| |
KA9LCF > NEWS 25.01.12 05:36l 89 Lines 3715 Bytes #999 (0) @ ALLIN
BID : 33665_KA9LCF
Read: GUEST
Subj: ARN: Radio Law
Path: IZ3LSV<IK6IHL<IK6ZDE<F1OYP<VE2PKT<XE1FH<CX2SA<N9PMO<9Y4PJ<N9LYA<
KA9LCF
Sent: 120124/1928Z @:KA9LCF.#NEIN.IN.USA.NOAM #:33665 [164756] FBB7.01.35 alpha
From: KA9LCF@KA9LCF.#NEIN.IN.USA.NOAM
To : NEWS@ALLIN
RADIO LAW: QRZ.COM JOINS THE FIGHT TO STOP SOPA AND PIPA
The giant QRZ.com ham radio website has joined the fight to
stop passage of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and PIPA,
a similar bill working its way through the U-S Senate.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Robert Sudock, WB6FDF, reports on
why QRZ.com and its owner Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ is taking this
hard-line stand.
--
Why should ham radio care about these two bills? According
to publisher Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, the measures are sponsored
by Hollywood entertainment corporations and the recording
industry. They threaten to destroy the internet as we know
it. And in his front page posting on the QRZ.com, he lists
what he terms "the facts about the bills."
According to AA7BQ, websites will be required to police
their own content for copyright violations of all kinds.
Any website found in violation of the intellectual property
of another party must be shut down -- it's internet access
blocked by its Internet Service Provider, DNS de-listing,
and all banking transactions via online payment providers
would be stopped.
Lloyd notes that there is no burden of proof required to
shut down a website. Any claim of copyright infringement
could result in a court ordered shutdown.
Website owners will be responsible for policing content
uploaded by their users. A violation could be ridiculously
minor to qualify such as uploading a trademarked image, a
photo of a celebrity, a clipping from a newspaper, an audio
clip from movie, or the like. Also, uploading a copyrighted
song or video would become a felony under the US Code.
And it is not just domestic websites that would be impacted.
The law would apply to foreign websites as well, requiring
United States based Internet Service Providers to block
access to those sites.
Lloyd then notes that this law could also kill his site,
QRZ.com, as users know it. He notes that the site
currently has some 300,000 photographs on its server, all of
which would have to be taken down and manually verified to
be in compliance. The same thing would hold true for each
biography page where a photograph or other image exists.
Lloyd says that in his case, there's no way he could do it.
If burdened with this sort of responsibility, QRZ would
simply be found in violation and forcibly shut down by the
federal government, all in an to protest both bills many
websites went dark on Wednesday, January 18 effort to please
what he terms as Hollywood and the music industries.
To protest both bills, many websites went dark on Wednesday,
January 18. The Amateur Radio Newsline provides a short
video insert in the TWiT network's Ham Nation podcast each
Tuesday evening. That network did not go dark, but devoted
its live programming to the SOPA and PIPA topics. As we go
to air the programs should be rendered and posted for
download in both audio and video formats. Go to www.twit.tv
and look for "Security Now," "This Week in Google," "Tech
News Today," "Triangulation" and the January 20th edition of
"This Week in Law" for a more detailed and web centric
discussion.
The story is still evolving. In reaction to public protests,
both bills were withdrawn for retooling on Friday, January
30th. More details to follow next week.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Robert Sudock, WB6FDF,
in Los Angeles.
--
AA7BQ ends his posting by asking those who use his website
to contact their Congressmen and Senators to voice your
opposition to both of these measures, especially SOPA. He
says that it's not just QRZ.com that depends on their
action. Rather he says, it's the entire internet as they
know it today. (QRZ.com, TWIT.tv, ARNewslineT)
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
