
Linda Lewis
At the London Conference on Cyberspace, November 1-2, Vice President Joe Biden urged other nations to protect internet freedom of expression.
“Biden did not name countries he felt were offenders. But he criticized the efforts of some nations pursuing an “international legal instrument that would lead to exclusive government control over Internet resources, institutions and content and national barriers on the free flow of information online.” (PCWorld)
Meanwhile, back in the US, Congress
was preparing to pass a law granting extraordinary powers to censor the
internet. The proposed law, described as “the Great Firewall of America,” has the support of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also favors Internet freedom for other countries. If the US government still had any credibility on this issue after banning access to websites posting leaked cables, the latest hypocrisy should have killed it.
Last week, Representatives Lamar Smith (R-TX), John Conyers (D-MI), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Howard Berman (D-CA) introduced a House bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). A Senate version, called the PROTECT IP Act
(PIPA), had been introduced last May by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT),
Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Charles Grassley (R-IA). The bills propose to
let the federal government block public access to websites accused of
violating intellectual property rights. They would also require Internet
access providers, search engines and payment providers to deny services
to websites upon request from rights holders.
A devil in the lack of detailsThe bills have been criticized for their vague language and lack of due process, making them ripe for abuses.