piracy

Supporters of increased anti-piracy efforts, including the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, are the "greatest threat" to Internet freedom in the United States, a former Federal Trade Commission official said on Tuesday.

Two years after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid out U.S. support for global Internet freedom, efforts to crack down on online theft, increase surveillance, or block protests have proved those words to be empty promises, said Christopher Soghoian, a research fellow at George Soros' Open Society Foundations and a former technologist at the FTC's Division of Privacy and Identity Protection.

"It's really time to stop quoting Hillary Clinton's speech on Internet freedom," he said at a Media Access Project forum on Internet freedom. "The last two years have shown those were hollow, shallow words."

While the copyright lobby is pushing for stricter Internet piracy laws, thousands of Internet companies have mobilized to protest proposed anti-piracy bills, which were eventually abandoned.

Soghoian called such proposals "truly heinous" and said they undermine the free flow of information online. "There are many bad things on the horizon and Hollywood is pushing them," he said. "In an attempt to protect their own failing and sinking business model, they are willing to take the Internet down with them."

Supporters of the House's Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's Protect IP Act said online theft of intellectual property is out of control and is hurting the economy as a whole. Fears of censorship and control are overblown by Internet companies that profit off the flow of illegal content, supporters like the Motion Picture Association of America have said.

But not all threats to global Internet freedom are homegrown.

While the gap between countries with relatively free Internet access and those that censor and control the Web has increased in recent years, Google's Bob Boorstin said he will be watching countries that haven't fully gone one way or another. "Are they going to go the right way? Or the wrong way and try to clamp down on information," he said.

A Commerce Department agency has been hacked, The Washington Post reports.

Internet security provider VeriSign has acknowledged that it was attacked multiple times in 2010 by hackers, according to PCWorld.

Facebook's move to file documents for an initial public offering helped lift the stocks of other Internet firms that recently went public including game maker Zynga and online coupon provider Groupon, the Associated Press reports.

Federal authorities announced a new crackdown on illegal sports streaming websites, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Read all of today's e-Reads on our Tech page.

The controversial advocacy group Demand Progress can't get enough of Lamar Smith.

After working to torpedo the Texas Republican's Stop Online Piracy Act, Demand Progress is taking aim at another of Smith's bills.

The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act (HR 1981), which cleared Smith's House Judiciary Committee 19-10 last year after a hotly contested markup, would require Internet service providers to keep some user information on file to help track pedophiles and child pornographers. The bill's supporters say it does not require the collection of content and most ISPs already retain the data.

Still, the measure drew attention from critics who see a potential to undermine privacy and civil liberties.

House aides say the bill is effectively dead for now, but that hasn't stopped opponents from reigniting the debate after SOPA and its Senate companion bill were shelved. The issue also resurfaced on the link-sharing website Reddit, where users organized opposition to SOPA.

Demand Progress, which claims a following of more than one million, is asking supporters to send letters to Congress opposing the bill.

"We taught Congress a lesson last month: We need to do to HR 1981 what we did to SOPA, and make it clear to Lamar Smith and the rest of Congress that they can't run roughshod over Internet freedom," the group's executive director, David Segal, said in a statement.

Smith's spokeswoman, Kim Hicks, said child pornography is one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. "The Internet can be a force for good or bad," she said. "But it should not be used to facilitate crimes against our children."

During the fight over anti-piracy legislation the U.S. Chamber of Commerce accused Demand Progress of using scare tactics to distort the issue.

Organizers of Wednesday's Internet protest against online piracy legislation touted the participation in the unprecedented event that led some of the Internet's most popular destinations to black out their websites for a day and helped place the Senate bill's future in serious doubt.

The event appears to have paid off for organizers and other critics of the Senate's Protect IP Act and the House version known as the Stop Online Piracy Act. Numerous lawmakers have withdrawn support for both bills in recent days and late Thursday Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to shelve Tuesday's vote on whether to begin debate on Protect IP.

Fight for the Future, one of the groups that helped organize the protest, said Thursday that more than 115,000 websites and 13 million Internet users participated in the protest. The group said that 50,000 websites blacked out all or most of their sites Wednesday including Craigslist and Wikipedia, which are among the top 10 U.S. websites. The nation's biggest website, Google, also participated by blocking its name on its homepage and gathering support from 7 million users for its online petition against the legislation.

The group also said that 10 million Internet users signed petitions to Congress and 3 million sent e-mails to lawmakers calling on them to oppose the legislation. Fight for the Future's Tiffiniy Cheng said the numbers were gathered with the help of the many groups that helped organize the outreach to Congress and by monitoring the sites that blacked out their homepages.

"These bills have become a mainstream issue -- because of the strike, they were a top story for most news outlets, a trending topic on social media sites, and a buzz topic in offices and homes across the country," the group said in a statement.

A day after major websites protested legislation aimed at online piracy, the Justice Department shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites and charged its executives with violating piracy laws.

Seven Megaupload employees, including founder Kim Dotcom, face charges ranging from conspiracy to money laundering. Dotcom and three others have been arrested in New Zealand, at the request of U.S. officials, according to a Justice Department statement.

According to the indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court of for the Eastern District of Virginia, Megaupload and a related website stole and distributed copyrighted content.

Megaupload had the support of many musicians, including Alicia Keys and Kanye West, according to the Associated Press.

Before Megaupload.com was taken down on Thursday, the company issued a statement disputing the charges.

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay," the company said, calling the case "grotesquely overblown."

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who is fighting to have his anti-piracy Protect IP Act bill passed in the Senate, said the case underscores the need for his legislation, which targets foreign websites that offer counterfeit goods and pirated music, movies and other content.

"Today's action by the Department of Justice against the leaders of Megaupload.com shows what law enforcement can do to protect American intellectual property that is stolen through domestic websites," Leahy said in a statement. "Unfortunately, there are no tools in the arsenal to protect that same American intellectual property from theft by websites hosted and operated overseas."

Facing an online protest that appears to have gone viral, supporters of legislation that would crack down on piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites are trying to fight back by launching a new advertising campaign.

Creative America, a coalition of movie studios, television networks and entertainment industry unions, launched a new campaign Wednesday in support of the Senate's Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, in the House. The move came on the same day that thousands of websites went dark to protest both bills, which critics say will stifle innovation and free speech on the Internet.

Creative America has launched banner ads on some websites and a huge billboard in New York's Time Square advising Internet users to read a book, listen to music or go to a movie during the 24-hour blackout of sites like Wikipedia, Craigslist and Reddit. The coalition also is launching television, radio and print ads in select markets in support of the two anti-piracy bills.

"With the opponents of the bill trafficking in misinformation, fear tactics and public relations stunts like blacking out their websites--in essence censoring the Internet themselves--we thought it more important than ever to get the message out that these bills are reasoned, narrow, effective and necessary measures to combat foreign rogue sites, which are preying on American consumers and costing American jobs," Creative America Executive Director Mike Nugent said in a statement.

The campaign comes at a critical time as opponents appear to be making headway in Congress. The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on whether to allow debate to begin on Protect IP, while the House Judiciary Committee said this week it will resume its markup of SOPA next month.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who has helped lead opposition to SOPA in the Judiciary Committee along with Reps Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Jared Polis, D-Colo., and others, told Tech Daily Dose Wednesday that she will continue to try make improvements to the bill when work resumes and has 50 amendments ready to go.

While House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, has pledged to remove a controversial website blocking provision from the bill, Polis said Wednesday that it's unclear what other changes could be made. He urged critics to keep the pressure on lawmakers in both the House and Senate to oppose the legislation.

"We will have to react to how these bills will be changed. In the House, we don't know what the chairman has in store for the markup or in the Senate how [that] bill will be brought to the floor or what the manager's amendment will contain," Polis said in remarks at the annual State of the Net conference. "Public interest has to be ongoing. Not just a flash in the night."

Smith told Tech Daily Dose Wednesday that he does not know if he will make additional changes to the bill before next month's markup.

While not going dark, Google Wednesday joined a World Wide Web protest by blocking its name on its homepage to highlight its concerns with two congressional bills aimed at curbing piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites.

Google is among several leading tech companies opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, in the House and the Senate's Protect IP Act, which would allow a court to order online advertisers and payment processors to stop doing business with foreign websites primarily focused on infringement. The measures also would authorize a court to require search engines like Google and Microsoft's Bing to stop returning search results for such sites and require service providers to block U.S. access to foreign infringing websites. The bills' authors, however, have pledged in recent days to remove the website blocking provisions.

Despite this, opponents such as Google, Wikipedia and other websites argue that the legislation will stifle free speech and innovation on the Internet. Thousands of websites including Wikipedia and the social news site Reddit have gone black Wednesday to protest SOPA and Protect IP.

In a blog post early Wednesday, Google Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond said while fighting piracy is important, lawmakers should focus on cutting off funding to infringing foreign websites. Google urged users with a note on its homepage to sign an online petition against the legislation.

"Because we think there's a good way forward that doesn't cause collateral damage to the web, we're joining Wikipedia, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Mozilla and other Internet companies in speaking out against SOPA and [Protect IP]," Drummond wrote.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is expected Wednesday to introduce alternative legislation, which has been endorsed by Google and other tech firms, that would focus on a follow-the-money approach and give the International Trade Commission authority to enforce the bill instead of the Justice Department. Issa said Tuesday during a Capitol Hill briefing that he expects his measure will have more co-sponsors than SOPA. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the leading opponent of both bills in his chamber, introduced similar legislation last month.

House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, has been critical of Google in particular, saying the Internet firm is benefiting financially from infringing websites. Google has vehemently denied such claims, noting in its blog post Wednesday that the it has been "investing a lot of time and money in that fight" against piracy.

Meanwhile, two groups opposed to the legislation have launched a new website, VoteForTheNet.com, urging political support for lawmakers who oppose the legislation.
The site is calling for support in particular for four senators: Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Wyden, who has been blocking Protect IP from moving to the Senate floor since it was approved by the Judiciary Committee in May. The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on whether to allow debate to begin on Protect IP.

The bipartisan site is being run by David Segal of Demand Progress, a former Democratic state representative from Rhode Island, and Patrick Ruffini of Don't Censor the Net, who was webmaster for former President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.

The war between big media and big tech over a pair of bills aimed at curbing piracy reached new heights on Wednesday.

Thousands of websites 'went dark' in protest of the bills before Congress, arguing that they effectively allow censorship of the Internet. Proponents of the bills -- the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and Protect IP in the Senate -- argue that the legislation simply gives the government the authority to pursue sites that enable piracy.

Some sites, such as online encyclopedia Wikipedia and social news site Reddit, blocked access to their content altogether, while others, including Google, prominently featured their opposition to the bills. Google, which obscured its logo with a black censorship bar, is the most popular website domestically and globally, according to traffic-tracker Alexa, while Wikipedia is ranked sixth.

The legislation is opposed by other leading tech firms, including Facebook and Yahoo, as well as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, civil libertarians and a growing chorus of Internet activists. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said in recent days that he will go forward with a vote next week on a Senate version of the House bill known as Protect IP.

Critics argue that Protect IP and SOPA will stifle innovation and online free speech and in their current forms could harm the integrity and security of the Internet. Even though the bill's sponsors have offered to remove the most controversial provision calling on service providers and others to block access to foreign infringing websites, critics say that change isn't enough. During a conference call Tuesday, Reddit General Manager Erik Martin said the definitions in the bill are "vague and extreme."

The bill's congressional supporters, however, pushed back Tuesday, arguing that opponents are over blowing the impact of the legislation.

"It is ironic that a website dedicated to providing information is spreading misinformation about the Stop Online Piracy Act," House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said in response to Wikipedia's announcement that it will join the blackout protest. "The bill will not harm Wikipedia, domestic blogs or social networking sites. This publicity stunt does a disservice to its users by promoting fear instead of facts. Perhaps during the blackout, Internet users can look elsewhere for an accurate definition of online piracy."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Subcommittee, also voiced frustration Tuesday that critics are not offering more concrete proposals to fix the legislation.

"I think that what we need to have is a discourse about what works and what doesn't work," said Goodlatte, who helped draft SOPA, following remarks Tuesday at the annual State of the Net conference. "A blackout doesn't accomplish that. The more important thing here is that people talk to each other rather than blackout their patrons."

Motion Picture Association of America Chairman and CEO Chris Dodd criticized the blackout as a "gimmick." Dodd, a former Democratic U.S. senator from Connecticut, added that the blackout is "designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals. It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this 'blackout' to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy." His group is part of a broad coalition of content producers and trademark owners that have been pushing for new tools to combat the growth in piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites.

Critics of SOPA and Protect IP argue that the blackouts show the level of concern at the grassroots level to the legislation.

While not joining the blackout itself, Google has indicated it would post a statement on its homepage Wednesday reiterating its opposition to SOPA and Protect IP. Websites like Craigslist already have posted similar messages on their homepages urging opposition to the legislation.

The Chamber of Commerce, which is leading a broad coalition pushing for legislation that would crack down on piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites, pledged Thursday to work with critics of such measures who argue that they will stifle free speech, innovation and could harm the Internet.

The chamber's Global Intellectual Property Center has helped lead a coalition of content creators and trademark owners in support of the House's Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP bill in the Senate. The bills would give the attorney general authority to seek a court order to require online advertisers and payment processors to stop doing business with foreign websites that provide pirated music, movies and other content or counterfeit goods. In addition, the legislation also allows a court to order search engines to stop showing results for such websites and to require service providers to block U.S. access to such sites.

The measures, however, have sparked fierce opposition from Internet firms including Google, Facebook and Twitter, as well as privacy advocates, Internet users and others.

"We knew this would be a difficult issue. We believe that there are serious objections and legitimate ones that have been raised by some of our friends in the Internet business and we're working very, very hard to get those resolved," chamber President and CEO Thomas Donohue said at a news conference following his annual State of American Business speech. But he added that, "There is a fundamental reality here that if the things we're talking about were going on in a store down the street the police would go in and arrest them. It's not only the question of selling illegal goods. It's the question of selling fundamentally dangerous goods."

Donohue also was asked whether he is concerned that the chamber's aggressive lobbying efforts in support of SOPA and Protect IP may be alienating some of the group's members such as Google and the Consumer Electronics Association, which oppose both bills.

"I think that's a bunch of bunk," he said. "I talk to the Google people all the time. They've got 15 things they're worried about around here. A lot of this is being run by the Washington guys that are trying to make a name for themselves. We've got to work this together. We will."

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Protect IP Act in May but it's been blocked from moving to the floor by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The Senate has scheduled a Jan. 24th cloture vote on whether to begin debate on the bill. Meanwhile in the House, the Judiciary Committee began marking up SOPA last month but postponed final action after a day and a half of debate. The committee is expected to resume work on the bill sometime after the House returns next week from its holiday break. Critics have pledged to continue trying to fix what they see as major flaws with the bill. They offered more than two dozen amendments during last month's markup.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., one of the bill's leading critics, plans to hold a hearing in his panel next week on how SOPA could impact innovation as well as the integrity and security of the Internet's domain name system. He said Wednesday he will be looking for input on possible fixes from the technical experts testifying at the hearing and may hold additional hearings in his committee on the issue.

Google has rolled out a new search service that combines information from its Google + social networking service to provide personalized search results, the Associated Press reports.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that Google has profited from automated ads touting illegal products such as unofficial ticket resellers to the 2012 Olympics in London.

Hedge fund billionaire and LightSquared investor Philip Falcone is urging the FCC to help resolve the interference issues that have delayed approval of LightSquared's wireless broadband service, Bloomberg reports.

Microsoft is suing two Chinese retail chains for allowing computers with pirated versions of Windows and Microsoft Office software to be sold at the electronic retailers' stores, IDG News reports.

Read all of today's e-Reads on our Tech page.