U.S. Protect IP Act
The Issue
The Controversy
The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes that the bill amounts to government censorship over the Internet. Proponents of the bill, including the entertainment industry, believe that it offers is an important way to protect the rights of content creators by making it harder for people to participate in online piracy.
The Result
The bill is controversial inside Congress as well as outside. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) recently placed a hold on the bill, saying that the bill threatened free speech. And the EFF is encouraging people to voice their objections to the bill in messages to their representatives in Congress. Despite the objections of critics, however, Congressional sources say that the Protect IP Act has broad bipartisan and industry support.
California Social Networking Act
The Issue
The Controversy
The bill covers only California residents, but it would effectively force social networks to extend the new rule to all users to ensure that it covers all California citizens. A coalition of social networking companies and trade groups--including Facebook, Google, the Internet Alliance, Skype, Twitter, Yahoo, and Zynga--opposes the bill. According to the coalition, the bill would violate free-speech rights and damage California's Internet commerce industry.
The Result
The fight goes on to stop the bill, but the proposed law has already made it through its third reading on the floor of the California Senate.
France: Three Strikes and You're Le Out
The Issue
The Controversy
The United Nations recently condemned Internet three-strikes laws, arguing that the laws violate international treaties on human rights to which countries including France and the United States are signatories.
The Result
Despite the French government's best efforts, implementing the three-strikes law is not going smoothly. In May, the French agency in charge of enforcing the law had to suspend its work temporarily after a data breach exposed the IP addresses of people being monitored for violations.
Copyright Copyfight
The Issue
Copyright infringement lawsuits can be very lucrative for law firms, and one group of attorneys leading the way is the U.S. Copyright Group. The USCG solicits movie studios to retain it to go after individual file sharers. Individuals suspected of violating copyright for a specific movie may be subject to damage claims of up to $150,000.
The Controversy
The Result
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., recently revoked more than 23,000 subpoenas obtained by the USCG, according to Ars Technica. The subpoenas would have allowed the USCG to discover the real names of users hiding behind anonymous IP addresses and then sue them for illegal file sharing. The USCG has until June 21 to show sufficient legal cause why the case should proceed.
Municipal Broadband Roadblocks
The Issue
The new laws hurt communities that may want to follow in the footsteps of the Wilson, North Carolina, municipal broadband company, Greenlight. Wilson built its own municipal broadband network after private broadband companies serving the area declined to upgrade their services. Internet service provider companies have been lobbying for North Carolina to enact the new law since 2007.
The Controversy
FCC Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn has called North Carolina's policy a "significant barrier to broadband deployment" and says that it "may impede local efforts to promote economic development." Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig called the new law "terrible public policy."
The Result
Governor Bev Perdue allowed the bill to become law without either signing it or moving to veto it. In a statement, Perdue called on North Carolina legislators to "revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers."
The United Kingdom: You Don't Talk About Super Injunction Club
The Issue
The Controversy
In May, a celebrity referred to as "CTB" sued Twitter and at least one Twitter user who talked about his extramarital affair online in violation of a U.K. super injunction. "CTB" was later outed as Manchester United soccer star Ryan Giggs, according to The Telegraph.
The Result
Britain's outdated law demonstrates the futility of trying to keep embarrassing information off the Internet. British Prime Minister David Cameron said in late May that his government would look at the super injunction law, calling it "unsustainable," according to The Telegraph.