Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : i2C - Internet Infrastructure Coalition : Should we be concerned about Protect IP Act and Net Censorship?

[igrowyourbiz]

This video has some interesting arguments

should we as web hosts be concerned about the possible dangers here...or are there no dangers at all?

[srfreeman]

Originally Posted by igrowyourbiz

should we as web hosts be concerned about the possible dangers here...or are there no dangers at all?

There is little to be confused about. Crappy policies and lack of sensible use has created an environment that many feel needs the external controls of legislation.

You have soiled your sandbox, yes, most certainly you should be concerned!

[Dave Zan]

With the possibility that you (especially as a passive service provider) might be held liable anyway, you might as well pay attention to that.

[MikeDVB]

The laws that are trying to be passed make the provider responsible for the end-user content, instead of the end-user (or as well as the end-user).

This means that if they pass you will need to actively watch the content of *all* of your accounts to ensure they're not doing anything that violates the law as you will be held accountable whether you knew or not.

The really bad part is that if you miss one even if they uploaded/did whatever that was illegal only minutes after you checked their account - you are still held liable. Effectively this means that even if you do your absolute best to check every account regularly and hire staff (i.e. spend more money) to make it happen - you could still be hit with a lawsuit.

Another potential situation is that if somebody doesn't keep their script updated and becomes exploited... Say the attacker uploads some illegal content or a phishing scheme of sorts - even though your customer did not intentionally do it, and you didn't intentionally allow it - you could be a defendant in the lawsuit.

If all of these laws pass I can easily see hosting pricing going up quite a bit to cover the additional overhead of monitoring each and every account as well as taking action and then to cover potential litigation should you miss something.

It wouldn't be hard to be hit with a $1m+ lawsuit over a single instance that you miss should that instance be fairly bad... That could put anybody but the biggest of the big companies out of business in a single step.

[FRCorey]

Essentially they're looking to strip away our carrier neutral status if we even have it. Yes we all should be worried, maybe we need our own lobby in congress, I think combined were worth more than the RIAA/MPAA which Google or Apple could buy with couch change.

[FernGullyGraphics]

Originally Posted by igrowyourbiz

This video has some interesting arguments

should we as web hosts be concerned about the possible dangers here...or are there no dangers at all?

This has been in the works since the Internet first become public. More than ever it should be a concern to everyone because the idea of the internet being censored here in the states is starting to not just be an idea, its starting to become a reality.

[fshagan]

Originally Posted by FernGullyGraphics

This has been in the works since the Internet first become public. More than ever it should be a concern to everyone because the idea of the internet being censored here in the states is starting to not just be an idea, its starting to become a reality.

That's a point worth repeating. Its not so much that the law itself sets up a censorship board or anything like that. But the effect of the law will be that web hosts will either have to charge a lot for hosting, putting it out of the reach of the average person. Or, the host will have to pre-approve all content.

It certainly has me thinking that my small hosting business may not be worth the trouble.

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by fshagan

It certainly has me thinking that my small hosting business may not be worth the trouble.

If a lot of these laws come to fruition as they stand - you're likely not the only one.

Only the very large providers that can absorb the likely absurd costs of monitoring all content and litigation will survive. Even the large providers will likely see a huge cut in their profits which will likely result in increased pricing.

[Exerox]

Very bad indeed, I can see offshore hosting really taking off.

They need to understand that what they're doing is wrong, no-one owns the internet, if anyone does it's google. What we need is an act that fights against terrorism, we're at war, not an act that moderates internet usage even further.

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by Exerox

Very bad indeed, I can see offshore hosting really taking off.

They need to understand that what they're doing is wrong, no-one owns the internet, if anyone does it's google.

The people writing these laws likely have little to no understanding of how the internet really works and probably have little idea as to what actually constitutes a carrier or hosting provider.

This is part of the problem - those writing the laws know little to nothing about what the laws are governing.

Murder is simple for anybody to understand, transit, transport, routers, bgp, servers, ram, disk drives, etc are all not exactly simple concepts for the average senator, congressman, or other politician.

[FernGullyGraphics]

Originally Posted by MikeDVB

If a lot of these laws come to fruition as they stand - you're likely not the only one.

Not to get too much into the conspiracy theories, but I cant help but think that might be part of the plan? Get the smaller guys out of the industry so the higher powers can have an easier time controlling, censoring content? Kind of like they did with Radio and TV?

[HVH-Ernie]

Theres a petition against these and more information here: http://savehosting.org/

[Exerox]

Originally Posted by FernGullyGraphics

Not to get too much into the conspiracy theories, but I cant help but think that might be part of the plan? Get the smaller guys out of the industry so the higher powers can have an easier time controlling, censoring content? Kind of like they did with Radio and TV?

That's actually a good theory though, it'd be the beginning of the higher powers really changing the internet and having actual central observation for everything.

The thing is, regarding SOPA, if I was a musician, a developer or an actor/acress, I'd be quite happy that my material was in such high demand that people spent time trying to get hold of it free.

[kpmedia]

Q: Should we be concerned about Protect IP Act and Net Censorship?
A: Yes.

[srfreeman]

Do not be fooled by believing that those drafting these laws do not understand any parts of what is involved.

At one point it was thought that telecommunications was too complicated, then radio, then television and now... Regulation of carriers is de rigueur for not only the US Congress but many such bodies across the globe.

The commercialization of the Internet, driven by legislation sponsored by Mr. Gore was the beginning of the regulation.

Though this is a natural progression, there is something quite interesting. All that is seen in discussion from the parties that stand to see increased regulation are empty complaints, no movement to correct the problems internally.

It is very possible that some parties in the mix do not understand the system, rest assured, it is not the law making bodies.