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

[Martin]

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
)


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



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


-- 
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Martin Lomas
martin at ml1.co.uk
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