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Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren wants to protect you from Internet laws that restrict your freedom



Congresswoman wants to protect your freedom - and guess what? She's a Democrat from the controlling state of California of all things! Write to your Congressman/woman and ask for his or her support for the Global Free Internet Act of 2012. Barkforum does NOT support the tactics of Anon on the SOPA issue, but we do support the legal process to get this passed into law protecting our freedoms by lawful and peaceful means. Admin

Remember that one time when our internet freedom was about to be severely stifled by the government, but then pretty much the entire Internetrallied against it? House Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) remembers, and
she wants to make sure the government will never create a law that will interfere with a free internet again.

The Global Free Internet Act of 2012 is a bill introduced last Friday by Lofgren that would create a task
force to protect the internet-savvy from the people in charge who are not so internet-savvy.

Last year's Stop Online Piracy Act
(SOPA) aimed to put a stop to copyright infringement on the internet,
but at the cost of restructuring the way the internet works by allowing
the government to enforce strict penalties for what they considered
violations such as movie and music streaming. "The Internet is a
thriving and vibrant engine for cultural and economic growth because it
empowers people to connect and share information globally with limited
restrictions," Lofgren says on her website.
She hopes to get the bill passed in time to influence President Obama's
executive order on cybersecurity he's currently considering.

https://www.myelectedrep.com/bill/112/HR6530

Body of the Bill

Rep. Lofgren Introduces Global Free Internet Act

from the needed,-but-unlikely dept

Rep. Zoe Lofgren has recently announced two brand new, but important bills (pdf): there's HR 6529, which is an ECPA reform act and HR 6530, the Global Internet Freedom Act. The ECPA reform effort is one we've discussed
a few times recently. It's much needed, but law enforcement officials
are pushing back against it because it would require them to get
warrants before spying on electronic communications -- which is
something they don't want at all. Here's what the bill would do
according to Lofgren's fact sheet:

1. The government should obtain a warrant before compelling a service provider to disclose an
   individual’s private online communications.
   
2. The government should obtain a warrant before it can track the location of an individual’s
   wireless communication device.
   
3. Before it can install a pen register or trap and trace device to capture real time transactional
   data about when and with whom an individual communicates using digital services (such as
   email or mobile phone calls), the government should demonstrate to a court that such data is
   relevant to a criminal investigation.
   
4. The government should not use an administrative subpoena to
   compel service providers to
   disclose transactional data about multiple unidentified users of digital
   services (such as a bulk
   request for the names and addresses of everyone that visited a
   particular website during a
   specified time frame). The government may compel this information
   through a warrant or court order, but subpoenas should specify the
   individuals about whom the government seeks
   information.
   

All of these seem perfectly reasonable -- but given how hard law
enforcement has fought against earlier ECPA reforms, it seems unlikely
it'll go anywhere.


The Free Internet effort is also important, obviously, if a bit more vague. Lofgren's summary:

The Global Free Internet Act would create a Task Force on the Global Internet that identifies,
prioritizes, and develops a response to policies and practices of the U.S. government, foreign
governments, or international bodies that deny fair market access to Internet-related goods and
services, or that threaten the technical operation, security, and free flow of global Internet
communications. Members of the Task Force include the heads of several executive branch agencies,
four U.S. persons nominated by Congressional leadership, and four U.S. persons who are not
government employees nominated by the Internet itself. The Task Force would hold public hearings,
issue reports no less than annually, and coordinate the activity of the U.S. government to respond to
threats to the Internet. When the next SOPA-like legislation, restrictive international trade agreement,
or overbroad treaty from an international body becomes a threat, it is the job of this Task Force to
sound the alarm and propose a course of action

This is basically something that the government probably should have
done a while ago, if it truly believed in the importance of an open and
free internet... which is exactly why it, too, seems unlikely. And, of
course, bills introduced at this point are unlikely to go very far,
seeing as Congress is out of session for election season, only to come
back briefly for a lame duck session after the election. It would be
great if these bills got some attention, but unfortunately they're
unlikely to do much this time around. Hopefully Lofgren introduces
similar bills next year too.