[Nottingham] 18th Jan 2012: The internet goes dark (SOPA, PIPA, UK-DEA)

Wed Jan 18 16:58:11 UTC 2012

On 18/01/12 00:40, Martin wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> We try to keep this list non-political. However, there are some aspects
> too significant to ignore. I think this rates up even greater than the
> UEFI lock-out...
> 
> (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFI
> http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot

Add to that the latest twist:

Windows 8 hardware rules 'derail user-friendly Linux'
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/18/windows_8_linux_secure_boot/

> )
> 
> 
> On a day parts of the internet darken, a letter to my MP:

Avaaz has picked up the cause of our threatened internet:

Blackout -- Save the Internet Today
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_signing_h/?cTJkBab

"... We are turning the tide. But the dark forces of censorship are
trying to revive the bill right now. Let’s bury it for good today. Click
to sign this emergency petition to save the Internet now..."

Even though this is an American debacle, we also have parallels here in
the UK legislation that is worth highlighting to our MPs.

It is all a question of our freedoms.

Cheers,
Martin

> To Anna Soubry MP
> 
> 
> Dear Anna,
> 
> *TODAY*
> 
> 18th Jan 2012: The internet goes dark (SOPA, PIPA, UK-DEA)
> 
> 
> Hopefully you will have noticed the very serious furore for the very
> existence of the internet as we know it. A number of highly funded
> lobbyist media organisations appear to have been successful in their
> threats to shut down very significant parts the internet. All for the
> sake of, in my opinion, their desperate attempts to maintain their
> outmoded ways of business and all at the far far greater expense of
> everyone else...
> 
> 
> Note:
> 
> Google to join Wednesday's anti-SOPA protest
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/17/google_sopa/
> 
> Wikipedia blackout a 'gimmick', MPAA boss claims
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/17/wikipedia-blackout-tech-firms-sopa?newsfeed=true
> 
> And also note:
> 
> Governments must not censor internet, says William Hague
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/01/governments-must-not-censor-internet?newsfeed=true
> 
> Ofcom says no to web-blocking
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/03/ip_policy_roundup/
> 
> 
> The SOPA and PIPA legislation are purely American devices, but they will
> dictate the way the internet operates for the rest of the world. Many
> (if indeed not most) interactive websites will become unworkable
> (including my own) and impractical under the apparent intent from such acts.
> 
> Here in the UK we have the heavily lobbied Digital Economy Act that
> appears to be open to abuse by certain parts of the media industry...
> (And too expensive for private individuals to question.) There is also
> the spectre of the abuse of "deep packet inspection" to effectively
> wiretap everyones' use of the internet.
> 
> 
> 1:
> 
> Can we really allow the RIAA, MPIAA, BPI, and other such organisations
> to dictate how the internet is used?
> 
> 
> 2:
> 
> Is "Deep Packet Inspection" by ISPs allowed under any circumstances?
> 
> 
> 3:
> 
> Do you agree that the internet must not be censored in any way?
> 
> 
> 
> Note that the internet operates as well as it does now due to a lot of
> 'informal' and open cooperation at all levels of the internet
> infrastructure. I feel very strongly that selfish corporate interests
> must not be allowed to smash that. It would be far far too easy for the
> internet to descend into a quagmire of everything-is-encrypted and
> become a tangle of "dark nets" operated from private encrypted secured
> DNS. Such damaging moves would greatly stifle positive development for
> everyone. I urge you to lobby to avoid the media industry (or any
> others) from turning the internet into a "Mad Max" wasteland of "dark nets".
> 
> I also urge you to avoid the media industries (or any others) levying
> any 'presumptuous' 'taxation' on any use of the internet as has been
> done for other media (such as was done with magnetic tape and disks).
> 
> 
> Yours Sincerely
> 
> Dr Martin Lomas
> 
> 
> 
> SOPA: Stop Online Piracy Act
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
> 
> PIPA: PROTECT IP Act
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act
> 
> RIAA: Recording Industry Association of America
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riaa
> 
> MPAA/MPIAA: Motion Picture Association of America
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPIAA
> 
> BPI: British Phonographic Industry
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Phonographic_Industry
> 
> Deep packet inspection
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_packet_inspection
> 
> DEA: Digital Economy Act 2010
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Economy_Act
> 
> DNS: Domain Name System
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
> 
> 
> "Dark Nets": Any use of the internet utilising an alternate (or private,
> or secret) set of DNS servers. Also can be described as:
> 
> Darknet (file sharing)
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darknet_%28file_sharing%29
> 
> Dark Internet
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Internet
> 
> 
> Note: A single agreed "DNS" describes where things physically are on the
> internet and hence what the internet is.
> 
> 
> Mad Max: A 1979 Australian dystopian action film... based around the
> traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story of breakdown of
> society, love and revenge... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_max

-- 
----------------
Martin Lomas
martin at ml1.co.uk
----------------