The events of Nov 16 were very interesting. The internet rose up to fight a bill going through the House and Senate to criminalize sharing online. In an effort to reduce piracy, Congress has tried to fight the public with two forms of legislation, giving very broad and vague powers to rightsholders that do not represent artists or creators. The bill from the Senate is Bill is the Protect IP Act while the bill in the House is Bill the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Both bills seek to disable websites with a vague definition of "rogue website". The major complaint of both bills are the overbroad definitions and the ability to turn anyone into a felon.
An overview is here. To say that the internet did not like so much power given to a small group would be an understatement. Here is the tally on just one day.
The fight for the internet is far from over. There continue to be problems with new legislation in various form. Let's hope that more people wake up to the fact that copyright is not a tool for innovation but a nail in censorship.
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