This is exactly why I have no desire to return to the US. Say what you will about China and personal freedoms being so restricted (I hate face book and social media platforms so I don't see it even), but at least they don't allow complete douche nozzles like RIAA and MPAA to own the people.

Don't even get me started on the Gestapo or as it is more popularly known the TSA.

I am not an anarchist but at some point a line has to be drawn in the sand.

Hear hear!

z

solid contribution there

?

Since some people maybe stumped on this here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_IP_Act

This bill basically gives the US the right to take over the domain name of any website it wishes too, I am assuming this is only about top level non-country domains .com .org .net .etc but who really knows how much power the US has over the worldwide domains.

They have already been doing this, a torrent site registered elsewhere was replaced with a message from I.C.E. about the domain being confiscated.

This is an obvious overstep onto freedom of the internet and the citizens of the United States possibly other countries... I am not sure exactly how it is done but the times it has been reported it was done at the registar level by Network Solutions.

This isn't just a scare, this abomination and it's predecessor the COICA are gaining traction and support by the evil facists that get voted into office and lull the simpletons into voting for them again with lies and misdirection.

wahhhhhhhhhhh teh government might shut down illegal websites...shut up you crybaby

what the fluff...

You really shouldn't be whining about the fact that the US govt is looking for easier ways to shut down illegal sites. What you should be focusing on is the fact that 2 money-transfer corporations, with ties to the govt, (Visa and Mastercard) are able to cut off donations to a certain website that the govt doesn't like (under the guise of 'moral' implications, LOL).

USe the TOR Project and you won't have to worry about it at all.

Cerberus of the MI

Leahy is the sponsor? Enough said. In seriousness, pointless bill since proxies, ip addresses, etc can still be used. Trying to repress information online has a reverse effect half the time.

People need to wake up and realize that the government of the US does NOT have the wants or needs of the people at a high priority. They have the wants and needs of the weatlthy at heart, after all, that's where all their campaign contributions of any significant amount come from.

The average Joe, can't buy a congressman, but the CEO of Proctor and Gamble, can.

It's all about the money, it's always about the money, it will always be about the money.

Cerberus of the MI

"but at least they don't allow complete douche nozzles like RIAA and MPAA to own the people."
Not to say that the US government is great in this respect, but the PRC is far far worse in that respect. You just don't know the names of the organizations/individuals there. In the PRC you can be arrested and detained indefinitely just for looking at an official the wrong way.

shutting down illegal websites or shutting down whatever they don't like without due process?

And regarding this just look at the growing scandal with some of Murdochs' papers in the UK or what Buscollini was able to do in Italy. This is just the tip of the ice berg. People with money/influence will always try to use it for their own ends regardless of form of government or economic system. The question is, how much influence are they allowed to have before everyone else is willing to hold them into account. Orson Wells had it right.

@symac: it's always about balance of power and that is where the anarchist movement is onto something imo.

http://www.hasrebekahbrooksbeensackedyet.com/

I gotta side with Martian on this one. At least the US isn't blocking out major world websites and kicking global companies out for competing with local products.

I would much rather lose my domain to the gov't if they see fit than to not be allowed to see things like Google/Facebook at all because my gov't doesn't want me getting silly ideas.

Honestly, both sides are being fluffty about the issue - and it's only going to get worse as the net gains more and more of a strategic value in the world of politics/finance/business.

NOW3P, it's not about which is better and which is worse though, it is about what is right.

A very limited scope that inputs a due process for illegal websites based in the United States could have some promise, but with how these politicians work, it's always a gateway bill. Starts with "small" uses of the generalized powers granted and soon they are doing whatever they like with the intentional loopholes written into the bill.

When in doubt I usually side with freedom over regulation and this is not a situation I would want the government given full control over.

CK - I think you're painting with awfully broad strokes there. I'm sure there are limitations to what the government is able to do and not do in regards to this new act.

Ummm, just a stupid question, but what did Orson Welles get right? Was it the broadcast of the War of the Worlds? I hear that was quite a hoot.

Oh, wait a minute, you must have meant George Orwell, not Orson Welles Right?

George Orwell, the author of 1984 and Animal Farm and Predictor of Totalitarian Regimes in the future where the truth is fluid.

Sorry about that. Took a bit to sink in. LOL

Cerberus of the MI

Martian is right about there being a double standard, but this isn't one country vs another country. This is the supposed home of freedom that pisses and whines about any country that restricts people from anything, and how it lives in complete hypocrisy as one of the most restrictive countries in the world.

So people are free to carry weapons, and yet the frontier of what's suppose to be free and equal ground for all is constantly under attack by the United States.

I think at this point is when the people need to hold the US accountable and not just it's citizens this is larger than that.

This law has no defining parameters and is not restricted to just sites registered in the US. It will also allow DoJ to blacklist the routing of any site. We have seen the internet offswitch bill. We have seen online GUIDS that must be used to use the internet. Whats next?

Yet we still have fatheads like BobbyATA that like the government to take our rights.

CK is right, this is a gateway bill and it is very broadly written.

This is just cases where our internet freedoms are at risk. GUIDs, Offswitchs, and the government taking over any site it wants at anytime and then leaving it up to site owners to have to battle the decision in court against the I.C.E. and DoJ.

Has anyone ever done a patent search? These forums are patented, your DNA is patented, and hell lets just say everything is patented. You have a quote from a book on your website, they can shut it down.

It is time that people stood up against this before our internet is like a prison, you think China has it bad forming protests, just wait till the US has us all GUIDed and can shut down the internet at will. At least in China they can start a website and it's unlikely to be taken over at the domain level.

The balance of power is nearly completely one sided to a bunch of children running our country. Bunch of guys getting paid by big companies to make decisions against the people, while the people pay them a monumental salary and provide them with nearly perfect health care and get nothing in return.

The US government is way out of control. The problem is Lawyers, the lawyers control everything. All the Congressmen are lawyers, all the Senators are lawyers. They are going to legislate laws that benefit lawyers. Why would anyone even think anything else.

We need to get lawyers out of government, that would solve MOST of the problems. Consider this, everyone remembers the Hurrican Katrina disaster in New Orleans, right?

Why do you think that FEMA had such a bad time being able to help those people? Was it because there was no way that anyone could help those people? That can't be right, right?

The problem is that FEMA is run by a lawyer, not someone skilled, or trained in Emergency Management.

Lawyers are like the plaque that clogs your arteries when you eat too much red meat and bacon. They gum up the works so bad that people really suffer.

Let's execute all the lawyers and then things will improve.

Cerberus of the MI