By Access
The Indian government, which this year already passed new content-removal rules for websites, now wants to take it a step further and censor some of the most-used websites like Google and Facebook -- before the people of India even get to see the content!
India's Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal is asking internet and social media companies to proactively pre-screen user-generated content and remove it before it gets published. Really? This brazen attempt to silence expression online must not be tolerated and cannot be allowed to come to pass. We've seen the chilling effect these types of measures have in censorship regimes like China, Iran, and, Burma. Now India?
As more and more of India's 1.2 billion people come online -- internet usage is expected to triple over the next three years to 300 million users -- we have to work together to ensure India's right to information is protected and all our rights to view content, wherever we may live, are respected. The Minister is starting to hear the opposition to this law -- now we need to turn up the pressure until he backs down. Sign below:
https://www.accessnow.org/take-down-censorship-not-speech
Currently, executives from companies like Google and Facebook are discussing this proposal with the Indian government. Besides the blatant violation of freedom of expression, prescreening puts an extraordinary burden on companies, would slow down the delivery of information, and makes corporations the arbiters of speech. Whether or not companies feel such screening is plausible, they cannot be asked to be the ones to determinine what is disparaging and what is not. With our collective voice, we have the opportunity to prevent this rights-restricting proposal before it gets off the ground!
Minister Sibal has said he endorses freedom of the press, but classifies speech on these sites as different. But we know there won't be a free press without free speech online. Let's call on the Indian government to endorse the democratic principle of freedom of speech by revising their content-removal rules and dropping this attempt to force companies to prescreen user generated content.
https://www.accessnow.org/take-down-censorship-not-speech
With determination,
Access
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Sign Avaaz petition going to senior White House officials
Right now, Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world's Internet -- creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz!
Under the new law, the US could force Internet providers to block any website on suspicion of violating copyright or trademark legislation, or even failing to sufficiently police their users' activities. And, because so much of the Internet's hosts and hardware are located in the US, their blacklist would clamp down on the free web for all of us.
The vote could happen at any time now, but we can help stop this -- champions in Congress want to preserve free speech and tell us that a global outcry would strengthen their hand, and one of them -- Senator Wyden -- says he will "filibuster" or block any vote on the bill by reading out our petition names until the clock runs out! Let's urgently raise our voices from every corner of the world to build an unprecedented global petition. Click below to sign and then forward to everyone:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl
For years, the US has condemned countries like China and Iran for their clampdown on Internet use. But now, the impact of these new censorship laws could be far worse -- effectively blocking sites to every Internet user across the globe.
Last year, a similar Internet censorship bill was killed before reaching the US Senate floor, but it's now back in a different form. Copyright laws already exist and are enforced by courts. But this new law goes much further -- granting the US government and big corporations enormous powers to force service providers and search engines to block websites based just on allegations of violations -- without a trial or being found guilty of any crime!
Free speech advocates have already raised the alarm, and some key senators are trying to gather enough support to stop this dangerous bill. We have no time to lose. Let's stand with them to ensure that American lawmakers preserve the right to a free and open Internet as an essential way for people around the world to exchange ideas, share communication and work collectively to build the world we want. Sign below to stop censorship, and save the Internet as we know it:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl
In the past months, from the Arab Spring to the global Occupy Movement, we've seen first hand how the Internet can galvanize, unify and change society. Now, if we stand together, we can stop this new attack on Internet freedom. We've done it before -- in Brazil and Italy, Avaaz members have won major victories in the fight for a free Internet. Let's galvanize our global web community to crush the most powerful censorship threat that the Internet has ever seen.
With hope,
Luis, Dalia, Diego, Emma, Ricken, Aaron, Antonia, Benjamin and the rest of the Avaaz team
Sources Op-Ed: Blacklist Bill allows Feds to remove websites from Internet (Digital Journal)
http://digitaljournal.com/article/313463
Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back – And It's Worse than Ever (EFF)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/disastrous-ip-legislation-back-%E2...
Silicon Valley legislators oppose online piracy act (SFGate)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/15/BUO81LV0KI.DTL
House Hearing on Stop Online Piracy Act Scheduled (PC World)
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243659/house_hearing_on_st...
Growing Chorus of Opposition to "Stop Online Piracy Act"
https://www.cdt.org/report/growing-chorus-opposition-stop-online-piracy-act
The stop online piracy act: summary, problems, and implications
https://www.cdt.org/files/pdfs/SOPA%202-pager%20final.pdf
Why Is Justin Bieber So Pissed Off?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/why-is-justin-bieber-so-p_b_1...
Stop Online Piracy Act
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3261ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr3261ih.pdf
PROTECT IP Act
http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-PROTECTIPAct.pdf