The Internet Blacklist Bill is back -- and even worse than before. After it was introduced last year, over 300,000 Demand Progress members contacted Congress to protest COICA, leading the bill to be shelved.
To see the newly leaked documents and to petition Congress to oppose the PROTECT IP Act, click here: http://act.demandprogress.org/...
Senator Leahy plans to reintroduce COICA as the PROTECT IP Act, complete with even more draconian censorship measures that would force search engines and web browsers to censor individual web pages.
According to the leaked text, not only would ISPs have to block access to blacklisted sites but they'd also have to censor any links to blacklisted sites. Web browsers would also have to edit web pages people visit to ensure they didn't display any links to blacklisted websites. Recently the popular Firefox browser refused a DOJ request to block access to certain sites; the new bill would allow the Attorney General to get an injunction against Firefox forcing them to comply.
Furthermore, it wouldn't just be the Attorney General who could add sites to the blacklist, but the new bill would allow any copyright holder to get sites blacklisted -- sure to result in an explosion of dubious and confused orders. In reality the bill maintains COICA's controversial url blacklist, but it's even worse than the original in two important respects:
Demand Progress Executive Director and Internet activist Aaron Swartz said:
"This new Internet censorship bill is the worst net-related bill to be considered by Congress this year. Even China hasn't gone so far as to insist web browsers delete any mention of censored sites. The PROTECT IP Act is like a virtual 1984 where ISPs and browsers would be forced to send any mention of blacklisted sites down the memory hole."