[ih] [IP] EFF calls for signatures from Internet Engineers against censorship

[John Curran]

On Dec 20, 2011, at 9:20 AM, Dave CROCKER wrote:

> On 12/20/2011 6:02 AM, John Curran wrote:
>> I was noting that SOPA is the type of outcome that occurs when we
>> fail to proactively engage governments.
> 
> John, the implication of your original note and this latest round is that opposition constitutes a failure to engage.  The signed opposition note is a petition.  You might recall a reference to petitioning in the Consitution.
> 
> The point that you seem to be missing is that the current bill is being pursued willfully and is ignoring expert guidance that contradicts the substance of the bill.
> 
> That's just bad technical policy.

Dave - 

 Our failure to engage _years ago_ proactively with governments 
 regarding their needs has led to this outcome.  

 Do you feel the petition is constructive engagement regarding
 governments perceived needs in this area?  I am unable to find
 any suggestion therein of an alternative approach to solving the
 problem of "foreign infringing sites", nor even a suggestion of 
 meeting to seek an understanding of their views on the problem.

 Absence of these elements leads me to believe that the petition,
 while quite clear in its message, doesn't represent constructive
 engagement as much as "drawing battle lines".  It may or may not
 be an effective mechanism, but my point is one of Internet history
 in that we've never proactively sought out governments' requirements 
 for the Internet during its development into a global communication
 medium, and therefore we should not be surprised at government attempts
 to now more directly control communications in order to accomplish
 their perceived responsibilities.

/John