Blacklisting Internet?

[ToriJ]

I saw this on ProBoards Support General Talk and thought it would make a good subject here.

demandprogress.org/blacklist/?source=tw

Apparently Congress wants to pass a bill that would blacklist certain websites from the US. I already signed the petition because I don't like the idea of the Government deciding which sites I can or can't view.

[dawgdoom.]

It'll never pass. I'd be interested to know what sites they're trying to block, but there is no chance a bill as you describe has enough supporters. Seeing as what you link to doesn't really inform me at all about this, it's hard to really say anything on the matter. Who is trying to get this through? If it's Republicans no way will enough Democrats vote with them and if it's Democrats they'll be laughed off the stage by the remainder of both parties.

And basically any talk of bill passing right now is bullshi-until the 2010 election season is over.

[sykonachoman]

More info:

www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/stop-the-internet-blackli_b_739836.html

They're calling it the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act," which conveniently makes it sound like a good thing for copyright enforcers (the "Support" section at the bottom of this page isn't surprising in the least) and doesn't touch on the amount of power that the bill actually gives.

The bill was sponsored by a Democrat and has more Democrat than Republican co-sponsors (9-7) D:

[dawgdoom.]

The bill was sponsored by a Democrat and has more Democrat than Republican co-sponsors (9-7) D:

I should be surprised but i'm not. People such as Ben Nelson say they are democrats but are at the same time conservative. Then they may as well call themselves republicans. It being Patrick Leahy is a little weird though. He's generally been more progressive.

But as I said, 17 people is not going to be nearly enough to pass this.

[ToriJ]

Oct 4, 2010 19:11:16 GMT -6 @sykonachoman said:

More info:

www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/stop-the-internet-blackli_b_739836.html

They're calling it the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act," which conveniently makes it sound like a good thing for copyright enforcers (the "Support" section at the bottom of this page isn't surprising in the least) and doesn't touch on the amount of power that the bill actually gives.

The bill was sponsored by a Democrat and has more Democrat than Republican co-sponsors (9-7) D:

Of course they don't touch on the amount of power the bill gives. Somebody on another site said it better than I ever could.

The problem with this bill is that it will give way too much power into the wrong hands. It is one of those potential smokescreen bills, where they will say that it will be used to shut down sites that offer pirated material, but in reality, they will have the authority to shut down any site on a US server that they indiscriminately want to. They will be able to use it to shut down opposing voices in a blog or personal site, any spiritual/religious site they decide they do not like, or a myriad of other bogus reasons to control what is on the web.
They will have the authority to force any US ISP to block any site they deem unfit as well.