[liberationtech] US State Department not for internet freedom - Opinion - Al Jazeera English by EFF staffer

[Jillian York]

To Ahmed's latter point, considering DMCA has already been abused to take
down human rights content in several instances (all of which, I'm glad to
say, were successfully appealed in the end), I have no doubt that SOPA
could do the same.

On Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 3:42 PM, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin <ashihab at gmail.com>wrote:

> I'm currently editing an essay by Maryam Al Khawaja that really takes the
> US to task on its convenient inaction in Bahrain in the face of oppresssion
> which can be juxtaposed with State's convenient referencing in the letter
> Jillian shared of the so called "Arab Spring" and role of internet as a
> tool to fight government oppression.
>
> Speaking of US inconsistencies as it pertains to "Arab Spring"  - aside
> from surveillance exports to Syria, there is also the hosting of as many as
> 17 Syrian gov websites on US (and Canadian) servers (that can be seen as
> violation the US's own sanctions on Syria) that highlights US duplicity in
> context of Arabs demanding dignity.
>
> As the Al Jaz article says, "under SOPA, any site hosting videos, even if
> they are used to draw attention to human rights abuses, will be easily
> derailed if an overzealous copyright holder decides to use one alleged
> violation to strangle the whole site."
>
> To say this is a "threat" to the bold/burgeoning entrepreneurial tech
> scene in the region would be a grave understatement.
>
> On Nov 18, 2011, at 6:13 PM, Jillian York wrote:
>
> > Here's the letter (opens as PDF):
> www.mpaa.org/Resources/55b3874e-ad7c-40b0-b33f-760ca5d23390.pdf
> >
> > I find the sentence about the Arab Spring pretty rich, considering
> State's utter inaction on Bahrain, not to mention their slow response
> (aside from Alec's tweets) regarding the myriad surveillance exports to
> Syria.
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 3:00 PM, Evgeny Morozov <
> evgeny.morozov at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Katrin:
> >
> > If Clinton has no way of influencing the debate on SOPA and related net
> freedom issues, then, perhaps, it was a dumb idea to frame the "net freedom
> agenda" as she/DoS did in both of her speeches.
> >
> > Tactically, State Department's silence on this issue is a disaster. Few
> outside of the US know the intricacies of domestic policy-making (e.g.
> who's allowed to talk about what) but everyone surely knows about the
> benchmark they set for the USG with "net freedom" rhetoric. USG has by any
> possible measure fallen short of that benchmark and Clinton, so keen to
> tout net freedom in China and Iran, says nothing about it (or, worse, says
> something mildly supportive). How is that NOT an issue for the State
> Department?
> >
> > I think AJE piece is very well-argued and does highlight the inept
> nature of DoS's rhetorical construction of the net freedom problem.
> >
> > Evgeny
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 5:48 PM, Katrin Verclas <katrin at mobileactive.org>
> wrote:
> > Is the Clinton letter online somewhere in its entirety?
> >
> > This is a really poorly argued piece if it's based on that one sentence
> from Clinton's letter. The gal has to answer Congress but can't lobby for
> or against legislation. Talk to anyone at State - they do not like SOPA
> there. Obviously, the author did not bother.  And, who would disagree with
> her statement? It's finely worded but certainly not an 'endorsement'.
> >
> > Seems unusually gratuitous and an entirely red herring to focus on DOS
> when it's a bunch of Congressional hacks who drive the legislation,
> supported by pretty big money from pharma and old media/Hollywood.
> >
> > Katrin
> >
> >
> > Sent via mobile. Hence, short.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Miles Fidelman <mfidelman at meetinghouse.net>
> > Sender: liberationtech-bounces at lists.stanford.edu
> > Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:05:27
> > To: <liberationtech at lists.stanford.edu>
> > Subject: [liberationtech] US State Department not for internet freedom -
> >  Opinion - Al Jazeera English by EFF staffer
> >
> > Fallout from SOPA:
> >
> >
> >
> http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111116141248301243.html
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> > --
> > jilliancyork.com | @jilliancyork | tel: +1-857-891-4244
> >
> >
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-- 
jilliancyork.com | @jilliancyork | tel: +1-857-891-4244
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