Posted on 11/19/2010 5:41:04 AM PST by markomalley
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill that would give the Attorney General the right to shut down websites with a court order if copyright infringement is deemed central to the activity of the site regardless if the website has actually committed a crime. The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) is among the most draconian laws ever considered to combat digital piracy, and contains what some have called the nuclear option, which would essentially allow the Attorney General to turn suspected websites off.
COICA is the latest effort by Hollywood, the recording industry and the big media companies to stem the tidal wave of internet file sharing that has upended those industries and, they claim, cost them tens of billions of dollars over the last decade.
I’m a programmer and a ham so I guess I’m pretty technical :-)
It will be ruled that this doesn't apply.
Other arms of the Executive branch confiscate and often sell supposed ill-gotten goods, without benefit of trial. DEA, IRS etc. This country’s government has been on the wrong path for decades.
It started before the polls closed. I started seeing a divide and conquer strategy on the web (and on some FR posts) the very next morning.
Actually they are taking advantage until they loose the chance to shoot their ammo.
I just noticed my typo...doesn't change the meaning but had to correct my mistake.
Democrat rats support a police state....soon Eric Holder will be wearing an SS uniform.
So, theoretically, no FR poster could post text from a media source, an be certain that such act not be considered “copyright infringement” by the AG, even though appropriate links were provided. This screams of politically-driven censorship. FR and other conservative sites could be shut down, while the owners must defend against a subjective law.
"This is hardly a surprise but, this morning (as previously announced), the lame duck Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to move forward with censoring the internet via the COICA bill -- despite a bunch of law professors explaining to them how this law is a clear violation of the First Amendment.
What's really amazing is that many of the same Senators have been speaking out against internet censorship in other countries, yet they happily vote to approve it here because it's seen as a way to make many of their largest campaign contributors happy.
There's very little chance that the bill will actually get passed by the end of the term but, in the meantime, we figured it might be useful to highlight the 19 Senators who voted to censor the internet this morning":
* Patrick J. Leahy -- Vermont
* Herb Kohl -- Wisconsin
* Jeff Sessions -- Alabama
* Dianne Feinstein -- California
* Orrin G. Hatch -- Utah
* Russ Feingold -- Wisconsin
* Chuck Grassley -- Iowa
* Arlen Specter -- Pennsylvania
* Jon Kyl -- Arizona
* Chuck Schumer -- New York
* Lindsey Graham -- South Carolina
* Dick Durbin -- Illinois
* John Cornyn -- Texas
* Benjamin L. Cardin -- Maryland
* Tom Coburn -- Oklahoma
* Sheldon Whitehouse -- Rhode Island
* Amy Klobuchar -- Minnesota
* Al Franken -- Minnesota
* Chris Coons -- Delaware
sounds like some folks would like to shut down free republic
Isn’t that something. The corrupt bastards so fear the wrath of the people that the U.S. Senate has to pass an emergency law to try and shut people like us down. We have the hun on the run!!
Well, they’ll never take me alive.
Come and get me copper!!
Profound... Is this yours, or from another source?
Another Nazi-like initiative.
Bush signed McCain-Feingold so it could be nullified by SCOTUS.
How'd that work out, hmmmmmmm?
Amen!
The establishment protects itself. Should anyone be surprised?
I bet those idiots believe the spin on this bill.
what exactly is Fidonet?
It will start with blocking the domain on all public servers and public internet access. That means all govt workers, libraries, medical facilities, etc. that take federal money will be required to follow those guidelines. People who would normally use that access to find out what's going will be blocked.
Would you like to work on this together?
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