web censorship, SOPA/PIPA blackout, open-source and diydrones

Dear all,

DISCLAIMER: I hope I do not bend the forum rules too much by this blog post and would hate to offend the community by starting the discussion of a (at least marginally) political topic. However, since in the past also UAV regulatory developments and issues that relate to the open-source community have been discussed, and since I believe this topic is highly relevant to the diydrones community, I decided to go ahead.

Those of you who have been visiting wikipedia, google, or some of the other sites that participate in the SOPA/PIPA blackout today may have noticed that parts of the private and public web communities have decided to virtually demonstrate against these (sets?) of law proposals. I myself, being located inside Europe, don't think I can completely follow the legislative process and the actual implications of SOPA/PIPA. However, it seems obvious to me that this topic is very relevant to diydrones as a site of open information exchange. I would like to raise awareness here and ask those who actually are located in the US and can influence the vote by contacting their representatives to please inform themselves and consider (as google's picture says) to take action. Please check out:

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopa (the only wikipedia page that seems to work today)

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/18/0834219/ask-slashdot-what-can-you-do-about-sopa-and-pipa

Thanks!

I would highly suggest reading SOPA before posting conjectures. The judicial process is fully used. They don't just shutdown sites, from a complaint. The Attorney General has to issue the order:

1 (5) RELIEF.—On application of the Attorney
2 General following the commencement of an action
3 under this section, the court may issue a temporary
4 restraining order, a preliminary injunction, or an in-
5 junction, in accordance with rule 65 of the Federal
6 Rules of Civil Procedure, against a registrant of a
7 domain name used by the foreign infringing site or
8 an owner or operator of the foreign infringing site
9 or, in an action brought in rem under paragraph
10 (2), against the foreign infringing site or a portion
11 of such site, or the domain name used by such site,
12 to cease and desist from undertaking any further ac-
13 tivity as a foreign infringing site.

And, the Service Provider, doesn't just take down the site, and court order must be issued:

15 (1) SERVICE.—A process server on behalf of
16 the Attorney General, with prior approval of the
17 court, may serve a copy of a court order issued pur-
18 suant to this section on similarly situated entities
19 within each class described in paragraph (2). Proof
20 of service shall be filed with the court

Also, they talk about foreign sites. This is because the laws already exists, with regards to US domestic sites. It's already illegal to host illegal content. SOPA, covers the loophole for foreign sites to provide illegal content to US users.

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

Sky Monkey January 18, 2012 at 4:20pm

Read this:

http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html
Ellison Chan January 18, 2012 at 3:55pm

I would highly suggest reading SOPA before posting conjectures. The judicial process is fully used. They don't just shutdown sites, from a complaint. The Attorney General has to issue the order:

1 (5) RELIEF.—On application of the Attorney
2 General following the commencement of an action
3 under this section, the court may issue a temporary
4 restraining order, a preliminary injunction, or an in-
5 junction, in accordance with rule 65 of the Federal
6 Rules of Civil Procedure, against a registrant of a
7 domain name used by the foreign infringing site or
8 an owner or operator of the foreign infringing site
9 or, in an action brought in rem under paragraph
10 (2), against the foreign infringing site or a portion
11 of such site, or the domain name used by such site,
12 to cease and desist from undertaking any further ac-
13 tivity as a foreign infringing site.

And, the Service Provider, doesn't just take down the site, and court order must be issued:

15 (1) SERVICE.—A process server on behalf of
16 the Attorney General, with prior approval of the
17 court, may serve a copy of a court order issued pur-
18 suant to this section on similarly situated entities
19 within each class described in paragraph (2). Proof
20 of service shall be filed with the court

Also, they talk about foreign sites. This is because the laws already exists, with regards to US domestic sites. It's already illegal to host illegal content. SOPA, covers the loophole for foreign sites to provide illegal content to US users.
Anish January 18, 2012 at 3:48pm

@chris i like what u did with wired. BTW open source is key behind diydrones among other models, i wouldnt be suprised if the "industrial_military" complex ( borrowing ur terminology) wouldnt try stopping us from developing these....
Jack Crossfire January 18, 2012 at 3:24pm

The amount of material Goo Tube now tags for "copyright" claims is obsurd & way beyond the realm of the patent lawsuits that used to consume our news feeds. It's gotten to where the power company now has to be given a royalty & even using a triangle requires a royalty because someone is claiming a copyright on the triangle. Now, instead of complete songs, a new corporation called Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society is claiming royalties on specific chords & melodies. You can't even have a piano sound without paying a royalty to Steinway. You think camcorder makers aren't going to want a royalty on everything shot with their products?
Sky Monkey January 18, 2012 at 3:09pm

Censorship is the least of the problems with SOPA.

If you post here with a link to a site and someone claims that site has unauthorized IP, they can have DIY-Drones taken off the air, immediately, with no recourse for the owners of DIY-Drones. No one gets to contest in court the validity of the complaint. ALL complaints are seen as valid. There is total forfeiture of "due process".
Ellison Chan January 18, 2012 at 2:41pm

Has anyone actually read SOPA? It mostly just outlines all the requirements that ISPs and advertising agencies need to do to comply to the act. Granted new software and technology would be needed to ensure compliance, but that's a good thing for web network programmers. (i.e. more employment opportunities)

I don't see anything that's in any way like censorship. If the site doesn't carry any illegal copyrighted materials, it should be business as usual. Most of the burden is on the ISPs and carriers to get their technology to be compliant.
Jack Crossfire January 18, 2012 at 2:08pm

Does anyone still not know about page style -> no style?
Daniel Hibben January 18, 2012 at 1:20pm

Well Said Chris, well Said
Toby Mills January 18, 2012 at 10:18am

Quite the oppoosite avionics. It's a great day when people are allowed to voice their objections and opinions and (hopefully) governments listen.
avionics January 18, 2012 at 9:37am

its a sad day for all of us indeed.

of 3

This reply was deleted.