EFF Confirms: SOPA & PIPA, If Passed, Would Jeopardize Second Life and Its Users (And Here's How to Take Action)

So I asked the venerable Electronic Frontier Foundation if the SOPA bill, as I feared, would jeopardize Second Life and its users. Short answer: Yes. Also, another bill, PROTECT IP Act (or PIPA), is just as concerning. Specifically, EFF staff attorney and intellectual property expert Mitch Stoltz told me this:

"We think that SOPA, and its companion bill in the Senate, the Protect IP Act (PIPA, S.968), will have a serious impact on any Internet site that hosts user-generated content. The bills are not limited to websites - they could be directed at any Internet-based business that uses the Domain Name System, buys or sells advertising, or accepts electronic payments. Although the bills are targeted at foreign "rogue" sites that allow indiscriminate piracy, they use vague definitions that could sweep in many legitimate sites, including domestic U.S. sites in some cases. They also undermine some of the protections against harassing lawsuits that Internet-based businesses have today. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, sites that host user content can't be held liable for copyright infringement by users as long as they respond to valid takedown notices and comply with some other requirements, but they don't have to look actively for infringing content. Under PIPA and SOPA, all sites that host users' content would have to become copyright police or risk being shut down because of the actions of a few users.

Emphases mine. Unfortunately, when I asked Linden Lab if they had a statement about SOPA, they declined to answer. My hope is that's only because they're preparing an answer, for a statement which was supported by well-known SL founders and boardmembers like Philip Rosedale and Mitch Kapor would add tremendous heft to the growing opposition among the tech industry. (Example: founding Linden Hunter Walk, who's now a bigwig at YouTube.)

That aside, if you're a US citizen, there's something you can do: Click here for info from the EFF on how to contact your representatives in the House and Senate. And please click soon: "PIPA, the Senate version of the bill," the EFF's Stoltz tells me, "will be up for a vote on January 23, so it's very important that people write, call, or visit their Senators in the next week."

Update, 5:50PM: Bumped up for importance. This weekend, please take time to consider how you might get involved.

Comments

[Hitomi Tiponi]

There's a list at http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/over-40-internet-companies-have-come-out-publicly-against-sopa/ of IT companies against SOPA - it reads like a list of the top companies on the internet. Hopefully LL will join them.

[foneco zuzu]

Well, not a single Linden more I'll spend, and I mean it, till Im sure Sopa is no more!

[foneco zuzu]

http://americancensorship.org/
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/
We ALL can do it!
Lets vote, even those like that are not USA citizens, cause this is a war we are all in!

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Thank you, Hamlet. My personalized version of the EFF letter just went to my senators and Congressman.

This is an issue that can unite libertarians left and right...but we need to speak up. Now.

[foneco zuzu]

THERE IS NO LEFT OR RIGHT ON THIS MATTER, ONLY THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM OF CHOICE!
Before WWII many didn't spoke, they regretted it always after!

[Ann Otoole InSL]

The only SL related vocal supporters of SOPA I have observed are all notorious copyright infringers.

[Metacam Oh]

Amazing how the people we elect in this country do everything but what the voters who voted them in want.

[Ener Hax]

thanks on this important post - certainly has me looking at it's ramifications

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Thanks for posting the link, Hamlet. For all the good it'll do, my representatives have been duly implored. I even refrained, with some effort, from calling them fascist corporate stooges to their faces.

[elizabeth (16)]

"Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, sites that host user content can't be held liable for copyright infringement by users as long as they respond to valid takedown notices and comply with some other requirements, but they don't have to look actively for infringing content. Under PIPA and SOPA, all sites that host users' content would have to become copyright police or risk being shut down because of the actions of a few users."

that pretty much sum up the problem and the solution for copyright holders who want to earn a living off what they own

make the host responsible for vetting stuff that their own users upload to their sites and servers. is a big effort for hosting companies to have to do that. is a way way bigger effort tho for copyright holders to vet every site ever that allow ppl to do that

from the outsiders pov then making ppl responsible for the content on own sites and servers would seem to be the fairer solution

in reals if u have a shop then u can get busted if u make a habit of allowing ur premises to used by other ppl for criminal activities, like selling illicit drugs or dealing in hot property. can go to jail even if is proven that u a fence urself. ordinary ppl get that. most them not see why the interwebz is any different

most ppl not make any distinction between foreign and domestic hot property dealers. the way the bill worded seems a bit jingoistic to me

[Vaki]

Breaking news (seriously, this just happened today, posted about an hour ago as I'm typing this): House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith has agreed to drop the DNS blocking provisions from SOPA.

This is both a good and bad thing. It is a good thing, in that it cures a fatal flaw in SOPA (DNS blocking was a fatal flaw, because it undermined the goals of DNSSEC, which has been a major priority of Homeland Security for the better part of the last decade). It is a bad thing, because by curing that fatal flaw, SOPA stands a far greater chance of passing now.

Even with DNS blocking gone, SOPA is a terrible bill. It hands carte blanche for internet censorship to the Justice Department...and even if you happen to like the Justice Department right now, all you have to do is think back a few years to the parade of Alberto Gonzales and, my god, John Ashcroft, who thought that the statues of Lady Justice were obscene and wanted to put clothes on them. Carte blanche to censor the internet, you guys.

SOPA also does an end run around the notice and takedown provisions of the DMCA by requiring credit card companies and PayPal to cut off all funding to alleged infringers. Not confirmed infringers. Not convicted infringers. But alleged. Freeze their accounts and let the lawyers sort it out? Sure. How good is that for small businesspeople or for new companies just starting out? Not so great.

This law is a big problem. It just got a big step closer to passing today.

[EhrmanDigfoot]

Signed and shared. Let's give this everything we've got!

[Ann Otoole InSL]

The bought and paid for elected reps and senators don't care what their constituents think. Better start thinking revolution if you want to get rid of the Alzheimer congress. They will be reelected continuously even if nobody votes for them.

[Ezra]

Yeah..the dropping the ISP related parts brings SOPA down to the level of terrible Protect IP is.

99% of the outcry is against SOPA. A good thing, but not enough attention is being paid to PIPA. For Second Life in particular, I worry a lot more about PayPal cutting off Second Life than the grid being shut down. At least if the grid had to be shutdown until "problems" are resolved, at least all L$ related matters could be resolved and Linden Lab could attempt to do the right thing surrounding that.

Both bills have to died. Entirely. SOPA being watered down to PIPA still means its 99% as terrible.

[Talwyn Mills]

The following article explains why org and com domains are immune from SOPA

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/113275-the-pirate-bay-is-immune-to-sopa

If this is true, that would mean SL is immune too, since its a com.

Still, SOPA isn't good, so its still worth fighting.

[Ezra]

Also thanks for attempting to get the Second Life community involved, Hamlet.

I'm guessing Linden Lab isn't vocal about it because they maintain a virtual economy where faith in L$ is tantamount. We saw how widely the value of L$ could swing when the layoffs happened. They can't exactly put the grid in a state of bated breath of wondering if L$ will even be around in the months to come.

Still, I wish there was -something- they could publicly do to show support of stopping SOPA and PIPA. It could mean tens of thousands more calls to Congress.

[Talwyn Mills]

Correction, I ment this article linked to in the article mentioned in my previous post.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120109/04205617341/if-sopas-main-target-is-pirate-bay-its-worth-pointing-out-that-thepiratebayorg-is-immune-sopa.shtml

[Danielle]

Big media complains about piracy, while at the same time the c|net division of CBS has a whole section devoted to file sharing software:

http://download.cnet.com/windows/p2p-file-sharing-software/

Why would they help create the problem they are complaining about? I think the reason is control. In the last century, TV, movies, newspapers, vinyl records, books, and magazines were basically one-way media. Whoever controlled them, controlled the news and entertainment you got. Computers and the Internet are two way media, everyone can both get and distribute stuff. So instead of a few sources, we have millions. Piracy is just a smokescreen to hide the attempt to get back control of the sources of information and media.

It won't work, the combined intelligence of the whole world is much greater than that of the control freaks, but they can sure make life annoying until they finally are put away.

[Toady Nakamura]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/01/guess-who-just-jumped-anti-sopa-train/47433/

President Obama's staff just weighed in on the SOPA debate.

[Ann Otoole InSL]

Obama has not stated he will veto any SOPA type legislation.

[Ciaran Laval]

When you consider that the USA can already, without the need for SOPA, extradite people from the UK for hosting sites that link to pirated content, rather than host it, and neither the person running the site, nor the servers the site hosting the site, are in the USA, you have to wonder why they want SOPA too, or is the idea to be able to extend this reach to other countries?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jan/13/tvshack-student-founder-extradition?newsfeed=true

[Drik]

Relocate SL servers to an non-extradition country, re-register Linden Labs there too and move on from the paranoid big brother that is the USA.

[ZZBottom]

The only thing we must do now is act and make our voice being heard!

[Ciaran Laval]

SOPA knocks dead in the water any user generated content site, as Second Life is based on that premise, then yes, it is a major problem.

[Kim]

It's over.

Saturday marked a major victory for opponents of proposed anti-piracy legislation Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which would target foreign-based websites violating U.S. copyrights.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/14/white-house-sopa-pipa_n_1206347.html

This bill is dead in the water, unless America is so stupid as to elect a Republican president this fall.

[Ann Otoole InSL]

@Kim Obama has not stated he will veto SOPA and PIPA. It is not over. Obama must state he will veto the ill formed legislation before it is over. And it is not over until all supporters of SOPA are removed from congress by whatever means is necessary and a ban on people over 55 years old serving in congress or as president is manifested.

[Melissa Yeuxdoux]

@elizabeth: People use many things to conduct criminal activity. Should the Postal Service have to inspect every letter to make sure nobody is doing anything nefarious, or phone carriers listen to every conversation?

[elizabeth (16)]

@melissa- facebook, youtube and sl ect are not phone companies or a postal service. they are sites, stores, repositories, just like b&m ones are. they store stuff and make it available to ppl

[Rin Tae]

Making a 55 years age limit might be interesting but it might not have the desired results. A party in germany tried that and decidedto be lead by a group of 30something old people .. and calling the result a epic desaster would be putting it nicely.

As always it is all about geting the right people to the right place and at least use elections to tell them if they did the right thing or not.

Sadly it often seem like the choice is between bad and worse ... unless someone new steps up. Forming new political parties is possible but it might be a hard thing to do in the rather stuck two party system in the US where it all comes down to the ammount of money poured into the pockets of the candidates and their election staff .. and to find dirty things about the opponents no matter if they are true or not.

So as I have written in another comment about SOPA: US citizens .. pelase fix your country as you are the only ones who can do it

[Bettina Tizzy]

Sorry, Kim. Unfortunately, SOPA is not dead. PIPA is not dead. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/16/businessinsiderno-sopa-is-not-dead-.DTL It's delayed.

PIPA is still being considered, too.

Second Life residents should demand that the grid and Linden Lab's website go dark on Wednesday, January 18.

[bobo]

30..right.. cause it worked so well for Logan.

50 is the new 30..

making you 30 year old about 10... which makes sence based on the video games you play.

[Tactical Tempest]

This is a perfect example of sneaky English words being used to make something that sounds good become ultimately corrupt with the passage of time.

God forbid this happens, we've given up enough freedoms for comfort.