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A Free Internet, If You Can Keep It

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-can-keep-it-but-you're-in-charge-of-feeding-it dept.

Kethinov writes "My Congresswoman, Zoe Lofgren, a prominent opponent of the infamous Stop Online Piracy Act, has introduced two bills to the U.S. House of Representatives designed to protect the free and open internet, expand the protections of the Fourth Amendment to digital communications, and protect against the introduction of any further SOPA-like bills. Since these are issues Slashdotters care deeply about, I wanted to open up the bills for discussion on Slashdot. The bills are: ECPA 2.0 and the Global Free Internet Act. Is my Congresswoman doing a good job? Is there room for improvement in the language of the bills? If you're as excited by her work as I am, please reach out to your representatives as well and ask them to work with Rep. Lofgren. It will take a big coalition to beat the pro-RIAA/MPAA establishment politics on internet regulation."

4 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Still hope for the US. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a euroboy I can only urge you Americans to support politicans like this. Your political system seems bent and broken to me but this is a glimmer of hope at least. Keep fighting for your freedoms, they seem to dictate the direction the rest of us get herded.

    1. Re:Still hope for the US. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As a euroboy I can only urge you Americans to support politicans like this.

      Zoe represents California's 16th district. It consists of most of the city of San Jose (where I live), Santa Clara, and Morgan Hill. It is probably the nerdiest congressional district in the country. People here care about this stuff, but it is not even on the radar of most politicians.

    2. Re:Still hope for the US. by rvw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Thanks Europe. Your debt crisis and failing economic system are a shining star for all the world.

      Our debt crisis? Look at that big pink elephant behind you. Oh and it might be red with many golden stars, you know, like from communist China?!

  2. Actually read the bills by Saxophonist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I took a look at both bills. I'm not optimistic.

    I would need to dig more into the ECPA 2.0 bill, but there are, at a minimum, some technical problems with the bill's language. The purpose seems to be to abolish GPS tracking, but the language is weasel-y, and it needs to clarify some points such as interaction with state laws.

    The Global Free Internet Act appears to do nothing useful. It would create a task force ripe for regulatory capture, and it would probably result in less accountability than having groups continue to lobby Congress. Also, some of the factual statements about the Internet are incorrect, especially when making assumptions about the Internet's "original purpose."

    I'm not saying that we couldn't have quality legislation in these areas, but the proposed bills are lacking.