January 18, 2012

SandBox Comments: The Hill "Lawmakers begin to retreat from piracy bills in face of Web blackout"

Here's to the little guy.

Let freedom ring.

Congratulations to the folks who took a stand.  The reason you do not have your beloved 'Morning Photo' off the Summit County Citizens Voice is because Bob Berwyn is one of those who took a stand.  Thank you, Bob!

There is no question that the internet needs some forms of regulation put in place.  But, until lawmakers and law enforcement first understand how the crime actually works on the web; they cannot craft the laws we need.

All that is needed to begin the process of regulation for these egregious crimes is to first put regulation and licensing on the tools/weapons that are used. 

Viral linking/advertising and baiting.  Make one be a licensed, legitimate SEO professional before they can buy these deadly tools.  Not only will that significantly halt the promotion of piracy ability, there are many other cyber crimes that will be curtailed or outright eliminated.

The stopping of piracy belongs in the same place as a number of other cyber crime acts.  Require human moderation on websites, blogs and social networking sites.  Put a thinking mind with a human pulse at the controls to watch over their own creations.  If there is not, then the provider is regulated to shut them down.  Not only does that stop rampant abuse of freedoms on the web, it helps control mistakes.  Such as the video of the young soldiers urinating on deceased Taliban.  It is simply not true that will live forever on the internet.  The original source can remove it at any time with the end result being an eventual disappearance from the web.  If required human  moderation was in place now, we would know where the hijacked from original version are floating around out there on the web.

It's a start.

"In an unprecedented display of political muscle, thousands of websites went dark on Wednesday to protest two Internet piracy bills, the House's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's Protect IP Act.

Google, the most visited site in the world, plastered a black box evoking censorship over its logo. Users who click on the box are re-directed to a petition urging Congress to drop the piracy legislation. The Google page claims the bills would "censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American businesses..."
(The Hill)

(Read the rest?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

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