Re: [gentoo-user] S.O.P.A and P.I.P.A and the blackout.

[Chris Walters]

On 1/19/2012 05:29 AM, Chris Walters wrote:
> On 1/19/2012 01:44 AM, v_2e@×××.net wrote:
>>   Hello!
>>
>>   From what I know for sure, many people in different countries
>> supported the opposition to these bills  because they understand that
>> this is not just a US problem. If it happens there, it can easily be
>> repeated anywhere. And the point of opposing the US government
>> decisions for people in other countries, to my mind, is to state there
>> point of view *before* their local government try to do the same. And
>> that's important.
>>
>>   Regards,
>>     Vladimir
>>
>> -----
>>  <v_2e@×××.net>
>
> There are also points that:
> 1. These bills go way beyond filtering to a mandate to for Internet backbone
> providers block entire domains on the basis of one complaint of IP infringement
> - no evidence need be provided and there is no hearing.  This would have an
> effect on the Internet, as a whole, since much Internet traffic goes through
> the US infrastructure.
>
> 2. These bills criminalize something that no other country I am aware of has
> criminalized - IP (Copyright, Patent, and Trademark) infringement.  It would
> become a 5 year felony to "violate" this law.
>
> 3. The US is well known for its efforts to apply US law to the citizens of
> other countries - in fact, they are already doing this the a student from the
> United Kingdom.  The US has demanded the extradition of this non-US citizen to
> face criminal charges in the US, for something that is NOT unlawful in the U.K.
>  It also eliminates the US Copyright tradition of "fair use".
>
> I urge you to watch the Youtube video that I linked to, and to visit those
> sites.  The more people who become aware of the truth of these bills, their
> sponsors, and the danger to not only US citizens, but also to citizens of any
> country that has an extradition treaty with the US, the better.
>
> There is another issue that would threaten the existence of Gentoo, Debian, and
> basically any GNU/Linux or *BSD distribution.  Most distros I have seen include
> LAME, either as source (in the case of Gentoo) or in binary form.  Well, guess
> what.  The mp3 encoder algorithms that LAME uses are heavily patent encumbered.
>  This means that one complaint by the patent holders and Gentoo or any other
> distro that includes LAME (yes, even only as source code), could result in ALL
> Internet providers in the US being required to actively block the entire domain
> for the distro, and ALL of its mirrors (which include many Universities and
> some of them would take preemptive action and stop mirroring all distros lest
> they be effectively shut down, especially if they are US-based).  There are
> other patent encumbered packages in most distros, and any of them could result
> in a total block of them and their mirrors if a complaint is issued.
>
> This is why I was so shocked that the GNU/Linux and *BSD communities have not
> been more active in opposing these bills.  The definition of infringement is so
> broad that it could and would be easily abused by the profiteers of the US that
> support them (actually, most of the supporters are multinational corporations).
>  This threatens the whole of what the Internet has stood for since its very
> beginnings.
>
> Off my soap box, so to speak,
> Chris

Well, at least my original post caused some conversation and maybe caused some
people to think about this proposed legislation, research it and consider the
effects that it might have upon the Gentoo, and the whole GNU/Linux and *BSD
communities as a whole.

I understand the ambivalence of many on this issue.  Gentoo and all other
distributions are global, and the Internet is global.  I used to share this
sense that no one law could curtail the freedom of this wonderful system we
have.  That is until I actually started researching these bills, and their
sponsors - they, too are global - the are mega-weathy and they want to control
the Internet.

Chris


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