The Uncanny Dangers of Internet Censorship: An Internet Graveyard

The Internet is irrevocably the single most expansive compilation of knowledge in the world, and despite its humble beginnings as insignificant packets of data within token ring networks, the phenomenon has a current outreach of two billion global users. It is arguably man's greatest creation - a construct with procrastination-enhancing abilities second to none; somewhat more ostensible is its infinite potential to unite creative minds worldwide - be they mathematicians, undiscovered musicians, writers, or artists - and pool ideas into a sprawling mass of ingenuity. The Internet offers aspiring writers and garage bands an audience of millions of users, largely thanks to pioneer companies like Google and (before it was assimilated) YouTube. In fact, the very website you are reading would otherwise be non-existent without the affordable and forgiving ways of the web. However, as with all modern instruments, fear-stricken politicians of the United States have converged under the nigh-infallible vision of American mega-corporations, thirsty to stifle a new-sprung creative threat.

The acrid "Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act" (COICA) enables branches of the US government to seize control of seemingly suspect sites with minimal explanation to the domain owners. Not dissimilar from China and Iran, this country has now effectively set an exceedingly dangerous precedent for the world to follow. If a site looks suspicious, it is condemned to digital death. COICA is, in essence, akin to Arizona's SB 1070 (the debated immigration law): if it looks like a creative website and acts like a creative website, then discontinue its web services until proven innocent by due process. November 29th, 2010 marked the first enactment of this new law, at which time branches of the government seized eighty-two domain names, providing limited-to-no information to the owners of these domains. The owner of OnSmash.com, a website that supports independent musical artists by giving them a virtual stage, recently awoke to find his domain non-functional. Unable to use his website as an outlet to post his confusion, he lamented his dilemma to Twitter: "I still have yet to receive any official correspondence as to WHY THIS HAPPENED." An Internet blacklist in conjunction with the remarkable censorship of speech - a first amendment right - has the potential to derail the future of the world. It may sound overzealous, but for something that one-third of the global population uses daily, the implications of widespread censorship are destructive at best, and at worst, similar to George Orwell's "1984."

The Act itself allows different arms of government the ability to reach out and seize control of domain names for 'copyright infringement,' and despite compliance with previous digital copyright laws, simply 'removing the in-question content' is no longer acceptable. In essence, if you own a music sharing website for indie artists, and one of your users wrongly decides to upload a song that he does not own, your entire site would now be subject to COICA (and the ensuing fines). For example, popular art hosting website DeviantArt could potentially be in jeopardy of seizure under the new Act for its hosting of users who have uploaded art they did not own. Perhaps more endangering to our immediate kin is the possibility of losing websites like DropBox, Mediafire, RapidShare, the MegaUpload family, or other similar file-hosting websites - while they are not all intentionally violating the new Act, unless they are hosted elsewhere, the sites are not safe from being disabled until proven innocent. Similarly, sites as gargantuan as YouTube are technically offending copyright laws - and despite their efforts to takedown offending videos, that should not protect them from COICA; it is my guess that government will not try its hand with the larger sites (at least, not at first), and will rather start with smaller, defenseless websites - like RapGodFathers.com. Afraid for DropBox? You should be.

The Cyber War has only just begun. 4Chan, the most aged, vile corner of the Internet, has recently brought its populace to bear: they've demonstrated an ability that redeems their innate good, and the pendulous balls of steel swinging beneath the site's anonymous silhouette. In their take-down of the MPAA and an associated Law Firm, Anon has shown its aptitude and unwavering resolve in the face of establishment. Born in the primeval days of the Internet, 4Chan users are used to the past - a time when they did what they wanted on the tubes, unhindered. I guarantee that this will get ugly: if acts like COICA continue to pass, the dark pockets of the web will inevitably revolt, and it won't be the peaceful kind. If staunch defenders of Internet freedom, inherent within users of ancient websites like 4Chan, feel that they've been mistreated, they will take down anyone in their path to make a point.

For the interest of our future advancement, COICA must be repealed and re-evaluated. It is outrageous that a Federal Government would employ totalitarian censorship to suppress endless terabytes of data and hundreds of millions of users in effort to dissuade a miniscule percentage of pirates from downloading a 5MB song. Just like the response to rock 'n' roll last century, leaders of the country are uninformed and pressured by gluttonous corporations and "new media" to act rashly, opting to discover its ramifications later. If you feel particularly protest-y, there are numerous petitions out there, and of course, you can always contact your local representation with your disgust - just do it coherently. Don't call them noobs, either. They won't get it.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation can direct your queries and educate you further on this matter.

~Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.