LOL !!! - Internet Circumvents Anti-Piracy Bill Before It Even Passes - RawStory

[WillyT]

Internet circumvents anti-piracy bill before it even passes
By Eric W. Dolan - RawStory
Tuesday, December 20, 2011

<snip>

Software developers have already found a way around the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which the House Judiciary Committee will not markup until sometime early next year. Most critics say the bill would create an Internet “blacklist” that forces ISPs, search engines, financial firms and advertisers to de-list websites accused of copyright infringement, all without any actual court hearing or oversight. The legislation takes aim at the Internet’s domain naming system (DNS), which translates domain names like www.google.com to numerical Internet protocol (IP) addresses.

But an add-on for the popular Internet browser FireFox, called DeSopa, would circumvent DNS blockades with the click of a button: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/desopa/

“I feel that the general public is not aware of the gravity of SOPA and Congress seems like they are about to cater to the special interests involved, to the detriment of Internet, for which I and many others live and breathe,” DeSopa developer T Rizk explained to TorrentFreak. “It could be that a few members of congress are just not tech savvy and don’t understand that it is technically not going to work, at all. So here’s some proof that I hope will help them err on the side of reason and vote SOPA down,” he added.

In a recent speech, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the bill would essentially “criminalize linking and the fundamental structure of the Internet itself,” adding that SOPA’s goal is “reasonable,” but that its “mechanism is terrible.” “What they’re essentially doing is whacking away at the DNS system and that’s a mistake,” Schmidt explained. “It’s a bad way to go about solving the problem.”

<snip>

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/20/internet-circumvents-anti-piracy-bill-before-it-even-passes/

[Boston_Chemist]

1. The internet is a truly brilliant concept.

These are exciting times - the people are becoming less and less governable, and democracy is breaking out everywhere!

[arcane1]

2. Hell yeah! It's a "bad way" for solving the "problem" all right

Especially since the "problem" is not at all what the bill is intended to "solve"

indeed!

[RKP5637]

3. The only solution I see in all of this is

to jail everyone in America. The way they're going just about anything is going to be illegal in America, anyway, so everyone might as will pick out a favorite prison and cell now, that's the American way, I guess, in the 21st century.

Now, they will go after the developer and claim they're a terrorist and want indefinite detention. Gawd, but this country loves to be the laughing stock of the world.

[Moostache]

7. GOOD! FUCK THEM (right winger asshats)

They don't like welfare or social program spending? FINE...
They want to retain stupid drug laws and criminalize EVERYTHING? FINE...
They want to keep playing "punch the hippie" to the fare-thee-well? FINE...

Imprison me and millions more for using the internet or smoking a joint or daring to exercise control over their own body. Eventually, you will pay...a little now in common sense policies and humane treatment of the disadvantaged or a whole hell of a lot more later in human collateral, lost productivity and prison costs later.

Hell, at the rate their going now, federal prisons are going to have more people I'd WANT to associate with than "respectable" society anyway!

[valerief]

4. Way cool! nt

[ellenfl]

5. good for firefox (my browser of choice). i figured the community would overcome. eom

[Remember Me]

6. Well, THAT (sounds like it) was easy!

Hooray, creative nerds and geeks!! You RULE!

[Joe Shlabotnik]

8. If SOPA and/or future similar bills pass, then this type of software must go viral, worldwide. n/t

[kenny blankenship]

10. the same shitheads who'll pass SOPA will pass other stuff

that is if they haven't done so already, that will make circumventing SOPA illegal. They will almost certainly make it illegal inside the US to distribute software that is intended to defeat the blockade of proscribed domains. They may make it illegal to DL and use such software too, and demand that your ISP report you if you visit "known deSOPA distribution sites".

[Joe Shlabotnik]

11. right you are Kenny,

Thats precisely why anti-sopa software must go viral: They can't imprison everyone. And it must be an international effort, because free access to information is the enemy of governments everywhere.

[klook]

9. Great to see - thanks for the alert

I look forward to seeing the future development of this FF add-on and similar efforts.

I love their explanation of the add-on name DeSopa: "DNS Evasion to Stop Organized Predators in America." Brilliant!

[T S Justly]

12. K&R (nt)

[BadgerKid]

13. It's a thinly veiled Internet kill switch.

I have no doubt we would see mission creep if this were to pass.