Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

techdirt.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 91 posts

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#41

Post by joeybaker »

plusbryan wrote: post #28
jws wrote: post #11

The bill in question is COICA – "Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act" EFF has this to say: The main mechanism of the bill is to interfere with the Internet's domain name system (DNS), which translates names like "www.eff.org" or "www.nytimes.com" into the IP addresses that computers use to communicate. The bill creates a blacklist of censored domains; the Attorney General can ask a court to place any…

I'm shocked and ashamed that California's own Feinstein appears on this list.

Not only that, but Feinstein is ostensibly the Senator of Silicon Valley, and should know better.

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#42

Post by jacobolus »

tedunangst wrote: post #27
brown9-2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think her generic unnamed Republican opponent wouldn't vote the same way?

That's actually besides the point. Once the seat trades parties a few times, the occupant will figure out that if they want to be reelected they have to listen to their constituents. Or so the theory goes.

What? There’s no way that this particular issue is near-and-dear to enough people that it will cause anything more than a blip in voter turnout or choices. If you want to make a difference, go do some real organizing and build some kind of momentum up behind your position. Complaining in an online discussion and declaring you’ll cast your individual ballot for the out-of-power candidate so long as both parties disagree with you is a complete waste of your indignation, your time, and your vote..... of course, it’s a lot easier than doing the real work that organizing requires.

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#43

Post by snsr »

MBlume wrote: post #9

California senator Dianne Feinstein, who appears on this list, also sponsored Consume But Don't Try Programming ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Broadband_and_Digital_... ) back in the day. As long as she's on the ballot, I'll be voting for her Republican opponent, however loathsome.

My god that has to be one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. Seems Leahy was at the helm of that disaster, too.

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#44

Post by gnaritas »

sdh wrote: post #21

It would be easy enough to get around a DNS ban. Especially since they can't stop people from using whatever name server they choose or mapping IPs locally themselves.

While that is technically true, to 99% of the population, that is deep magic. They'd find a way to charge you for hacking for changing your own hosts file.

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#45

Post by nphase »

jws wrote: post #11

The bill in question is COICA – "Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act" EFF has this to say: The main mechanism of the bill is to interfere with the Internet's domain name system (DNS), which translates names like "www.eff.org" or "www.nytimes.com" into the IP addresses that computers use to communicate. The bill creates a blacklist of censored domains; the Attorney General can ask a court to place any…

I'm shocked and ashamed that Russ Feingold appears on this list. I thought him to be an upstanding senator until now.

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#46

Post by scarlson »

stevejohnson wrote: post #2

I'm extremely surprised to see Franken on this list. Wasn't he outspoken against this sort of thing?

I emailed my Senators (native Minnesotan). If I get anything other than an automated response I'll be sure to edit and include it.

I'm really dismayed that Franken supported this, especially considering his stance on net neutrality.

We might need 10 or 20 more Jammie Thomas-Rassets to get enough of a popular response from citizens to really change our Senators minds.

Here's hoping...

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#47

Post by scarlson »

SageRaven wrote: post #31
lhnn wrote: post #15

Would a website dedicated to providing IP addresses to websites whose domains were seized be seized? Just have a directory on an IP-address-accessed server and you've circumscribed the law. Nevertheless, this law is farking redonkulous. Aren't there already processes for removing illegal content from websites? Surely shutting down domains isn't the most effective way. There must be some alternative, nefarious motive…

A web registry of seized domains seems kind of pointless when it's really easy to set up guerilla DNS servers that provide the information far more efficiently to clients. I'm not sure of their current status, but AlterNIC and OpenNIC are/were two major non-official name registries. Then there's .onion and other darknets to consider. This battle is far from over; we're just seeing the first few open skirmishes at thi…

Or we could all just use international proxies and/or TOR.

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#48

Post by WildUtah »

plusbryan wrote: post #28
jws wrote: post #11

The bill in question is COICA – "Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act" EFF has this to say: The main mechanism of the bill is to interfere with the Internet's domain name system (DNS), which translates names like "www.eff.org" or "www.nytimes.com" into the IP addresses that computers use to communicate. The bill creates a blacklist of censored domains; the Attorney General can ask a court to place any…

I'm shocked and ashamed that California's own Feinstein appears on this list.

Feinstein has long been known as a censor, an opponent of civil rights and human rights, an open shill for industry, an advocate of unnecessary war, a proponent of police and government against the Bill of Rights and privacy, and generally opposed to the individual or small business whenever government and powerful institutions can be privileged instead.

I wonder often why California insists on keeping her. She almost always votes right on the environment and reproductive rights, I guess. You folks could do a lot better, though.

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#49

Post by WildUtah »

nphase wrote: post #45
jws wrote: post #11

The bill in question is COICA – "Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act" EFF has this to say: The main mechanism of the bill is to interfere with the Internet's domain name system (DNS), which translates names like "www.eff.org" or "www.nytimes.com" into the IP addresses that computers use to communicate. The bill creates a blacklist of censored domains; the Attorney General can ask a court to place any…

I'm shocked and ashamed that Russ Feingold appears on this list. I thought him to be an upstanding senator until now.

I hoped he might choose to go out with some of the integrity he showed in his best moments. Feingold left me with mixed feelings but he was always his own man.

Re: The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

#50

Post by akozak »

WildUtah wrote: post #48
plusbryan wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm shocked and ashamed that California's own Feinstein appears on this list.

Feinstein has long been known as a censor, an opponent of civil rights and human rights, an open shill for industry, an advocate of unnecessary war, a proponent of police and government against the Bill of Rights and privacy, and generally opposed to the individual or small business whenever government and powerful institutions can be privileged instead. I wonder often why California insists on keeping her. She almos…

Let's be clear which industry though, because clearly Internet services are now an industry in themselves.
Post reply on HN