DNS Blocking to be Removed from the SOPA Proposal

 
US Congressman and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (pictured) announced a change to the SOPA ( Stop Online Piracy Act, here) proposal:

"After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision. We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers"

The Internet Society said that while they agree with the need to "combat illegal online activities such as child pornography, infringement of intellectual property rights and cybercriminal activities", they find that "policies and regulations that require the interruption of the DNS infrastructure, whether by filtering results or through domain name seizure have serious deficiencies. These techniques do not solve the problem, interfere with cross-border data flows and services, and undermine the Internet as a single, unified, global communications network" (here).

Like always, I will quote Ofcom "All site blocking techniques can be circumvented". This refers to 4 techniques for site blocking: by IP address, DNS response, by URL response alteration or by using Shallow or Deep Packet Inspection (or hybrids of the above). 

See "Smith to Remove DNS Blocking from SOPA" - here.

Survey: Low-cost Legal Streaming Services can Displace Piracy; Support for ISP Blocking

  

A recent research done in the US by Joe Karaganis (pictured), The American Assembly, Columbia University, concludes that while "piracy is common - some 46% of adults have bought, copied, or downloaded unauthorized music, tv shows or movies", “large-scale digital piracy is rare” and  “legal media services can displace piracy. of the 30% of Americans who have ‘pirated’ digital music files, 46% indicated that they now do so less because of the emergence of low-cost legal streaming services. Among tv/movie pirates, 40%".

In regards to the recent SOPA imitative (which may require the use of DPI - here and similar sanctions that already took place in the UK - here), the research found that in the US "Majorities of internet users support requirements that ISPs and search engines “block” infringing material (58% for ISPs; 53% for search engines) .. But this majority disappears when blocking by ISPs is characterized as censorship (46% support), falls further when associated with the blocking of legal content (36% support), and still further when it implies surveillance of internet use (26% support)".

See "Copyright Infringement and Enforcement in the US" - here.

America's Entrepreneurs Need More Bandwidth, Open Internet and Oppose SOPA

 

Engine Advocacy, a new organization, was established to "to create an environment where technological innovation and entrepreneurship thrive by educating, collaborating, and involving startups in shaping policy".

So what are the issues that hold entrepreneurship in America? there are many as can be seen here. Among them are some that are relevant to the issues often discussed in this blog:

• Open Internet: The Internet's fundamental openness allows innovations to be implemented by users of the network, rather than only by network operators.
   
• Copyright: New distribution technologies are making it easier for anyone to reach a broad audience and make money. Copyright needs to allow these new technologies and new creators to succeed.
• Broadband:  The level of innovation enabled increases as more people have access to faster data pipes. Policy should reflect incentives for expanding both access and bandwidth.
   
• Spectrum Reform: More spectrum needs to be made available for both licensed and unlicensed uses, in ways that new innovators can take advantage of.

Nowadays, Engine Advocacy is fighting the recent Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA - see "Proposed US Bill Requires ISPs to [Use DPI] Block Sites by Domain Name" - here) and the PROTECT IP Act, (PIPA) US bill proposals.