| Electronic Frontier Foundation |
███ ██ █ ████ the Drug War ███ █████ is █████ ████ ████ good ████ and you ███ █should ██████ trust █████ ██████ ███ your █████ ████ government.
(Parts of this comment have been found in violation of H.R. 3261, S.O.P.A and Senate Bill 968, P.I.P.A. and has been censored for your benefit.)
If PIPA or SOPA becomes law in the United States, this could happen to Toke of the Town — and to every site you count on for accurate information about the War On Drugs, and abuses of power by the government, the police, and the corporations which own them both.
| funnyjunk |
Thanks to action by a broad and bipartisan coalition of Internet users, companies, and organizations, the House of Representatives has now put the brakes on SOPA, a deeply flawed bill that would use Internet censorship to combat copyright infringement.
Even President Obama’s White House has joined the opposition.
But the Senate is continuing to move forward — quickly — with its equally dangerous version of the bill, called PIPA, the Protect IP Act.
As written, PIPA would import censorship and surveillance methods used by totalitarian countries like China and Iran, reversing long standing American policies on Internet freedom, betraying First Amendment values, damaging the standing of the U.S. around the world, threatening our job-creating innovators, and undermining Internet security for everyone.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the fight is far from over. Besides PIPA continuing to advance in the Senate, we can expect SOPA proponents in the House to try to revive the legislation — unless they get the message that these initiatives must stop, now.
| Solar Feeds |
One very dangerous provision in PIPA and SOPA that hasn’t received a lot of attention is the “vigilante” provision, which would grant broad immunity to all Internet service providers if they overblock innocent users or block sites voluntarily with no judicial oversight at all.
“The standard for immunity is incredibly low and the potential for abuse is off the charts,” according to EFF. ISPs only need to act “in good faith” and base their decision “on credible evidence” to receive immunity.
“As we noted months ago, this provision would allow the MPAA and RIAA to create literal blacklists of sites they want censored,“ EFF tells us. “Intermediaries will find themselves under pressure to act to avoid court orders, creating a vehicle for corporations to censor sites–even those in the U.S.–without any legal oversight.
And as Public Knowledge has pointed out, not only can this provision be used for bogus copyright claims that are protected by fair use, but large corporations can take advantage of it to stamp out emerging competitors and skirt anti-trust laws.
Do you want greedy corporations and their pet government to be able to control the free flow of information — including information about the benefits of cannabis, and the abuses of government and police power in the war on marijuana?
I don’t intend to let the free Internet go down in flames without putting up a fight.
The time has come to make a stand. Today is a day for action across the Web.
Protect your freedom of speech. Congress needs to hear from you.
