Posted by: Sal Atticum
« on: January 13, 2011, 11:54:13 AM »It's interesting to me that Pat Leahy is sponsoring this bill, although (as you can see) there seems to be some form of bipartisan support since Orrin Hatch is co-sponsoring. And people say that Democrats and Republicans can't work together.
I agree that this bill is against whatever the Internet is about. When we support Google for refusing to censor search results in China but would hand over control over what servers Americans can access to the Attorney General (who probably already has enough on his or her plate), it's definitely a mixed message.
I was under the impression that copyright infringement was a civil matter, not a criminal one, in which case I don't understand why we need this bill. The current practice is to go after the server/individual/etc. for specific pieces of content, not allow one company to get a court order to shut down access to a whole domain just because they have one or two pieces of content which they are claiming they were infringed upon. YouTube is a great example, but what about the professor who posts an article PDF for his or her class to read--is Elsevier going to shut down UND.edu?
I don't think such a law would protect anyone.
I agree that this bill is against whatever the Internet is about. When we support Google for refusing to censor search results in China but would hand over control over what servers Americans can access to the Attorney General (who probably already has enough on his or her plate), it's definitely a mixed message.
I was under the impression that copyright infringement was a civil matter, not a criminal one, in which case I don't understand why we need this bill. The current practice is to go after the server/individual/etc. for specific pieces of content, not allow one company to get a court order to shut down access to a whole domain just because they have one or two pieces of content which they are claiming they were infringed upon. YouTube is a great example, but what about the professor who posts an article PDF for his or her class to read--is Elsevier going to shut down UND.edu?
I don't think such a law would protect anyone.