Tag: PIPA

Google Co Founder : Sergey Brin : Internet is under attack by governments, Apple and Facebook

In an interview with the Guardian, Google’s Sergey Brin said he was worried about the state of the internet and that Google could not have flourished in an online ecosystem like today’s.

The threat to the freedom of the internet comes, he claims, from a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication by their citizens, the entertainment industry’s attempts to crack down on piracy, and the rise of “restrictive” walled gardens such as Facebook and Apple, which tightly control what software can be released on their platforms.

He said he was most concerned by the efforts of countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Iran to censor and restrict use of the internet, but warned that the rise of Facebook and Apple, which have their own proprietary platforms and control access to their users, risked stifling innovation and balkanising the web.

“There’s a lot to be lost,” he said. “For example, all the information in apps – that data is not crawlable by web crawlers. You can’t search it.”

Bold move Mr. Brin!

April 17, 2012
Delhi High Court to hear Facebook and Google Appeal today

The Delhi high court will on Thursday take up the pleas filed by Google India and Facebook India challenging the summons issued by the lower court, for ‘offensive material’ posted on their websites.

Google and Facebook on Tuesday said that it was impossible for them to control the internet content uploaded by billions of people. Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for Google India, had said that the summons issued to social networking sites by a metropolitan magistrate showed complete lack of understanding about how the online system worked.

The issue relates to a constitutional issue of freedom of speech and expression, and suppressing it was not possible as the right to freedom of speech in democratic India separates us from a totalitarian regime like China

–Neeraj Kishan Kaul

The advocate had tried to mention the fact that Google India and Google Inc. were infact two different entities and that Google India had no control over the actions of the US counterpart, nor are they responsible for it.

While companies in the US protest the SOPA and PIPA, India is still fighting for freedom of speech and expression of mind.

January 19, 2012
The internet anti-piracy bill is dwindling due to wednesday protests

The support for the Internet anti piracy bill is dwindling due to the massive protests on wednesday. lawmakers abandoned and rethought their backing for legislation that pitted new media interests against some of the most powerful old-line commercial interests in Washington. In reaction to the pending legislation, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia went dark. Google’s home page had a black banner across its logo that led to pointed information blasting the bills.

As a senator from Florida, a state with a large presence of artists, creators and businesses connected to the creation of intellectual property, I have a strong interest in stopping online piracy that costs Florida jobs, However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic Internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies.”

– Senator Rubio

With major online protests from major online companies, the support of the bill has dwindled in the hearing and is expected to not be enacted. A newer more open bill is said to be under works.

While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet,”

-White House official said.

The Pirate Bay has broken its silence over the PIPA and SOPA anti-piracy bills as well.

Of course we’re worried. Not so much for The Pirate Bay, as there are many workarounds, but for democratic reasons. It’s crazy what politicians will do in the name of copyright! They are either totally paid off, stupid or copyright holders. Or all of them – that’s not as uncommon as you might think. The worst part is that it’s so obvious that pretty much everyone in and outside the US, including major corporations, are against this bill.”

-ThePirateBay – Spokesperson

Most of those protesting the bills believe that the US has too much power over the internet and that a bill passed in the US will have its effects outside its borders. They believe that the UN should protest this so that they can prevent the possibility for a single country to rule over the global infrastructure.

January 19, 2012