What makes SOPA and PIPA especially toxic is the threat they pose to all dimensions of a website's existence - physical presence, findability and revenue stream.
With 4.5 million signatures on a Google petition and one million messages sent to the United States Congress via the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in a single day, January 18, advocates of a free Internet have mounted a determined bid to stall new legislation that can chill free speech. The global chorus against two Bills that are winding their way through the American legal system is growing.
The two draft laws in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, now known around the world by the acronyms SOPA and PIPA (for Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act), have raised a storm on the Internet. They are seen as updated versions of the “Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act” (COICA) which could not make progress in the Senate earlier. In a small victory for opponents, key movers of the Bills have backtracked a little, as Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla, Ebay, Zynga, Linkedin and AOL, among others, provide heft to the protests. Wikipedia went dark for 24 hours to make the point and when it was back, it said “millions of people have spoken in defence of a free and open Internet.”
Vague definitions
What makes the two laws obviously detrimental for free speech worldwide is their focus on poorly defined “rogue” websites that are not based in the United States. The definitions in the draft legislation are vague in the assessment of not just free speech advocates, but most major technology companies. The legal tools to punish “infringing” websites as originally drafted in SOPA included a provision for Domain Name System blocking, and denying them the ability to exist as an address on the Internet. The firestorm of protest from U.S. voters that virtually “melted the servers” of Congress has forced the sponsors of the two laws to announce that the DNS blocking provision is now off the table.
Yet, the two Bills are far from dead and there is still plenty to worry about. The attempt to introduce strong-arm measures must be viewed against the backdrop of a persistent effort in the U.S. to use judicial processes to access personal data about individuals abroad using services such as Twitter, in the wake of the WikiLeaks expose. It makes matters more difficult that the U.S. court order prohibits the disclosure of its contents. Are there more technology companies that were covered, that have not come to light, for instance?
Moreover, the new Bills aim to create a procedure to blacklist inconvenient websites and censor them. They have many other weapons to kill websites. These include ordering search engines to remove them from results, prohibiting distribution of advertising, and, quite akin to the WikiLeaks experience, stopping companies such as PayPal or Visa from processing their financial transactions.
It is natural that the prevailing sentiment among international users of the Internet, who have either themselves experienced or have closely observed its power to bring communities together in the Middle East, North Africa and the Occupy movement cities, is “We are all Americans now.” They have no Congressman or Senator to call and petition, but they have made known their opposition to the two Bills widely online. There is a legitimate fear that if the new legal provisions go into force, technology companies coming under U.S. legal jurisdiction could be compelled, or perhaps even be willing, to disclose information on them. Some may simply react to domestic political imperatives and purge foreign websites with an inconvenient point of view. It is important to remember that unlike the existing scheme of filtering — where individual pages and search links are removed — the omnibus penal provisions in SOPA can erase the presence of entire websites.
Ironically, strong fears haunt U.S. companies as well. Some of them dread a new, high-cost technology landscape emerging in America, driving innovation, online traffic, and thus jobs and commerce to other countries that guarantee freedom. In this balkanised future, a social networking website may prefer, say, Iceland, where activists hosted early initiatives of WikiLeaks.
The “group of nine” technology companies including Google and Yahoo! that wrote the joint petition to Congress pointed to a McKinsey study that shows 3.4 per cent of GDP in 13 countries is accounted for by the Internet. In the U.S., the contribution is even larger. The Internet has increased the productivity of small and medium-sized businesses by as much as ten per cent. Trying to put in new conditions at the behest of traditional media companies including those trying to save old models of distribution and profits (for which they massively funded a lobbying campaign during 2011), can crimp growth and the new ventures.
That message is not lost on the White House, and a statement released by the Obama administration says it “will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” Whether through a veto or through legislative defeat, halting the progress of SOPA and PIPA will be crucial to online communities that fear direct, creeping censorship of the Internet.
Not new
Censoring of Internet content is not new. All search engines remove content and filter search results based on directions and orders issued in different countries to meet the requirements of domestic laws. The toxic potential of SOPA and PIPA lies in their capacity to comprehensively throttle free speech, at least until a new competitive set of alternatives emerges on the Internet. All dimensions of a website's existence — physical presence, findability and revenue stream are under threat.
In the democratic scheme of things, governments that guarantee free speech through statute should baulk at making domestic copies of the controversial American model to suppress their own citizens. Yet, in the Indian context, there will obviously be keen interest in the two U.S. Bills for their possible replication.
Even now, the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 contains provisions that would not meet the accepted definition of judicial due process. Orders are issued to technology companies hosting content on websites to remove allegedly offensive or infringing material by officials of the government, circumventing a legal process that involves the courts, as is necessary in the case of traditional media.
There is also a marked preference among some leading politicians, such as Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, for a purge of websites and social media platforms such as Facebook, of content that is deemed “offensive”, instead of ignoring criticism from the fringe. Google has been asked to remove several items on the ground that they criticise the government or individual politicians. That there are ample provisions in existing law to handle the more egregious cases is conveniently ignored. Protections earlier available to Internet Service Providers against liability for third party content are sought to be weakened systematically. There may be a specific case to remove material that is obviously inflammatory and capable of doing harm, but the policy compass clearly points to a lurking desire for censorship. If SOPA and PIPA were to succeed in America, the move towards copycat laws in India can only be a step away.
(anant@thehindu.co.in)
Keywords: SOPA, PIPA, Internet censorship, social media, social networking
Comments:
Democracy, Liberty, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Whistleblowing, etc are topics where the US has often led the world, and has championed the cause for people unable to do so, in other countries. The US Govt would know whether and to what extent new technology was helpful in liberating the people in several countries last year, and what far reaching effects it is having in creating a more transparent, therefore more accountable, government, worldwide. When Thomas Paine argued so forcefully for democracy in The Rights of Man in 1792, he chose to dedicate it to George Washington, a US President. Should we now fear that another US President will muzzle the people of the world by enacting laws, and providing templates for laws that other countries (without democracy, or weak democracies that may degenerate into hereditary govts and oligarchies) may enact to curtail the little freedom of expression that they allow their citizens - and plunge the world into more tyranny and oppression?
It's the power of free speech that the Government's fear! It's the power that citizens have wielded to speak openly and know about various atrocities 'rogue' administrations commit in the name of promoting democracy. Curbing rogue sites is just an excuse.
Forget free speech, I'm not even in favor of shutting down megaupload. This is simply unfair elimination of competition at the govt level. Their TV viewership was dropping, film and music companies failed to maintain the vast profits the "senior level" people are used to and so they are pushing forward these legalized witch hunts. This is setting a dangerous precedent and must be stopped or we will have authoritarian regimes the world over. Second, since they shut off megaupload, other file sharers will try to save themselves, essentially meaning that even though I am as big a fan of Boyzone (or any artist who have copyrights, I don't know if BZ have one) as the next one, I cannot listen to their songs except by shelling out extortionate amounts.
Information enables power these days and the US wants to control the information on the Internet no questions asked. There are valid security implications about propaganda as also there are implications about piracy in countries such as China. However this is a double edged sword and needs careful handling by the Congress. The civil libertarians are quite active in the US and am sure will have a lot to say on this.
In India, the pending minorities bill will ingrate significant discussions and the earlier that the censorship laws are introduced in the US, the easier it will be for MMS Govt to introduce the bill and ban any discussions under the guise of religious tolerance etc.
In just one minute, millions of users post some random comments on facebook.How it will even be possible to censor these tons and tons of data ? and how is the website supposed to know and check whether the data posted by a user is allegedly offensive or copyright infringing.
and for god's sake, how can u say criticism is offensive. then we will have to add one more clause to gandhi's statement 'speak good, hear good, see good and WRITE GOOD' b'coz criticism will not be posted anyways. Its like a ban on "your opinion"..! If any third party website posts any offensive material, the onus of removing that material should rest on the website. it should not be the search engines and advertisement sites who should be forced to remove all links with that site. Freedom of expression is a constitutional right and we better have it. Atleast i understood how hard life could be without free speech with just a day of wiki Blackout !
Both the bills absolutely don't make sense to me.Yesterday I just came
across a cartoon which showed a man in bars because he had "copied an
image".If the bills are passed, such an adversary wouldn't be far
away. I think the government is acting too scared as it witnessed the
upheaval in the magnitude of the crusade that Anna Hazare had
initiated against corruption and does not intend to see something like
this resurface. But , this is to the same Mr. Kapil Sibal, who wants
to eradicate online piracy and to inspect incendiary posts on social
networking sites, his idea of Aakash tablets has gained a momentum
only through such networking sites.
Hence i think the government should stop wasting time drafting laws like SOPA or PIPA as those won't really take a tangible form in uture!!!
It is extremely unfortunate that off late US Congress prompted by
Tea Party Movement lurching towards McCarthyism embracing racist,
anti-immigrant, ignorant and promoting similar fear hysteria. Stop
Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act of US Congress appears to be
the result of some illogical ill-informed fears. The Tea Party
Movement is a right wing, fascist, dangerous movement, much like
Senator McCarthy represented sixty years ago. It is well known that
it is nearly impossible to find resources to police through the
millions of on line comments of every day looking for transnational
offenders who, even if located can set up another site in a jiffy.
World will be better place to live if countries wake up to the new
reality of totally connected world. The fig leaf protection no
longer exists to Machiavellian leaders and administrators to
continue their evil and immoral acts.
Wonderful article. Purging websites of content deemed offensive is never going to solve any problem.SOPA,PIPA in US or some re-modeled copied laws inherited from US which Indian legislature would impose on the websites is just going to strangulate the act of free speech.One selfish motto behind it is-the politicians and members of the legislation fear the consequences of internet-fraternity.They fear the voices of free speakers and people who unitedly will shake if not uproot their entire system.This phobia is making them enact laws which are rather vague.
As the international internet community has risen to oppose SOPA &
PIPA, the response of the Indian Internet Users Community would
seemingly be not that effective. Even such strong and widespread
protests as that of IAC & Lokpal Movement could not deter the
Parliament from getting its own way, to speak of an Indian Resistance
to Indian equivalents of SOPA & PIPA would be an overstatement.
The article made a good read. Curbing free speech and expression will create an authoritarian society. The government seems to have no stomach for criticism. Citing security reasons to block anything it wants is absurd. Some of the measures are neccessary , but the government has enough policies already to tackle the security problem etc. I hope that the policy makers get some sense and revoke this draconian law.
There seems to be a concerted effort by vested intrests all over the world to curtail the power of the Net. They have realised that the Net is a powerful medium in the hands of the common man to expose their nefarious activities.For the first time in human history, a power shift is taking place which is jeopardising the vested intrests who want to retain their hold on the world. The weapon of the dark forces has always been secrecy and fear with which they have been perpetuating their rule. The Net has the potential to change all that.People are realising that they are being taken for a ride by the politicians who are only intrested in perpetuating the status quo.Statistics will show that the Net has played an important role transferring resources from the haves to the have-nots. The Net has also inculcated a spirit of innovation in the World.Unknown Authors and artists are getting an audience due to the Net.Whenever there has been a movement towards light there has been a backlash.
IF SOPA is accepted we have to admit we are not under the roof of democracy...when the internet is used for many bad things (those should be censored) there is no voice raised..when there is peoples voice against politicians then this SOPA Came in to picture...this is nothing but cutting our tongues from commenting on their political acts..
Protests against SOPA and PIPA across the internet fraternity
reflect a common behavioral trend of the people which subscribes to
the view that government always is anti-commoner and anti-people. No
doubt, any new legislation on internet is bound to create ripples
across the votaries of freedom of expression. But it should not mean
at all that SOPA and PIPA are censorship, of course now dormant, on
internet. Nobody should forget the fact " media is a bi-dented tool" and so it should be dealt with a lot of intellect. The two proposed
laws shouldn't be discarded outright as a lurking censorship nor it
should be passed as it is. The two parties should sit across the
table and re-define vague terms like " rogue website" and others
before either making this legislation a law or throwing it in
dustbin. All stake-holders must remember," some people are in the
habit of differing despite knowing that some-time they differ they
may land into a difficult orbit". Be rationale!
Now that governments have started targeting internet to stop what they call 'offensive' contents circulating in the world wide web, we are getting an impression that the governments are becoming singularly ant- free speech. A censored media has little or nothing to offer to the intellectual development of humanity. Censoring the media in general and internet in particular does not augur well either for the governments that are advocating such measures or the humanity at large. Hope better sense will dawn upon these governments.
Freedom of speech should not be suppressed. Government should also become transparent and clean and give reply to the people of India in case there is some suspicion about the working of the government. Freedom of speech is an active participation of the people of India in democracy. This is a wrong thinking of the government and politicians that the voters after having voted, should merely remain a silent spectator to the wrong policies of the administration for five years. Policies should be changed at the right time before it is too late for the taxpayer and an irreparable damage has been done to its money. It is to understand that the political class says to the voter that you were foolish because you voted for us. Give clean and transparent administration to the people of India who have expressed their faith in you. Jai Hind
The manner in which thinking people and lovers of freedom have come together in the USA should be an eye opener for Indians. I see several articles which begin with a phrase like "Freedom of speech is prized in India, but..." and state several regrettable developments starting from year 2006. They all invariably point to the fact that Indian Information Technology Act 2000, with the 2008 amendments included, have denied the common man this freedom of speech. The common man does not own a newspaper or a TV channel or radio-waves. The common man is only able to tweet, send an SMS or email, or express his views through a blog or a comment using the internet which are all modern equivalents of writing a postcard or a letter to the editor, although with possibility of much less private (and therefore much more public) communication (and much less chance of rejection!). The focus should be on the content of expression and its circumstances independently of the tools used. If not, we can only conclude that laws are being created primarily due to fear of losing control. Fear is what makes us want to limit the freedom of others. Fear is the enemy of all liberties. Remember the words of Tagore ! This country has not awakened, I must conclude. Fear of speech is most absurd when it emanates from someone in authority, the powerful elite. No wonder then, that it is hapless whistleblowers and activists who are most affected by the abuses of Indian IT Act. Research into who the biggest abusers are, apart from the government and politicians, will also uncover shocking truths. The pitiful thing is that the likes of Kapil Sibal are not few, and our parliament would readily pass draconian acts like the IT Act 2000 or even the SOPA and PIPA doubly fortified. Democracy is a sham if we are sleepwalking through it.
The article is simply great and won't comment but would express my views. It is amazing to see how the US policies have impact over the policy makers in India, don't we have an identity, any ideology of our own. Already in the real world the government and social shackles the freedom is curbed to enough stretch, am I not supposed to live in the virtual way the way I am. If our respected leaders or better politicians (I read some definitions and qualities of a leader which none of the politicians seem to possess ) are free to say and comment anything then why we are censored (so called the real master in a democracy, CITIZEN), isn't there a need to first check their words during election and replying when faced opposition. If a leader speaks inflammatory statements no one cares but if posted on the web world becomes a head ache for the nation, is it justified? I thank the internet for bringing the people together, bridging the gaps and lot more.
Great article. the two acts(SOPA & PIPA) are definitely to suppress freedom of speech or exchange of information. It is an attempt to nip the bud before it creates problem (for US govt) which can seen at backdrop of recent Wikileaks exposure. Next thing is to earn profit for companies which are losing through on-line exchange of data. Indian govt will follow the foot steps of US and pass the bill of similar type under the name of maintaining harmony in society to ward off their criticism or favour religious fanatics.
The reach of internet has grown today and with the advent of online social networking, it has taken an entirely different dimensions. Today any news or for that matter, any piece of article that catches public interest spread like fire not to just a couple of households but to the entire world thanks to internet savvy people.Removing certain derogatory remarks from the internet is a common pratice and so should be the removal of content that may cause damage to the person whose identity is being disclosed. But these doesn't seems the motive of the laws which are in the making. There seems to be a big reason for them to come to the fore in the recent time when there has been lots of disclosure of classified information which has revealed some stark contrast between the publicly known stand of government towards certain issues and the steps that were taken towards the same. US has shown world what it means to be free and hopefully the lesson remains the same for years to come.
CYBER CRIME LAWS: All of a sudden the rulers and the rule makers all over the world have woken up after the peoples movements everywhere questioning their locus standi/accountability-- by people leading to-- laws to restrict the freedom of expression of people in direct or subtle way? A number of prominent websites like Wikipedia have shut down the shutters making people everywhere to be aware of such laws and moves by the rulers. Here one point needs to be clear for every thinking
person,that is- so far from kings to present days politicians have been substantial aggressors/self aggrandizers (most of them) behaviorally for giving their service? Most of their work is taking the stick and make laws and implement laws for giving law and order and some direction with which they feel is good for everybody as a class? In the present day, many thinking people have appeared on the scene in the form of great academicians, entrepreneurs, IT professionals, doctors, engineers and other professionals whose contribution to society is visibly substantial and it is without considerable stick/powers. These stick wielders called politicians are used to playing with sticks and they had their way and they want to continue the same by way of creating new laws and enforcing them in the name of public good. They put one section against the others and they do not want to be accountable. No body noticed this or people don’t want to notice this as perhaps many did not feel the need. Now with job losses and poverty increasing everywhere ,people began to open their eyes and see the real game of these self- aggrandisors everywhere especially in the dominant developed/developing countries.
The latest peoples movements (Occupy Wall street, Arab spring, Jasmine, Anna Hazare movements etc) have made these self -aggrandisors alert? They are trying to protect their inherited unaccounted powers and privelleges as a group in the form of legislations and implementation for the so called public good?
Sirs, when so many people around the world in every corner die without food/ because of mal-nutrition, unemployment, human trafficking, family breaks, orphans, underdevelopment, manufactured political tensions, corporate greed – where is their public good and why they have not put or putting enough efforts? Are the previllages of a very few in the cyber world or the make- believe world so
important? And the politicians seem to take stand in the name of everybody and public good and put much resources – time, money and efforts of nations around the world in this direction? Are the issues highlighted by these ruling cliques really the problem of everybody? What are the priorities before humanity? Entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors, soldiers, workers, IT professionls, acoountants and othe professionals around the world – wake up? Restrain this class to take away your rights and freedom? It is not only important to slog in your profession but also to protect the fruits of your labour taken away by this intelligent self -aggrandisor class?
one of the foremost pillar of democracy is the freedom of expression,our
constitution guarantees it under article 19(1)to every person and not
only indian constitution but even the declaration in magna carta clearly
states this objective.But these two acts SOPA and PIPA are clearly
against these principles.Accepting these laws is like surrendering one's
freedom
Jaipur Literature Festival: Cancellation of Rushdie's India visit a victory of democracy, says Darul Uloom Deoband --- Indian and Indians need to first put their house in order before even thinking of commenting on global issues like implementation of SOPA or PIPA....where is the expression of free speech in India? Just have the freedom on lyrics like Munni Badnam and Chikni Chameli does not make us an open society that we can start commenting on complex issues like SOPA / PIPA as they are way beyond the basic intellect of us Indians. Think and Wake up!!! Most importantly, grow up!!!
It is ironic that two events happen, days apart. In the west, freedom of expression won against the introduction of "SOPA & PIPA" bills. The US congress and senate have "put off a vote" on the bills. It's another way of saying that the bills are dead, won't be introduced.
By contrast, we have cops making up stories of how "hired assassins" were planning to assassinate Salman Rushdie. As usual the buck gets passed around, no one will take ownership for this, and no one is accountable. In the end, the vote bank politics has won. The people have lost, thanks to the selfish, self serving politicians - to whom, all that matters is staying in power.
So much for being the most populous democracy on the planet. This would not happen in the west, where individual freedom is paramount, Will we ever learn? Will we ever be a "truly functioning democracy"?
its wrong.don't break the freedom