1902 being the most recognized, and the Universal Copyright Convention, created to cater to U.S demands.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Copyright_Convention ) The United States did not initially want to sign with the Berne Convention, and did not until 1989.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1790) The Berne Convention borrowed most of its text from the Statue of Anne enacted in 1710, as our textbook states. In the Statue of Anne, it vested the rights of the intellectual property to the creator or author of the work, versus the original legal rights being to the printer. (p.335)
The Pirate Act was included in the The Intellectual Property Protection Act (2004), but failed to pass through the House of Representatives. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Act#cite_note-0)
A shockingly similar bill named COICA was attempted to pass through the House and Senate in November, 2010. Passing COICA would have entailed that regardless of whether or not the website had committed a crime, the Attorney General would have the power to shut down the websites operations before a trial has taken place. (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111s3804rs/pdf/BILLS-111s3804rs.pdf) This is the same fear most people have with the passing of this bill, and you can see it happening slowly already. For instance, take thepiratebay.org, which was once shut down by the Attorney General blacklisting. They have found a way to surpass current copyright measures, like Mediafire.com, and only ridicule their opposers (http://thepiratebay.org/legal.)
However, because of the scrutiny placed upon the idea of the government limiting the internet, these do not pass. Democratic government guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press to all citizens. Freedom of speech and Freedom of Press have come a long way since the explanation in our Constitution. In short, this bill could effectively bypass constitutional rights- like the right to a trial by jury. Methods to attempt to tackle the divide between presented and hidden information could be considered like the Freedom of Information Act. Freedom of Information Act was established in 1966 by Congress. Private citizens have effectively used FOIA to gain access to public records, and uncover governmental activities occurring or that have occurred. (p.334)
The Fair Use Doctrine describes the types of limited lawful use without owning or obtaining a license of a release to do so. (p. 336) This includes photocopies, audio/visual/ and digital hard copies, for the purpose of intended education and research. With the enactment of these Acts, this concept is disturbed. Media law is in charge of regulating radio and television broadcasting. In an effort to ensure that it's content is of public interest while respecting citizens right to freedom of speech, and how many governmental attempts at limiting said freedoms for the “greater good” has always been an ongoing battle. (p.323)
Fair Use Act is the term assigned to the category of copyright law covering certain cases of limited lawful use without license or release. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAIR_USE_Act)
Essentially, had this act passed we could have already been on our way towards protecting YouTube and other possibly infringing sites. I think it is absolutely a non-profit act, due to the fact that it is meant to circumvent. However, I believe that the omittance of multi-platform copying for personal use is still unacceptable and was included in the proposed Fair Use Act. The issues of concern, here, can help us understand the insurmountable effects of PROTECT IP AND SOPA acts.
P2P file sharing has supposedly cost the music industry more than $5 Billion annually in lost revenues, depending on the source and increasingly since the late 90's. The Mass Media Revolution textbook cites $250 billion as the number of revenue lost. (p.341) The MPAA website states an average of $7-20 Billion lost due to pirated music. (http://blog.mpaa.org/BlogOS/post/2011/06/24/Internet-Engineer-George-Ou-Debunks-Claims-PROTECT-IP-Will-Break-the-Internet.aspx) The RIAA has a specific link devoted to the effects of piracy, and is quoted to support this bill. (http://www.riaa.org/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy-online-scope-of-the-problem) The OECD stated originally “ $200 billion annually” was lost, but updated in 2009 to an estimated “$250 billion”. (http://www.iccwbo.org/uploadedFiles/BASCAP/Pages/Global%20Impacts%20-%20Final.pdf ) However, Jon Stewart shares an article written last year from the website pcworld.com that quotes compiled evidence against file sharing damage estimates could not be “estimated at, nor corroborated,” evidence unsubstantiated and impossible to determine the methodology of revenues and jobs lost.(http://www.pcworld.com/article/194203/government_says_data_estimating_piracy_losses_is_unsubstantiated.html) (http://fightforthefuture.org/colbert-sopa/)
There have been multi-focuses from the passing of this bill. According to most speaking out against the bill, they believe it is relevant to copyright infringement, protecting artists intellectual property and being able to better enforce this digitally. However, there is no due process involved in the new regulations regarding possibly infringing websites. Some extreme proposals for what this bill is offering to lend service to is protecting our troops, and boosting jobs. (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111115/17200316783/sopa-sponsors-pass-sopa-to-protect-troops-everyone-else-wtf.shtml) Another extreme idea by Congressman Smith states (when comparing piracy to child pornography) benefits from the passing of this bill would be to protect Americans from outsourcing their prescriptions to other countries. These illegal pharmaceuticals are possibly tainted, and not generally regulated by the FDA which then pose apparent health risks. However, the police already control trafficking at the border. (http://www.digital-digest.com/news-63212-Congressman-Dismisses-SOPAs-Threat-to-Freedoms-Says-Google-Is-Self-Serving.html)
In the new-new media industry, the potential for job growth could actually be hindered by regulating the Internet in this manner. (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/sopa-hollywood-finally-gets-chance-break-internet) If there are limits posed upon these new social media websites, and collaborative, multi-platformed media sites, it could hinder their growth, reduce new small site start up rates, and risk the loss of job opportunities attributed to this growing field. (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111117/15492016808/senators-rand-paul-jerry-moran-maria-cantwell-all-warn-that-protect-ip-will-kill-jobs.shtml) In the next 20-25 years, it was suggested “digital natives” will be in positions of power in our Congress and Senate, much like our tech-savvy Barack Obama.
They have already tried to make streaming a felony, a system with ten strikes of streaming and you would be fined and charged, and three strikes of copyright mentioned as well. (http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/ten_strikesakid=700.450896.5hVZPC&rd=1&t=1) The websites caught in these infringing acts would loose support from advertisement companies, billing companies, and deemed socially illegal if these acts pass. The current laws do not claim company owned copyright streaming as a felony, or a crime. (http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/three_strikes/?akid=campaignpage)
I do not entirely blame the ease of piracy for its prevalence, and neither does one article. (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/why-young-people-pirate-pssst-its-not-just-about-money/7581 ) Money is tight, there is so much available on the Internet, and it is fairly easy- or a task you can master are some of his proposed reasons for young people pirating.
Streaming, file sharing- direct like KazaA and indirect like Mediafire, was ruled as a legal, non-infringing website in a court case. (http://torrentfreak.com/rapidshare-not-guilty-of-copyright-infringement-us-court-rules-100520/) Could this development of torrents being used for piracy successfully evade Congressional attempts to blacklist the Internet? Maybe we should consider some of the highly profitable marketing schemes such as Amazon.com, iTunes, and Netflix for legally selling these products to consumers. I agree with Zack Whittaker and blame the technology and advertising companies for not employing more narrowcasted research towards other methods of combating piracy than limiting Internet's websites. (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/why-young-people-pirate-pssst-its-not-just-about-money/7581?pg=3&tag=content;siu-container)
The most mentioned celebrity in the reference to internet career start up, and use for promotion is Justin Bieber. This young Canadian posted videos of other people's copyrighted music with his own vocals and video performance added, and gained his stardom. Justin Bieber has spoken out against the passing of this bill, and outright encouraged fans to copyright- but not in the sense you would think. Bieber references their performances of his work, and that it shows they are interested in his music. In fact, a website known as FreeBeiber.com was created in order to prove the point that poor copyright laws could have put him in jail. Under copyright law, you are able to perform copyrighted acts for entertainment. Copyright laws currently are very limited on the internet. I personally know I can find any song I would like to hear on the internet, with a user created video background. Big movie and big music are a part of the approval towards passing this bill. Multiple sources have referred them this way. Big movie and music industries are worried about piracy destroying revenue, infringing copyright laws, and infringing upon our safety as consumers, but backed by many more lobbyists than the Internet companies. (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/internet-censorship-sopa/)
Many different people have spoken out against SOPA and PROTECT IP, including Nancy Pelosi, and Zoe Lofgren. (http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/194441-overnight-tech-pelosi-comes-out-against-sopa) "The bill is mislabeled... This is not protecting children from Internet pornography. It's creating a database for everyone in this country for a lot of other purposes." , said Rep. John Conyers. “Zoe Lofgren introduced an amendment to HR 1981, saying "this act may be cited as the "Keep Every American's Digital Data for Submission to the Federal Government Without a Warrant Act of 2011", which is essentially why people have an issue with this bills proposal. Even those who are not being investigated are subject to this type of personal scrutiny, and information storing.” (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/ars-interviews-rep-zoe-lofgren.ars/2)
In fact, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, all have different “groups” you can join supporting the opposition of this bill, enabling awareness for us “digital natives”. Over 87,000 calls were made to congress through Tumblr, as well in opposition to SOPA. (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/internet-censorship-sopa/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57327681-17/tumblr-users-fight-sopa-with-87834-calls-to-congress/) It is wise, I believe, to use the Internet to save the freedom of the Internet as we know it. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-ruffini/stop-sopa-using-the-inter_b_1116510.html)
There is an MPAA blog supporting these acts, stating merely that connecting to “rogue” websites does not need to be secure, because they “shouldn't exist in the first place”, legally. (http://blog.mpaa.org/BlogOS/post/2011/06/24/Internet-Engineer-George-Ou-Debunks-Claims-PROTECT-IP-Will-Break-the-Internet.aspx)
These new Acts could negatively impact the amount of entrepreneurial artists that are gaining popularity through social media websites, and user contributed video or music websites. With that being said, some concern is expressed towards cites like Google, which offer searches to possibly infringing websites, and Facebook where users may upload, or post copyrighted content hosted on other sites. Google and Facebook have been quoted to respond negatively in the face of this bill's proposal as well. They do not agree with having to police the content more-so than they already do, because they believe that there are already provisions in place to protect intellectual property. (http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/houses-online-piracy-hearings-mpaa-google-go-their-corners-32837) (http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/google-facebook-congress-dont-expect-us-police-piracy-32800)
The PROTECT IP Act of 2011, or S.968 was responded to with a Technical Opinion, regarding the safety of messing with DNS servers. All from scientific or engineering backgrounds, state it could interefere with internet security. (http://www.circleid.com/pdf/PROTECT-IP-Technical-Whitepaper-Final.pdf) (http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57326228-281/new-flap-over-sopa-copyright-bill-anti-web-security/) Hacking happened in South Korea on their social networking site similar to our Facebook; they accessed private information. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57327341-281/opendns-sopa-will-be-extremely-disruptive-to-the-internet/) A Human Rights letter regarding respect to the first amendment and human rights could also be quoted stating with H.R. 3261, or SOPA, we are just as bad as the oppressive Internet censoring countries we use our Democracy against. (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/07/dozens-of-law-professors-protect-ip-act-is-unconstitutional.ars) (https://www.eff.org/document/letter-human-rights-community-opposing-sopa) A letter from professors of Law schools across the country states that they, too, fear this ruling could hinder Internet openness, while violating the First Amendment right to have a trial. (http://politechbot.com/docs/sopa.law.professor.letter.111511.pdf) The NY Times has an Op-Ed page on the same issues, stating that they agree with the Human Rights point of view, as well. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html?_r=4 )
I would suggest being educated on these topics, because they are of real concern. Not just for digital natives and people who like to browse the internet, but for the society we live in to socially, and technologically advance to greater things. I disagree with PROTECT IP, and SOPA.
References:
Mass Media Revolution Textbook. J. Charles Sterin Copyright 2012 Pearson Education Inc.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/244247/european_parliament_joins_criticism_of_sopa.html
Nov 18, 2011 11:50 am By Jennifer Baker, IDG News
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf
U.S. Copyright Office Summary, December 1998
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIPO_Copyright_Treaty
This page was last modified on 1 June 2011 at 17:52.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-108s2237rfh/pdf/BILLS-108s2237rfh.pdf
JUNE 25, 2004 EMILY J. REYNOLDS, Secretary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Copyright_Convention
This page was last modified on 8 April 2011 at 16:41. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1790
This page was last modified on 15 November 2011 at 05:39. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Act#cite_note-0
last modified: 11 October 2011 at 07:41. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111s3804rs/pdf/BILLS-111s3804rs.pdf
SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. HATCH, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. KOHL, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BAYH, Mr. VOINOVICH, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. COBURN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. INHOFE) Reported by Mr. LEAHY, with an amendment
NOVEMBER 18, 2010
http://thepiratebay.org/legal
Pirate Bay, 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAIR_USE_Act
This page was last modified on 8 December 2011 at 15:18. From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
http://www.riaa.org/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy-online-scope-of-the-problem
2011 RIAA
http://www.iccwbo.org/uploadedFiles/BASCAP/Pages/Global%20Impacts%20-%20Final.pdf
Frontier Economics February 2011
http://www.pcworld.com/article/194203/government_says_data_estimating_piracy_losses_is_unsubstantiated.html
By Sarah Jacobsson, PCWorld Apr 14, 2010 1:50 AM
http://fightforthefuture.org/colbert-sopa/
Fight for the Future © 2011
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111115/17200316783/sopa-sponsors-pass-sopa-to-protect-troops-everyone-else-wtf.shtml
Mike Masnick. Thu, Nov 17th 2011 9:54am
http://www.digital-digest.com/news-63212-Congressman-Dismisses-SOPAs-Threat-to-Freedoms-Says-Google-Is-Self-Serving.html
Posted by: Sean F, 16:11 EST, Sat December 3, 2011
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/sopa-hollywood-finally-gets-chance-break-internet
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111117/15492016808/senators-rand-paul-jerry-moran-maria-cantwell-all-warn-that-protect-ip-will-kill-jobs.shtml
by Mike Masnick. Thu, Nov 17th 2011 4:05pm
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/three_strikes/?akid=campaignpage
http://torrentfreak.com/rapidshare-not-guilty-of-copyright-infringement-us-court-rules-100520/
Ernesto May 20, 2010
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/why-young-people-pirate-pssst-its-not-just-about-money/7581?pg=3&tag=content;siu-container
Zack Whittaker | January 10, 2011, 7:50am PST
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/194441-overnight-tech-pelosi-comes-out-against-sopa
By Brendan Sasso and Gautham Nagesh, 11/17/11 06:56 PM ET
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/ars-interviews-rep-zoe-lofgren.ars/2
By Nate Anderson | Published 9 months ago
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/internet-censorship-sopa/
by MATT CUTTS on NOVEMBER 21, 2011
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57327681-17/tumblr-users-fight-sopa-with-87834-calls-to-congress/
by Don Reisinger November 18, 2011 9:27 AM PST
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-ruffini/stop-sopa-using-the-inter_b_1116510.html
http://blog.mpaa.org/BlogOS/post/2011/06/24/Internet-Engineer-George-Ou-Debunks-Claims-PROTECT-IP-Will-Break-the-Internet.aspx
Paul Brigner 06/24/2011 11:40 (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/houses-online-piracy-hearings-mpaa-google-go-their-corners-32837
Published: November 16, 2011 @ 12:31 pm Peter Voskamp
http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/google-facebook-congress-dont-expect-us-police-piracy-32800
Published: November 15, 2011 @ 11:19 am Peter Voskamp
http://www.circleid.com/pdf/PROTECT-IP-Technical-Whitepaper-Final.pdf
May 2011. Authors: Steve Crocker, Shinkuro, Inc.; David Dagon, Georgia Tech; Dan Kaminsky, DKH; Danny McPherson, Verisign, Inc.; Paul Vixie, Internet Systems Consortium
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57326228-281/new-flap-over-sopa-copyright-bill-anti-web-security/
by Declan McCullagh November 16, 2011 1:25 PM PST
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/07/dozens-of-law-professors-protect-ip-act-is-unconstitutional.ars
By Timothy B. Lee, Published 5 months ago
https://www.eff.org/document/letter-human-rights-community-opposing-sopa
November 15, 2011. Lamar Smith, John Conyers, Jr
http://politechbot.com/docs/sopa.law.professor.letter.111511.pdf
November 15, 2011 Professor Mark A. Lemley, Stanford Law School; Professor David S. Levine Elon University School of Law; Professor David Post; Temple University School of LawDavid Post; Temple University School of Law
