The Internet Is Not .gov’s to Regulate
Cato@Liberty - Imagine that Congress passed a law setting up a procedure that could require ordinary citizens like you to remove telephone numbers from your phone book or from the “contacts” list in your phone. What about a policy that cut off the phone lines to an entire building because some of its tenants used the phone to plot thefts or fraud? Would it be okay with you if the user of the numbers coming out of your phone records or the tenants of the cut-off building had been adjudged “rogue” users of the phone?
Cutting off phone lines is the closest familiar parallel to what Congress is considering in two bills nicknamed “SOPA” and “PIPA”—the “Stop Online Piracy Act” and the “PROTECT IP Act.”
One of the major ideas behind SOPA and PIPA is to cut Internet sites that violate copyright out of the domain name system. No longer could typing “elcato.org” get you to the Web site you wanted to visit. Much of the debate has been about the legal process for determining whether to strike out a domain name. The practical burdens on the law-abiding Internet service provider would be large. “Blacking out” an entire building—just like a Web site—would cut off the lawful communications right along with the unlawful ones. It’s through-the-looking-glass information control, with enormous potential to obstruct entirely lawful communications and impinge on First Amendment rights.
The Internet is not the government’s to regulate. It is an agreement on a set of protocols—a language that computers use to talk to one another. That language is the envelope in which our communications—our First-Amendment-protected speech—travels in hundreds of different forms.
Under the better view—the view of freedom behind opposition to SOPA and PIPA—these things are not the government’s to regulate.
Cutting off phone lines is the closest familiar parallel to what Congress is considering in two bills nicknamed “SOPA” and “PIPA”—the “Stop Online Piracy Act” and the “PROTECT IP Act.”
One of the major ideas behind SOPA and PIPA is to cut Internet sites that violate copyright out of the domain name system. No longer could typing “elcato.org” get you to the Web site you wanted to visit. Much of the debate has been about the legal process for determining whether to strike out a domain name. The practical burdens on the law-abiding Internet service provider would be large. “Blacking out” an entire building—just like a Web site—would cut off the lawful communications right along with the unlawful ones. It’s through-the-looking-glass information control, with enormous potential to obstruct entirely lawful communications and impinge on First Amendment rights.
The Internet is not the government’s to regulate. It is an agreement on a set of protocols—a language that computers use to talk to one another. That language is the envelope in which our communications—our First-Amendment-protected speech—travels in hundreds of different forms.
Under the better view—the view of freedom behind opposition to SOPA and PIPA—these things are not the government’s to regulate.
NOTE:
WHOA! A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO THE TWO BILLS STICKING IN THE BACK POCKETS - LIKE THORNS - OF OUR SO CALLED "LEADERS" IN WASHINGTON ...
WHOA! A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO THE TWO BILLS STICKING IN THE BACK POCKETS - LIKE THORNS - OF OUR SO CALLED "LEADERS" IN WASHINGTON ...
TOO BAD THERE ISN'T A WAY TO TEST CANDIDATES FOR "COMMON SENSE" AND THE POSSIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A "POLITICIAN'S INSANITY DISEASE" BEFORE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO RUN FOR ANY AND ALL GOVERNMENT POSITION!
PLEASE VISIT A GREAT BLOG AND THE ONE WHO POSTED THIS ARTICLE - DIOGENES SARCASTICA. I KNOW YOU WILL ENJOY ALL HIS PHOTOS/ARTICLES AND COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO ISSUES FACING US TODAY.
BEE STING