Report: SOPA explained: What it is and why it matters

The tech industry is abuzz about SOPA and PIPA, a pair of anti-piracy bills. Here’s why they’re controversial, and how they   would change the digital landscape if they became law.

What is SOPA? SOPA is an acronym for the Stop Online Piracy Act. It’s a proposed bill that aims to crack down on copyright   infringement by restricting access to sites that host pirated content.

SOPA’s main targets are “rogue” overseas sites like torrent hub The Pirate Bay, which are a trove for illegal downloads of   movies and other digital content.

Content creators have battled against piracy for years — remember Napster? — but it’s hard for U.S. companies to take action   against foreign sites. So SOPA’s goal is to cut off pirate sites’ oxygen by requiring U.S. search engines, advertising networks   and other providers to withhold their services.

That means sites like Google wouldn’t show flagged sites in their search results, and payment processors like eBay’s PayPal   couldn’t transmit funds to them.

Both sides say they agree that protecting content is a worthy goal. But opponents say that the way SOPA is written effectively   promotes censorship and is rife with the potential for unintended consequences.

Silicon Valley woke up and took notice of the implications when SOPA was introduced in the House of Representatives in October.   But its very similar counterpart, PIPA, flew under the radar and was approved by a Senate committee in May. PIPA is now pending   before the full Senate and scheduled for a vote on January 24, though some senators are pushing for a delay.

Isn’t copyright infringement already illegal? Yes. The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act lays out enforcement measures.

Let’s say a YouTube user uploads a copyrighted song. Under the current law, that song’s copyright holders could send a “takedown   notice” to YouTube. YouTube is protected against liability as long as it removes the content within a reasonable timeframe.

When it gets a DMCA warning, YouTube has to notify the user who uploaded the content. That user has the right to file a counter-motion   demonstrating that the content doesn’t infringe on any copyrights. If the two sides keep disagreeing, the issue can go to   court.

The problem with DMCA, critics say, is that it’s useless against overseas sites.

SOPA tackles that by moving up the chain. If you can’t force overseas sites to take down copyrighted work, you can at least   stop U.S. companies from providing their services to those sites. You can also make it harder for U.S. Internet users to find   and access the sites.

But SOPA goes further than DMCA and potentially puts site operators on the hook for content their users upload. A site could   be deemed a SOPA scofflaw if it takes “deliberate actions to avoid confirming a high probability” that its service will be   used for copyright infringement. That kind of swampy language has tech companies spooked.

“YouTube would just go dark immediately,” Google public policy director Bob Boorstin said at a conference last month. “It   couldn’t function.”

Who supports SOPA, and who’s against it? The controversial pair of bills, SOPA and PIPA, have sparked an all-out war between   Hollywood and Silicon Valley. In general, media companies have united in favor of them, while tech’s big names are throwing   their might into opposing them.

SOPA’s supporters — which include CNNMoney parent company Time Warner, plus groups such as the Motion Picture Association   of America — say that online piracy leads to U.S. job losses because it deprives content creators of income.

The bill’s supporters dismiss accusations of censorship, saying that the legislation is meant to revamp a broken system that   doesn’t adequately prevent criminal behavior.

But SOPA’s critics say the bill’s backers don’t understand the Internet’s architecture, and therefore don’t appreciate the   implications of the legislation they’re considering.

In November, tech behemoths including Google and Facebook lodged a formal complaint letter to lawmakers, saying: “We support   the bills’ stated goals. Unfortunately, the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies   to new uncertain liabilities [and] mandates that would require monitoring of web sites.”

Where does the bill stand now? SOPA was once expected to sail quickly through committee approval in the House. But after a   massive pushback from tech companies and their supporters, it’s being extensively reworked. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor   has said SOPA won’t come up for a committee vote as-is.

That means the bill could change a lot from day to day — and one major tenet of the original legislation has already been   removed. As originally written, SOPA would have required Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to sites that law   enforcement officials deemed pirate sites.

But the White House said its analysis of the original legislation’s technical provisions “suggests that they pose a real risk   to cybersecurity,” and that it wouldn’t support legislation that mandates manipulating the Internet’s technical architecture.

The White House’s statement came shortly after one of SOPA’s lead sponsors, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, agreed to remove   SOPA’s domain-blocking provisions.

Smith’s office says it’s still planning to work through amendments to the bill, but his representatives declined to estimate   how long that will take. They plan to resume revision of the bill in February.

A markeup process once expected to take days is now likely to last for months. As the outcry around SOPA grows louder, the   bill’s momentum in Congress appears to be fading.

What are the alternatives? One option, of course, is that Congress does nothing and leaves the current laws in place.

Alternative legislation has also been proposed. A bipartisan group of House members has begun drafting the Online Protection   and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN), a compromise bill.

Among other differences, OPEN offers more protection than SOPA would to sites accused of hosting pirated content. It also   beefs up the enforcement process. It would allow digital rights holders to bring cases before the U.S. International Trade   Commission (ITC), an independent agency that handles trademark infringement and other trade disputes.

OPEN’s backers have posted the draft legislation online and invited the Web community to comment on and revise the proposal.

SOPA supporters counter that the ITC doesn’t have the resources for digital enforcement, and that giving it those resources   would be too expensive.

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Report: NYPD, Feds Testing Gun-Scanning Technology, But Civil Liberties Groups Up In Arms

Terahertz Imaging Detection Out To Detect Illegal Concealed Weapons

The NYPD and Department of Defense are working together testing Terahertz Imaging Detection, a new way to get concealed illegal weapons off the streets. (Photo courtesy: NYPD)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The NYPD is stepping up their war against illegal guns, with a new tool that could detect weapons on someone as they walk down the street.

But is it violating your right to privacy?

Police, along with the U.S. Department of Defense, are researching new technology in a scanner placed on police vehicles that can detect concealed weapons.

“You could use it at a specific event. You could use it at a shooting-prone location,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez on Tuesday.

It’s called Terahertz Imaging Detection. It measures the energy radiating from a body up to 16 feet away, and can detect anything blocking it, like a gun.

And the idea is causing quite the uproar on both sides of the privacy issue.

“I think it’s good. People will be safer and it will be a safer environment,” Jessica Ramos said.

“If it’s going to make us safer as citizens I’m okay with that,” said Lori Sampson of Lake Ronkonkoma.

“I think it’s all about invading people’s lives more and more and more,” Antonio Gabriel said.

“It’s definitely a privacy issue, but it’s for our safety. So it’s just one of those things, a double-edged sword,” added Clarence Moore of Union, N.J.

Police Commissioner Kelly said the scanner would only be used in reasonably suspicious circumstances and could cut down on the number of stop-and-frisks on the street.

But the New York Civil Liberties Union is raising a red flag.

“It’s worrisome. It implicates privacy, the right to walk down the street without being subjected to a virtual pat-down by the Police Department when you’re doing nothing wrong,” the NYCLU’s Donna Lieberman said.

“We have involved our attorneys as we go forward with this issue. We think it’s a very positive development,” Kelly said

People on the street have differing opinions on the price they’d be willing to pay for safety.

“There are a lot of cameras already here, so as people walk they’re being filmed. And most of the time they don’t know it,” said Jennifer Bailly of Jersey City.

“If they search you, you’re not giving consent, so they can do what they want, meaning they can use that as an excuse to search you for other means. I don’t think that’s constitutional at all,” Devan Thomas said.

“I don’t agree with it. I have the belief that if you forgoe some of your freedom then it’s not freedom at all,” added Erwin Morales of Hoboken.

“I think it’s good. I think if someone has something to hide and they’re going to worry about it, who cares?” Robert McDougall added.

The Department of Defense is also researching the Terahertz technology to detect suicide bombers wearing explosives.

Do you think this is an invasion of privacy? Or are you in favor of relinquishing some freedoms to keep the streets safe? Please offer your thoughts in the comments section below. …

Souce

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Report: Google Joins Online SOPA Protest

WASHINGTON — Google will join thousands of tech activists, entrepreneurs and corporations on Wednesday in protesting the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, a controversial bill that has generated national outrage among Internet experts.

On Wednesday, more than 7,000 websites are expected to voluntarily “go dark,” by blocking access to their content to protest the bill, according to organizers of SOPAStrike.com. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring the measure to a vote next week. Some of the biggest names on the Internet plan to participate in the blackout, including Wikipedia, Mozilla, Reddit and WordPress. On Tuesday, Google stopped short of vowing to take down its popular search engine, but said it would change its home page to show solidarity with protesters.

“Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,” said a Google spokeswoman in a written statement provided to HuffPost. “So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our U.S. home page.”

While Hollywood movie studios and major record labels have lauded the bill as a robust effort to crack down on online copyright violations, Internet experts maintain that the tools proposed for the legislation would hamper efforts to improve online security and threaten the basic functioning of the Internet.

Tech companies have been raising objections to the bill since the Senate version, the Protect IP Act, was introduced last spring.  Free speech experts also argue that the measure’s basic anti-piracy tool would risk seriously violating the First Amendment in allowing the government and private companies to shut down entire websites accused of piracy without a trial or even a traditional court hearing.

In addition to the Web protests, thousands of New York City tech activists and entrepreneurs are preparing for a Wednesday protest outside the Manhattan offices of Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kristin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Both Schumer and Gillibrand formally support Protect IP. Increasingly in recent years the Big Apple has become an active hub for tech firms, with many new companies and their venture capital supporters locating there rather than Silicon Valley.

The anti-SOPA event is being organized NY Tech Meetup, a trade group representing all aspects of the New York technology community. The group is expecting more than 1,500 members and speakers from leading tech companies to show up at the Wednesday protest, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m, at the senators’ Manhattan offices, at 780 Third Ave.

“We’re gonna have people get on a soapbox with a bullhorn,” NY Tech Meetup Chairman Andrew Rasiej told HuffPost. “We’re not in a theater; we’re in the street protesting.”

The White House announced on Saturday its formal opposition to SOPA and Protect IP, setting off a legislative scramble on Capitol Hill as lawmakers on both sides of the issue sought to shore up support ahead of the Senate vote.

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