Censoring the Internet
There is currently a bill in the Senate that has bipartisan support and the backing of groups like the entertainment industry and the AFL-CIO, called S3804 the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA,) which is seeking to ban websites based on illegal material.
Now, I'm not one to jump to censorship conclusions, but after reading into it, I thought I'd bring it to your attention.
The main goal of this bill is to allow federal courts and the government to shut down websites and even entire domains which offer up content deemed illegal. Of course, the spirit of the bill is to pursue things like Napster and various places that offer free media. But the wording is very broad.
The list is for domains "dedicated to infringing activity," which is defined very broadly - any site where counterfeit goods or copyrighted material are "central to the activity of the Internet site" would be blocked.
Many people are worried about the way the bill is phrased, that it could allow the government to blacklist many websites that are in fact legal and that offer legal services, such as mediafire, megaupload, and even YouTube. They also worry it could stall start up companies. If this bill were to pass, it would force companies like Google to block the domains as determined by the Attorney General.
I believe fandom has a stake in this. Not only do many of us stream our shows (I know some Supernatural fans found their go-to streaming place gone this week), but fanfic and vids are by their nature illegal. (Whether they should be or not is a different discussion.) Fanfic writers/vid makers/etc are not often pursued because the size of the group, as well, companies and producers recognize that it's more hassle than it's worth and that fandom helps promote their creations.
However, we on LiveJournal have experienced censoring already. The wave of problems that came when LJ transferred over control over to Russian-based ownership frightened many fans with issues of underage fanfiction. While it didn't become of the end of fandom or LJ as many thought, it did result in the Adult Content settings and a flurry of fans moving over to Dreamwidth and Archive Of Our Own.
Obviously, I have no evidence that fandom sites will end up being blacklisted. But should we give them the chance? Our creative reuse of the TV and movie characters we love is not meant maliciously. But at the end of the day, the disclaimers we attach to our stories and vids and art hold no legal merit. Copyrighted material is central to fandom's activity. By its very wording, technically, LJ, Dreamwidth, AOOO, and all those pairing specific places where you post fic fall under the criteria to be blacklisted, as well as various LJ comms or streaming websites where you get your media.
There is a petition to the Senate that this bill be stopped. I'm not going to request that you sign it. I do ask that you read it, the articles it links to discussing the bill in further detail and gain a knowledge of what this bill is. After that, if you decide that you support it, then sign the petition. But the most important thing is to be educated. This bill could be farther reaching than we could foresee, or it may simply restrict the Napsters of the world. I don't know. But don't leave it up to chance by not researching the implications.
More information:
COICA Fact Sheet
Track the process of the bill and other important information
Huffington Post
Text of the legislation
My own disclaimers:
1. I am not a lawyer. I do not know how this could be pursued in the courts, if it could be ruled unconstitutional, or if LJ and other fandom sites could ever come under the purview of this bill.
2. I don't have any links to the big debacle of LJ, its new ownership and the underage/pornography issues. If I've misstated the basic issues here, please let me know. Also, if you have any links, feel free to share them so I can flesh this out.
Please, feel free to link your flists here or to share this information on your own LJs if you feel strongly about it.
Now, I'm not one to jump to censorship conclusions, but after reading into it, I thought I'd bring it to your attention.
The main goal of this bill is to allow federal courts and the government to shut down websites and even entire domains which offer up content deemed illegal. Of course, the spirit of the bill is to pursue things like Napster and various places that offer free media. But the wording is very broad.
The list is for domains "dedicated to infringing activity," which is defined very broadly - any site where counterfeit goods or copyrighted material are "central to the activity of the Internet site" would be blocked.
Many people are worried about the way the bill is phrased, that it could allow the government to blacklist many websites that are in fact legal and that offer legal services, such as mediafire, megaupload, and even YouTube. They also worry it could stall start up companies. If this bill were to pass, it would force companies like Google to block the domains as determined by the Attorney General.
I believe fandom has a stake in this. Not only do many of us stream our shows (I know some Supernatural fans found their go-to streaming place gone this week), but fanfic and vids are by their nature illegal. (Whether they should be or not is a different discussion.) Fanfic writers/vid makers/etc are not often pursued because the size of the group, as well, companies and producers recognize that it's more hassle than it's worth and that fandom helps promote their creations.
However, we on LiveJournal have experienced censoring already. The wave of problems that came when LJ transferred over control over to Russian-based ownership frightened many fans with issues of underage fanfiction. While it didn't become of the end of fandom or LJ as many thought, it did result in the Adult Content settings and a flurry of fans moving over to Dreamwidth and Archive Of Our Own.
Obviously, I have no evidence that fandom sites will end up being blacklisted. But should we give them the chance? Our creative reuse of the TV and movie characters we love is not meant maliciously. But at the end of the day, the disclaimers we attach to our stories and vids and art hold no legal merit. Copyrighted material is central to fandom's activity. By its very wording, technically, LJ, Dreamwidth, AOOO, and all those pairing specific places where you post fic fall under the criteria to be blacklisted, as well as various LJ comms or streaming websites where you get your media.
There is a petition to the Senate that this bill be stopped. I'm not going to request that you sign it. I do ask that you read it, the articles it links to discussing the bill in further detail and gain a knowledge of what this bill is. After that, if you decide that you support it, then sign the petition. But the most important thing is to be educated. This bill could be farther reaching than we could foresee, or it may simply restrict the Napsters of the world. I don't know. But don't leave it up to chance by not researching the implications.
More information:
COICA Fact Sheet
Track the process of the bill and other important information
Huffington Post
Text of the legislation
My own disclaimers:
1. I am not a lawyer. I do not know how this could be pursued in the courts, if it could be ruled unconstitutional, or if LJ and other fandom sites could ever come under the purview of this bill.
2. I don't have any links to the big debacle of LJ, its new ownership and the underage/pornography issues. If I've misstated the basic issues here, please let me know. Also, if you have any links, feel free to share them so I can flesh this out.
Please, feel free to link your flists here or to share this information on your own LJs if you feel strongly about it.