The internet is in danger. Actually though.Under the terms of two recently introduced companion bills, the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act, the internet as we know it could come to an end. I'm not being hyperbolic as observers from Silicon Valley to Wall Street have noted, the vague, misguided provisions of these proposals may give rise to a radically new authoritarian internet where government blacklists reign and the slightest misstep could permanently undercut or shutdown the websites you love. Considering the practical, legal and ideological concerns presented by these two bills, it is essential that Dartmouth students and people everywhere actively urge our lawmakers to reconsider.
These two bills were introduced at the behest of organizations such as the Motion Picture Association of America, the American Federation of Musicians and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in an effort to curb violations of copyright law namely, the pirating of music, movies and television shows. Intellectual property rights and piracy have been hotly contested issues since peer-to-peer file sharing programs became popular in the '90s. Since then as any n00b knows content-hosting websites such as The Pirate Bay, MegaUpload and many others have proliferated across the internet, often basing their servers in countries more amenable to copyright infringement (read: "free information").
While the 1996 Digital Millennium Copyright Act sought to combat this trend, generally stipulating that any content hosts must remove infringing data upon request or face prosecution, internationally based sites have largely ignored such requests, as they are protected by the laws of their host nation. These new proposals seek to target these international "rogue" websites by aggressively attacking their revenue sources and ability to do business. Under these bills, as long as content owners can provide some "specific facts" in regards to their copyright violation claim, advertisers and payment processors such as PayPal and Visa would have five days to cease all business with that website. Furthermore, the bills empower government lawyers to "blacklist" any foreign website by seeking an injunction forcing providers to suspend access to the domain essentially removing it from the internet.
While this mechanism could be used to combat international websites, so too could it be used to effectively shut down virtually any user-driven website that allows for the posting or hosting of content (think YouTube). If a website hosts just one instance of copyright infringement however briefly or unknowingly the owner of that content can instantly sue the offending website, cut off its financial legs and mire it in legal battles. As Rebecca MacKinnon, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, noted in her recent article in The New York Times, this would most likely lead to a system similar to China's in which websites are forced to practice corporate "self-discipline," spending huge resources to monitor and proactively censor user submission an expensive practice that discourages innovation.
Legally and ideologically, these bills take a huge step towards the violation of free speech and unchecked government censorship while legitimizing and encouraging actions by totalitarian regimes to regulate and police the internet in their own countries. However good the intention of these bills may be, they provide mechanisms to not only block infringing content, but also all of the other legal content on infringing sites. Through self-censorship, websites would be encouraged to proactively censor potentially questionable material to avoid legal battles. Websites dedicated to exposing corporate or governmental corruption could be easily shut down without due process or trial. It is important to note that the only other countries using the same methods proposed in these bills are China, Iran and Syria. More would undoubtedly follow our lead.
The Protect IP Act has 38 co-signers in the Senate. The Stop Online Piracy Act has 24 in the House of Representatives. They each enjoy almost unheard of bipartisan support in this political climate. It is absolutely imperative that our lawmakers hear from us. The movement has already started. Join AOL, eBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo, Zynga and a multitude of private and public organizations and call for a drastic reworking or complete abandonment of these bills. Go online, sign petitions and contact your state and federal representatives. Your voice can make a desperately needed difference.
