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

[Chris Walters]

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


---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 120118-1, 01/18/2012
Tested on: 1/19/2012 5:29:28 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2012 AVAST Software.
http://www.avast.com