SOPA will not die even if defeated in congress
on
SOPA and PIPA So Far
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Even if SOPA/PIPA is defeated in congress in its current iteration, the media industry and its lobbying arm likely aren't going to worry in the least. Why? Because they have an ace in the hole: H.R 1981 - The Protect Children from Internet Pornographers (PCIP) Act of 2011. While still in committee since being introduced last summer, and containing questionable provisions about IP logging, It carries with it the same crew of supporters that are pushing the media industries' SOPA agenda. Chances are quite high that they will simply copy/paste SOPA's text onto it, thus giving it the "protecting children" shield from public scrutiny. Any opposition to it will easily be re-framed to wanting to "protect child pornogrophers". This will likely be the next battle and won't be easily won with blackouts and internet stunts. In fact, I'm not sure the public could handle the level of nuance that would be needed to explain why such a bill is dangerous.
X-Ray Scientist here. I work with both XRF and XRD instruments for commercial and academic use. The simple fact is this:
"Research indicates that enough data of exposed population exists to show that there is no safe dose, no safe-dose rate, nor a safe dose threshold..." - Wolfgang Koehnlein, Direktor of the Institue for Radiation Biology, University of Munster, Germany
In other words, every single high-energy photon that hits you has a chance to cause damage to cell structure or DNA, leading to cancer. These devices WILL increase cancer risk., without question. Safety limits exist to account for REASONABLE exposure, due to necessity or unavoidable exposure due to voluntary actions (job hazzard, etc.). The DHS may argue that the risk is low, but it is still a risk, and an unnecessary one at that.
With all the things that have been happening with regards to this story, I imagine you will start to see a new paradigm regarding Government and the Internet. Law regarding the internet, especially international, is largely non-existent, and even more so regarding the resources to enforce such laws. The laws that do exist are reactionary, and usually are extremely specific. The web has become more complex in terms of its capabilities that current law seems like me at my senior prom: awkward and inadequate.
Look at it this way: With probably just a USB stick, worth the price of a big mac, and a gmail account, someone just shook the entire world of international politics (An exaggeration, but you get the point). How do governments, who have largely treated the Internet with a laissez faire attitude, possibly police it, short of taking control and monitoring the entire web? That option, while not impossible, seems extremely unlikely.
If nothing else, this event is an awakening call to those in power: The internet can give-ith, and can take-ith away.
Hello sir/madame, are the owner of this establishment?
I must say this is a fine operation you run here. However, I believe your security seems to be lacking. What's to stop an armed man, such as myself carrying these concealed sidearms, from wreaking havoc on your customers and property? Hacking your wi-fi to access and broadcast transaction data to twitter was also a cake walk. Did you honestly think I couldn't get past such simple passwords? Also, I think you could of easily prevented me from rigging your exits with explosives, made from cheap fertilizer I bought and are set to blow should anyone try to escape.
Therefore, I would like to offer you my security consulting services. I think my demonstration speaks for itself but here are some references.
Need to use the phone? Oh I guess its just to call my references.
That's strange, I don't think any of them had numbers that start with 911...
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Even if SOPA/PIPA is defeated in congress in its current iteration, the media industry and its lobbying arm likely aren't going to worry in the least. Why? Because they have an ace in the hole: H.R 1981 - The Protect Children from Internet Pornographers (PCIP) Act of 2011. While still in committee since being introduced last summer, and containing questionable provisions about IP logging, It carries with it the same crew of supporters that are pushing the media industries' SOPA agenda. Chances are quite high that they will simply copy/paste SOPA's text onto it, thus giving it the "protecting children" shield from public scrutiny. Any opposition to it will easily be re-framed to wanting to "protect child pornogrophers". This will likely be the next battle and won't be easily won with blackouts and internet stunts. In fact, I'm not sure the public could handle the level of nuance that would be needed to explain why such a bill is dangerous.
X-Ray Scientist here. I work with both XRF and XRD instruments for commercial and academic use. The simple fact is this:
"Research indicates that enough data of exposed population exists to show that there is no safe dose, no safe-dose rate, nor a safe dose threshold..." - Wolfgang Koehnlein, Direktor of the Institue for Radiation Biology, University of Munster, Germany
In other words, every single high-energy photon that hits you has a chance to cause damage to cell structure or DNA, leading to cancer. These devices WILL increase cancer risk., without question. Safety limits exist to account for REASONABLE exposure, due to necessity or unavoidable exposure due to voluntary actions (job hazzard, etc.). The DHS may argue that the risk is low, but it is still a risk, and an unnecessary one at that.
With all the things that have been happening with regards to this story, I imagine you will start to see a new paradigm regarding Government and the Internet. Law regarding the internet, especially international, is largely non-existent, and even more so regarding the resources to enforce such laws. The laws that do exist are reactionary, and usually are extremely specific. The web has become more complex in terms of its capabilities that current law seems like me at my senior prom: awkward and inadequate.
Look at it this way: With probably just a USB stick, worth the price of a big mac, and a gmail account, someone just shook the entire world of international politics (An exaggeration, but you get the point). How do governments, who have largely treated the Internet with a laissez faire attitude, possibly police it, short of taking control and monitoring the entire web? That option, while not impossible, seems extremely unlikely.
If nothing else, this event is an awakening call to those in power: The internet can give-ith, and can take-ith away.
Hello sir/madame, are the owner of this establishment?
I must say this is a fine operation you run here. However, I believe your security seems to be lacking. What's to stop an armed man, such as myself carrying these concealed sidearms, from wreaking havoc on your customers and property? Hacking your wi-fi to access and broadcast transaction data to twitter was also a cake walk. Did you honestly think I couldn't get past such simple passwords? Also, I think you could of easily prevented me from rigging your exits with explosives, made from cheap fertilizer I bought and are set to blow should anyone try to escape.
Therefore, I would like to offer you my security consulting services. I think my demonstration speaks for itself but here are some references.
Need to use the phone? Oh I guess its just to call my references.
That's strange, I don't think any of them had numbers that start with 911...
*Scene*