We all have our concerns about piracy and violations of intellectual property, but the discussion taking place at the moment behind closed doors seems pretty one-sided.
You may have noticed that ESET researchers are not enthusiastic about the present drafts of the SOPA and PIPA acts:
- Stephen Cobb: DNSChanger and PROTECT IP: FBI hit and legislative miss
- Andrew Lee: SOPA and PIPA and DNS: An open letter to Congress
- Your humble scribe: DNSSEC, SOPA, and PIPA
Naturally, we all have our concerns about piracy and violations of intellectual property, but the discussion taking place at the moment behind closed doors seems pretty one-sided: as the Electronic Frontier Foundation points out, the only witness scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee today represents Google, whereas many of the other witnesses actually drafted the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) under discussion today. The EFF article includes a good summary of the other parties that should have been represented…
Other articles worth your attention:
- The Copy Culture Survey: Infringement and Enforcement in the US
- http://www.mozilla.org/sopa/
- SOPA: All Your Internets Belong to US
- And for a contrarian view, Andrew Orlowski's article for the Register seems to suggest, surprisingly, that attacking Google's credibility in the anti-piracy arena undermines all opposition to the current draft. If only the issue were that simple.
David Harley CITP FBCS CISSP
ESET Senior Research Fellow
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