Not just acronyms: threats to sharing and public access
Several bills that threaten the ability to share content on the internet are currently being discussed in the US. I won’t pretend to understand the full legal details or legislative process, but thanks to some much better informed commentators, it is clear that PIPA/SOPA and the OPEN Acts really need to be stopped in their tracks. Here is a small selection of comments.
PIPA = ‘Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act’
SOPA = Stop Online Piracy Act
‘OPEN’ Act = Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act
PIPA, SOPA and the OPEN Act quick reference guide by the American Library Association – Dates and main points of the Acts (thanks to @copyrightgirl for this tip)
When Even The Librarians Are Against SOPA… http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111110/00563216705/when-even-librarians-are-against-sopa.shtml
Urgent: Stop [U.S.] American censorship of the Internet https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/30375
http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/stopped-they-must-be-on-this-all.html – reddit will have a blackout on 18 Jan in protest, and other major internet services are considering joining the boycott
UKCORR blog post and comments http://ukcorr.blogspot.com/2012/01/sopa-and-app-dumb-and-dumber-publishers.html
..and if all this is not enough to incite outrage, the US House of Representatives have also introduced the Research Works Act – a bill that will stop public access to publicly funded research…
This post has a useful short video explaining SOPA and how it could result in sites being blocked from the Domain Name System http://mashable.com/2012/01/12/mainstream-sopa-blackout/
Latest SOPA development - DNS element removed from the bill: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57358947-261/dns-provision-pulled-from-sopa-victory-for-opponents/
But... will this make it easier for the bill to go through?
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