bahmani

I am sure you have seen the black outs on various sites, Google, Wikipedia, and in case you don't know, this is a result of the upcoming Anti Piracy Bills PIPA and SOPA on the Hill and House.

FaceBook and Twitter have not participated in the black out, because they would rather make money today, then protect their right to do so tomorrow. But they are committed. No, really.

Worse, neither PAAIA, nor NIAC who claim to be concerned about Iranian American rights, have uttered a single word on their sites regarding this most extreme case of suppression of freedom. NIAC is busy telling Obama "How to talk to Iran", while PAAIA is busy "Celebrating Failure" (May I ask just how long this celebration will last?)

PIPA (Protect IP Act), US Senate May 12, 2011 - Patrick Leahy, Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley.

PIPA, Corporations and the government can sue/stop any website copyright infringing (US origin or not). Here is a breakdown:

- Force US internet providers to block access to websites violating copyright
- Sue search engines, blog sites, directories, or any site to remove the violating website
- Force advertising services to remove the website from their advertising
- Companies can sue any websites not doing a good job of preventing copyright infringement

PIPA alone could shut down Iranian.com

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), US House October 26, 2011 - Lamar Smith.

SOPA, works with PIPA. Sort of Black List. Here is a breakdown:

- US Attorney General can court order search engines, advertisers, DNS providers, servers, and payment processors to stop paying infringing sites.

- Corporations can create a list of websites violating their copyright and contact payment processors to cut off payments.

- Payment processors can cut off any website they believe violates copyright.

Pictures, quotes, music, film, videos, tag lines, intellectual property, regardless of use or intent, is deferred to the copyright owner to determine what is fair use.

Your 6 year old daughter won't be able to sing a song and upload it to YouTube. You could probably still do it, after you buy her the rights from BMG. Once. You will most likely still be able to sing a Googoosh song, because she still doesn't know how to sue CalTex.

You can see why Google is nervous, and of course Wikipedia is full of potential copyright violations and subject to the slightest whim of the original Intellectual Property owner.

Here on Iranian.com with all our satire and free-wheeling use of everything and anything, one single complaint will shut down the site if these laws pass.

And if you can close down Iranian.com, imagine the sites that could be shut down in the same way.

Some more deserving than others. While I don't think it should be this easy to download movies and music, on the other hand, what's the purpose of making a movie or a song, if not to be watched and heard? And really how much money are you losing if someone watches your film on a smartphone? How much do you really care if someone listens to your song on shitty ear buds? You can make money at the box office and at concerts. That should be enough. Nothing kills a career faster than a greedy artist.

So, all the more reason if you want to keep the internet like it is, free and simple, and not let it become like a pay to play corporate cell phone service, you'd better say something.

Otherwise, Bye Bye Miss Internet Pie...