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Child pornography, cyberbullying, online piracy--these arereal-world problems that need solutions. But does legislating themaway work? You may think what your state capital or what Capitol Hill is up tois boring and not worth keeping tabs on. But see if you don't getyour juices flowing after reading how your tech freedoms could bereined in by some of the dumb bills we've pinpointed in this story. If lawmakers don t think through the implications of thelegislation they create, they just muck things up further. In fact,this slew of bills at the national and state levels--as well asseveral international treaty proposals in the works--are outrightstupid. You should be concerned about some of these proposed changes toU.S. law--how will they infringe upon your privacy? And note that acouple of them are in negotiations behind closed doors withoutpublic input at all. H.R. 1981: Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of2011 The Legislation : If passed, this legislation could force any business offeringpaid Internet access--airports, hotels, coffee shops, and ISPs--to keep records of users online activities , so that if the government ever wants to inspect them, it can. Why It's Terrible : Most people want to keep kids safe, but having the government spyon everyone who uses the Internet is not the answer. You d thinkthere would be other ways to catch perverts that don t involvesuch a frightening infringement on the privacy of innocent people. Status: H.R.1981 is out of committee; it has been placed on the calendar and isslated for discussion in the U.S. House of Representatives at somepoint. Why You Should Care : Don t let the title on this one fool you. H.R. 1981, if madeinto law, will let the government spy on and keep records ofeverything you do online. Hawaii H.B.2288: Hawaiian Data Retention Bill The Legislation : H.B.2288 would mandate that any company that provides Internetaccess in Hawaii--not only ISPs, but coffee shops, libraries andworkplaces--keep two years of usage records, including the sitesusers visited and the IP addresses used. Why It's Terrible : We re not talking about the long-term tracking of peoplesuspected of a crime, but everyone who uses the Web in the entirestate of Hawaii. Imagine if all that data got into the wrong handsor could be used against people in some way. Status : The politician who proposed the bill, Rep. Kymberly Pine, an OahuRepublican and the House minority floor leader, backed down fromthe bill, and it's been tabled . Why You Should Care : The Electronic Frontier Foundation , whose motto is "Defending Your Rights in the Digital World," saysH.B.2288 is one of the most poorly drafted pieces of dataretention legislation that it has ever seen. New York State S.6779 and A.8688 The Legislation : These bills require a website administrator, upon request, to remove any anonymous comments unless the person who posted it agrees to attach his or her nameto the post and confirms his or her IP address, legal name, andhome address. It also requires that websites make visible in anysection where comments are posted a contact number or e-mailaddress that people can use to put through removal requests. Why It's Terrible : According to EFF analyst Rebecca Jeschke, these bills are flatlyunconstitutional. We have a First amendment right to speakanonymously and certainly people who host their own websites candecide that they only want people to use their real names But whatyou can t do is have the government force people to speak usingtheir real names. We have a history of anonymous speech here in theU.S. from The Federalist Papers through to today. Status : Both bills are still in committee. Why You Should Care : Yes, folks who comment online can be rude and cyberbullying is aproblem, but imagine how important discourse on a myriad of topicswould decrease if people had to associate their names with them. Trans Pacific Partnership What It Is : U.S. negotiators are pushing for copyright measures far morerestrictive than currently required by international treaties.According to the EFF, The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is asecretive, multi-nation trade agreement that threatens to extendrestrictive intellectual property laws across the globe. Why It's Terrible : It s even worse than ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) and puts intellectualproperty governance in the hands of lobbyists. The EFF says the TPPwill have a broad impact on citizens rights, the future of theInternet s global infrastructure, and global innovation. Andagain, this one is being forged largely without input from the public . Status : The next round of TPP negotiations will be held in San Diego,California, on July 2-10. Why You Should Care : SOPA backers such as the Recording Industry Association ofAmerica (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America(MPAA), plus plenty of other corporate entities, are behind theTPP. For more ugly details about the TPP, visit the EFF , where you can use an automated action alert to tell yourcongressional representatives that you re against the agreement. DMCA: Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Legislation : This one isn t new, but it s bad enough to deserve a mention.The DMCA made it illegal to produce and share technology or services thatcircumvent digital rights management (DRM) technologies that keepyou from using digital content in ways that content providersdidn t intend. Why It's Terrible : Instead of working against people stealing copyrighted content,DMCA is often used against consumers, scientists, and legitimatecompetitors. For instance, in 2009 Google said that more than halfof the takedown notices it had received under the DMCA were sent by businesses targeting competitors and that more than one third were not valid copyright claims. Status : The DMCA became law in 1998. Why You Should Care : Clearly the DMCA didn t do away with content pirating, or wewouldn t still see Hollywood trying to push legislation like SOPAor ACTA. Next: More bad bills (CISPA, SOPA, PIPA, and more). I am an expert from recessedled-downlight.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China GU10 Led Light Bulb , Led Tunnel Light Manufacturer, T5 Tube Lights,and more.
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