The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to "national security" concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:
* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
...among others.
I just... I don't get this. Didn't the US Congress just
bolster the FCC's authority over the Internet? Isn't proactive another word for invasion? Jesus, how is any of this feasible, let alone legal?
"Give me six..." shit, I just used that quote. Just go read
Schneier. Man, if this gets codified, up will be down, black will be white, and our
turkeys will be photoshopped.
No but yeah, this is bad.