The internet is a vast frontier and still very young industry. It has allowed us to communicate with people in ways we never thought possible. Allowing products and services to exist such as Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and even Destructoid. However things seem to change in time and as corporations are getting hungrier and hungrier for control, lobbyists and uneducated/corrupt politicians are looking for ways to step into your life a little bit more each day.
I went home to celebrate the holiday season this year. Looking forward to catching up with old friends and family on topics of their successes and future plans and discussion about our nations and worlds future (I make it sound deep and complex but its mostly the same conversations everyone has). However I was shocked to find that not many people know about some of the scariest ideas in politics since the Patriot Act. I'm talking about the NDAA, PIPA, and SOPA.
The truth is not many people know what the NDAA, PIPA, or SOPA are at all. Americans have a habit of pointing a finger and place blame on someone or something. I have even caught myself around the water cooler blaming others and then with out thinking I go back to living life (I don't actually work in an office as I work from home). So how do we change this? We can start by not pointing fingers and by taking action. How so? Writing a blog post? Reading and linking articles on Facebook? Heck there's more than that you can do. You talk directly to a Congressman. Then once you're done with that, tackle your state government just as easily. How can this be accomplished? The internet.
Taking action only takes a few seconds, literally. The provided links will direct you to websites with email forms where you can send an email to a Congressman. You can even doctor the emails up!
Below is a brief description of what is scary about of each of these acts and links to more information and how you can get involved.
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA)
For the past 49 years, the NDAA has been passed to help dictate the expenditures and budgeting of the US Departement of Defense. It has grown to strike against the Bill of Rights.
What's scary?
It declares a
"police state." The NDAA authorizes the military to detain US citizens without trial. This is very scary, as it means that if the government believes for any reason you need to be detained, you can be without question.
On December 31, 2011 the NDAA was signed into law by our President. It's effective now, but can be corrected.
This act has been around for 49 years and has grown to include this. If the idea is in the Senates head now, what can possibly be next for our future?
How to help
More Info:
Wikipedia Article
Take action:
NDAA Reversal
Protect IP Act (PIPA) & Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
PIPA and SOPA in short are two proposed acts that would allow copyright holders, US Department of Justice, and companies to sue the pants off of anyone that they feel is infringing on their property.
What's scary?
While the point of the bills are to stop online piracy, they are essentially giving the entertainment industry power to censor the internet. This will affect sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, StumbleUpon, etc. If that isn't scary enough, then think again. These acts once again are threatening our freedoms in the Bill of Rights. Just so people can buy more movies, games, music, etc.
How to help
More info:
Wikipedia Article PIPA
Wikipedia Article SOPA
Take action:
PIPA/SOPA Prevention
I'm not a US Citizen
So what? These bills affect you also. If there are crazy politicians in the US, then are most certainly crazy politicians in your country. It will then only be a matter of time before these bills threaten you. What can you do? Alert your American friends and convince them to take action. Send them an email with the contained links. Heck, copy this blog post and send it to them I don't care.
Conclusion
While the corporations have money and lobbyists to corrupt the politicians at hand. The people of the world and users of the internet can be their own lobbyist by acting now. Next time you think about draining some time on Youtube or StumbleUpon, instead send a letter to your congressman. Once a day everyday.
Thank you for your time.
maxbraff's blog
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The law they need to pass is that no entity or government can mess with the Internet critical infrastructure. The TLD and root servers are a global resource and no single entity should be allowed to disrupt their functionality.
Regarding SOPA, internationally it creates huge problems because many international companies use a .com name and as Jack has pointed out, top level domains and the root servers should not be under the direct control of one particular company. If passed, SOPA could allow a Canadian company to be essentially banned from the internet with little recourse. The US could actually use IP banning to control international competition to some degree.
If a country wants to vote to control their own access to the internet, that's one thing... but when a country seeks to essentially control the world wide web, it's quite another. I'm actually suprised that there hasn't already been an international outcry and a demand that TLD and root servers be internationalized and possibly put under the control of the UN or something of that nature. If SOPA is passed, this might actually happen and in the long run it would be a good thing for the world wide internet community.
... if SOPA is passed... which increasingly isn't looking likely, though stranger things have happened in US politics.
@Elsa The reason for not changing to the UN is that certain US companies do have a certain level of "claim" in the infrastructure. SOPA/PIPA would force them to reconsider, but this would fracture the TLD/root server architecture and create even more problems, especially when we're trying so hard to get the zones signed.