ob telecom: Today it would be the DNS entries for internet addresses. Tomorrow it could be international directory/dialing codes...
For example, people in the US can not (easily) make a phone call to Cuba. But that embargo, for better or worse, was an open and high level decision that was debated in public.
The proposed bill would let similar blocks be put in place with far less oversight.
-------- The Best Congress Money Can Buy is in the process of destroying the internet as we know it. Yes, really. In secret until it's too late, of course.
Keep in mind a lot of these same arguments were already used to cripple usenet.
This is Not a Drill.
Basically they want to give their lobbyists the power to blacklist segments of the internet by making it relatively simple for some well connected groups to block off entire domains.
In other words, there will be a Great Wall of Capitalism.
And, natch, this bill is sneaking through without decent publicity or comment period. ------------------ more details:
The "Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act" (COICA) is an Internet censorship bill which is rapidly making its way through the Senate.
Although it is ostensibly focused on copyright infringement, an enormous amount of noninfringing content, including political and other speech, could disappear off the Web if it passes
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An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the Senate Judiciary Committee
Announcement by Peter Eckersley
Today, 87 prominent Internet engineers sent a joint letter the US Senate Judiciary Committee, declaring their opposition to the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act" (COICA). The text of the letter is (at the url). [snip] ----------------
- I recognize about 10 percent of the names..
_____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key snipped-for-privacy@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]