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

[John Curran]

On Dec 21, 2011, at 1:06 AM, Jorge Amodio wrote:

> I believe what is really necessary, is some movement to reduce the
> level of mistrust from both sides.
> 
> IMHO lack of dialog and engagement is a big issue, even if one tries
> to engage and participate in a cooperative manner, the stakes are so
> high and the money/profit driven engine is spinning so fast that it is
> almost impossible in some circumstances obtain positive and effective
> results.

Agreed.  For example, SOPA effectively asserts that "the government 
has the right to prevent party A from communicating in advance with 
any/every given party B if party A's communication is alleged to be 
illegal."

Regardless of whether we're talking about the Internet, or the
telephone, or a public square, the above belief in contrary to
many peoples values (including my own), and it appears almost 
impossible to reconcile with standing US policy of objecting to 
another country's policy to prevent communications of the media 
or the various activist citizens because it is illegal by the 
laws of that country.

Principled discussion of the issue would be enormously helpful,
but that doesn't occur in Congress unless the administration 
forces it to occur ("we can't effectively do our job in these
other areas if you undermine our principled position this way")
Alas, that is not occurring in this case, and so instead we must 
fight an inherently repugnant idea solely via its various legal 
and technical blemishes.

If someone wants to sit down and say "You have a right to not
have your content illegally reproduced all over the Internet so
let's brainstorm", you'll find there are many advocates of SOPA 
who are willing to constructively engage.  Attempting to do the 
same starting with the assertion that "Your business model is 
fundamentally flawed and you must change" obviously may not work
as well. The voice of the Internet technical community is being
perceived as overwhelmingly in that latter camp.

/John