The blackout of Internet activism drives for digital rights worldwide

Society & You - Social Critic

Sunday, 05 February 2012 12:37

The co-authors of this paper are Maira Sutton (@ mairasutton) and Katitza Rodriguez (@ txitua) EFF.

All links in English unless indicated otherwise.

On January 19 was a turning point for the global Internet community. The effects of the massive blackout in protest online bill blacklist of Internet in the U.S., SOUP and PIPA (HR 3261 and S. 968), were felt around the world as countless Web sites, including Google , Wikipedia , Mozilla , Reddit , BoingBoing , Flickr , Wired , and many others joined the global protest against the general copyright laws and poorly drafted that would break the fundamental architecture of the Internet. Quoting [pdf] Report of the rapporteur's historic Nations Special Unit on freedom of expression and opinion from last year: "... the censorship measures should never be delegated to a private entity, and [..] no one should be responsible for Internet content authors who are not ... ". The massive opposition from both companies and individuals around the world shows how much these laws, and similar laws, will damage business and innovation, and more importantly, restrict freedom of expression online.

But SOUP and PIPA are really the tip of the iceberg. The same forces behind these U.S. laws have continued to press other countries to pass similar laws, as well as secretly negotiating international trade agreements that oblige signatory countries to adapt to the same standards. The anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement ( ACTA ), the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement ( TPP ), the Law Doring ( Mexico ), the Law Sinde ( Spain ), the Hadopi Law ( France ), to name just a few examples. Members of the lobby of the copyright industry as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) are spending a lot of resources to countries to strengthen laws to copyright, which are intrinsically defective. What is are laws that invade national sovereignty, beyond the traditional principles of jurisdiction, harm innovation and violate the rights of end users.

Activists and organizations fighting for digital civil liberties worldwide saw action on the internet for a golden opportunity to teach its members the effects that these laws would have on the websites in their countries and the future of free Internet and open. Recognizing the common denominator between the widespread imposition and technical faults that run through these bills, the following organizations have taken a stand against attempts to censor special interest to citizens and destroy innovation to preserve the business model entertainment industry

U.S. disseminates IP enforcement measures through secret international agreements and threats of trade sanctions

In recent years, members of pressure groups of the major copyright industries have sought greater power to strengthen its copyright worldwide occasion to preserve their business models. These attempts have been conducting a series of international forums like the G8 summit , transnational trade agreements like ACTA and TPP, and the annual Special 301 process , a report on levels of "watch lists" of countries with laws intellectual property and enforcement policies have pointed supposedly deficientes.Como Public Interest Groups U.S. and EU Academic , SOPA includes a provision aimed at further strengthening the influence of the holders of IP rights of U.S. . States. in laws and policies of other countries. While the path of PIPA SOUP and certainly could have long-lasting consequences for all societies and economies, we expect that the enormous attention paid to these two bills Internet blacklist sensitize the international awareness of the impact of these proposals for strengthening copyright holders seeking to enforce rights of U.S. IP around the world.

La Quadrature du Net , an advocacy organization based in France, said:

This site is obscured today in protest of laws for the arrest of Internet piracy ( SOPA ) and IP protection ( PIP ) that is being discussed in the U.S. Congress and the Anti Trade Agreement -Forgery ( ACTA ) currently being debated in Parliament. These initiatives are in addition to a comprehensive attempt to censor the Internet on behalf of the copyright.

The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) , a support group based in Canada said:

[SOUP and PIPA] are another example of the damage that can result from an IP program for very aggressive, without barriers, and driven by U.S. Impose more restrictive standards on foreign intermediaries that U.S. Internet companies through its regulation DMCA infringement notification for removal of content.

The Chilean group to support digital rights, digital rights , also frames his position against SOUP in the light of international regimes to strengthen the overreach of copyright:

So while many of us speak against the proposed U.S. law, the governments of Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and the United States is moving quickly into a new agreement international plays one of the biggest threats SOUP: censorship of the Internet websites of possible copyright infringement giving police powers to Internet service providers. (See here and here [both links in Spanish])

Beckedahl Markus , president of Digitale Gesellschaft , a German User Rights, told German public opinion:

If only half of the bill takes effect this will have a tremendous negative impact on the Internet. ACT, PIPA and are similar in nature SOUP: the industries of music and film trying to destroy the slice to slice network - the so-called salami tactics.
More here , here , here and here (in German)

SOUP and PIPA alter national sovereignty and hurt local economies

In countries where lawmakers are debating the need for proposals to block Web pages, the adoption of SOUP or PIP will create more pressure to emulate the U.S. law, regardless of any evidence of their effectiveness or convenience. Most disconcerting for individuals and businesses beyond the U.S. is how PIP could void SOUP and indeed the national laws of their countries and impose more restrictive rules to Internet intermediaries than those imposed on U.S. companies.

50 human rights organizations around the world signed a letter to Majority Leader U.S. Senate, Harry Reid, as opposed to PIPA, highlighting its serious concerns about jurisdiction and freedom of expression:

[...] The creation of a mechanism that requires that a representative of a web page makes its appearance in a U.S. court to defend a charge of infringement would have a disproportionate impact on smaller online communities and entrepreneurial companies based abroad who are unable to address concerns in the United States.

Open Rights Group based in the UK also emphasized proper legal implications of actions of these bills Internet blacklist beyond the U.S.:

There are two reasons why the Open Rights Group is supporting a protest against U.S. law First, the definitions and general wording of the bills threatening to any Web page being investigated by U.S. authorities Secondly, here in the UK we face many problems with these bills related to copyright: inadequate enforcement measures, including blocking of websites, definitions and overly generalized or ambiguous wording, and deficiencies in actions and judicial redress.

Michael Geist, a leading Canadian law scholar specializing in civil liberties and digital copyrights, turned his attention to the impact it could have on Canada SOUP and its parallels with ACTA and TPP:

While SOPA intends to U.S. law, and has implications for all Canadians, including provisions dealing with all IP addresses in Canada as if they were subject to U.S. jurisdiction Moreover, Canada is faced with the same unrelenting campaign of lobbying by copyright. Among the much-criticized digital lock rules that are in Bill C-11 of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and the proposal to extend the term of protection of copyright in the Trans Pacific Partnership, the politics of copyright Canada is increasingly determined by the same groups that promote SOUP law.

Global Voices Online , an international community of bloggers from around the world, told his readers:

[PIPA / SOUP] would raise the cost of participation of [the media and other user generated pages] for all users worldwide, and could force the closure of many projects of social media, especially pages Web and smaller companies.

OpenMedia. Ca, a support group based in Canada, said:

As Internet users and Internet innovators in Canada, we have much to lose if the law passes SOUP. SOPA would fundamentally change the Internet in the U.S., Canada, and around the world. [...] Tell the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and Gary Doer (Canadian Ambassador to the U.S.) that Canadians are against SOUP.

Threat to human rights and access to global information

Most of the criticism about PIPA SOUP and have focused on the manner in which the bills would establish mass censorship on the internet and destroy the Internet as we know in the name of intellectual property enforcement. These bills would allow the U.S. have access to any Web page and provide foreign companies and other private entities new powers to censor websites worldwide with court orders that would reduce the domain names, payment processors, and advertisers.

Internet Governance Caucus , an international coalition of civil society organizations and individuals around the world participating in the Internet Governance Forum of the UN reaffirmed the implications for freedom of expression of the law of the Internet blacklist:

We have decided to join the blackout to protest the arbitrary censorship on the Internet that violates the rights of people who use the Internet responsibly. We note with concern the increase of the mechanisms of censorship around the world including but not limited to the Guidelines for intermediaries (Intermediary Guideline Rules, IGR) of India, and the Law for the arrest of Internet piracy (SOPA) and IP Protection Act (PIPA) of the United States. The mechanisms of censorship of any country affect Internet users worldwide.

Amnesty International , a globally recognized organization that fights against injustice and promoting human rights, noted that "[PIPA and SOUP] would create a market incentive powerful and unprecedented censor user-generated content. Its passage would be a clear signal to countries around the world that is well sacrifice some rights in the name of some other good. "

Green peace, a worldwide organization for the environment, strongly denounced the law:

If SOUP / PIPA become law, as Greenpeace.org Web pages could be closed simply because one of our corporate objectives presents a claim that their intellectual property rights have been violated. Without requiring any proof or hearing in court.

Article 19 , an international organization for freedom of expression, said:

[PIPA / SOUP] stifle freedom of expression, innovation, and undermine the security on the Internet, all to benefit the Hollywood studios.

The blackout on Wednesday, January 19th marks a new era for digital civil liberties movement worldwide. Through blogs, tweets and posts, thousands of organizations, activists and people really made it the success it was. That was only a sample of the great support that took place. Here are some other organizations, groups, activists and even political parties that participated in this important day for the future of the Internet: