Soapbox time.
The COICA, or Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeit Act, is effectively summarized as allowing the government to set up two black lists: One that is controlled by the courts, and every ISP is required to block (from Comcast to Google AdSense); the other black list is one that is only ruled by the Department of Justice's discretion, and any site that is on that list is "highly encouraged" to be blocked by ISPs.
This bill is poorly written. The only violation a site must have is being "dedicated to online infringement." Does this include Youtube? Does this include Wikileaks? The broad definitions are almost as scary as the blacklists themselves.
Those in support of this bill are: The MPAA (who has been telling their employees to call Congressman to tell them they favor the bill), the Screen Actor's Guild, Viacom (who tried to sue Youtube), and other acting-associated industries. The industries opposed are the Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Distributed Computing Industry Association--in other words, people who actually know what they're talking about when it comes to technology and don't just view it as a tool to further their own interests.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-3804 The bill itself.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/09/internet_pioneers_protest_sena.html Computer engineers discussing the non-ethical implications of the bill.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/open-letter the EFF letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/stop-the-internet-blackli_b_739836.html Huffington Post's take on it.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/29/engineers-slam-internet-censorship-ahead-key-vote/ Even FOX NEWS has spoken against this. This could ruin tons of people's business interests, especially start-up companies. Imagine having your domain blacklisted because you failed to cite something or you hotlinked an image?
http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/?akid=20.114994.h-FhCj&rd=1&source=e-fwd&t=1 This is a petition you can sign that they send to Congresspersons. You can also blog/post on the government websites themselves, or at popvox, a fantastic site where citizens can post their views and have them read by representatives.
While some might claim that is fine, and piracy is a legal issue that is finally being resolved, or scamsites are a legal issue finally being resolved, I would throw this into the field:
1) Why is this not specifically against piracy or scamsites? Why the broad terms? There is no definitions in the bill to narrow down terminology. This is a witch-hunt.
2) While the Chamber of Commerce is in favor of this bill, the other lobbyists are all Movie-related organizations. The music industry found a way to embrace filesharing, the movie industry should learn to do the same.
3)The opponents are three really reliable and trustworthy coalitions of computer engineers. They should have ultimate say, some of these were vanguards of internet technology, and their word should be taken as sacrosanct as the Founding Fathers while they are still alive.
4) There are better ways to battle piracy than blacklisting. However, unlike other countries, the United States lacks any comprehensive technological lawset. Our courts are not prepared to have this thrust upon them, and the legislators passing in my opinion aren't competent enough to realize what the hell they are passing.
5) According to Techdirt.com, the Recording Industry and VCRs and other innovative technologies and mediums were once considered "infringing." This will hand big companies a legal noose to hang new small companies as infringers and ensure a monopoly or unfair position of power in their industry.
This helps the special interests of a few groups reign their law over American citizens.
Get involved. Feel free to debate.
