Some citizens, Congress members, and organizations have been fully aware of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) and the threats they pose for months now. After all, PIPA was introduced on May 12, 2011, and SOPA was introduced on October 26, 2011. While there were 1000 companies, organizations, and individuals who…
The Computer & Communications Industry Association blacked out its website Wednesday, along with a countdown clock to the Senate’s planned vote on its flawed legislation January 24. More than 6200 websites participated in the blackout with news coverage focusing on the impact of sites like Wikipedia and Craigslist going dark for a day and asking…
On 11 January 2012 the Commission presented its Communication on e-commerce. The Communication sets out an action plan to double online sales and the share of the Internet economy in EU GDP by 2015. To this end, the Communication aims to address the still fragmented nature of Europe’s digital market and highlights five policy priorities: Develop…
While we join with Net Coalition in providing legislative language responses to H.R. 3261, we feel it is also important to separately clarify our industry’s view of itself and our role in the process of finding intelligent balanced approaches to the challenges and opportunities resulting from the rapidly changing and often confusing digital and Internet…
What’s at stake and why should I care? Rebecca MacKinnon’s recent editorial in the New York Times says it well: “Compliance with the Stop Online Piracy Act would require huge overhead spending by Internet companies for staff and technologies dedicated to monitoring users and censoring any infringing material from being posted or transmitted. This in turn would…
After the encouraging opinion of Advocate General Cruz Villalón in the Scarlet vs SABAM case delivered in April 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave its final judgment on 24 November. One can say that the judgment is crucial for the Internet economy in general and for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in particular, in two…
Days after an unbalanced Congressional hearing on a bill to crackdown on online copyright infringement, a government cybersecurity expert has written to Congress warning H.R. 3261 would “negatively impact” cybersecurity — and not be effective at the stated goal of reducing piracy. So far House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith has not responded to news media inquiries about…
The Stopping Online Piracy Hearing began Wednesday morning with six witnesses — 5 supporting the bill to hold Internet companies and other intermediaries liable for copyright infringing material on their website. The many groups opposing the overly broad, convoluted approach to reduce online copyright infringement including CCIA, CEA, NetCoalition, venture capitalists, law professors, human rights…
On initial glance H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, introduced in the House this week, is twice was long as its Senate counterpart the PROTECT IP Act and proposes broad, sweeping Internet regulation. Cybersecurity issues: If enacted, this bill would drive internet traffic and domain name routing that we now control outside of the US, compromising…
