1 00:00:02,866 --> 00:00:04,933 Lets say that you´re the owner of some copyrighted material. 2 00:00:04,933 --> 00:00:08,267 Maybe its a movie, maybe its music of some kind 3 00:00:08,267 --> 00:00:10,918 and you observe that there is a site that is operating 4 00:00:10,918 --> 00:00:14,048 outside of the US and that site - at least in your mind - 5 00:00:14,333 --> 00:00:20,000 seems to be infringing on your copyright by US law. 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:28,933 So this is the site in question - and you're saying that it is doing illegal things, at least by US standards. 7 00:00:28,933 --> 00:00:30,867 The problem is that there's nothing you can do - 8 00:00:30,867 --> 00:00:34,200 it's operating outside of US soil and outside of US laws. 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,800 You can even go to the government, even if the government wanted to do something about it, 10 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:42,267 it really couldn't. Because once again, it's outside the US jurisdiction. 11 00:00:42,267 --> 00:00:45,800 The purpose of SOPA-and it seems really benign at first- 12 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,600 is to give some tools to these actors to stop this. 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,667 The problem-and we´ll see that its quite a large problem-is, 14 00:00:52,667 --> 00:00:56,667 that it gives tools to these actors to do much more than just stopping illegal activities; 15 00:00:56,667 --> 00:01:00,867 it allows them essentially to go on, to some degree, to a kind of a witch hunt 16 00:01:00,867 --> 00:01:04,867 for anyone that might even have a wish of enabling this type of activity. 17 00:01:04,867 --> 00:01:07,867 -it won´t even just be for foreign sites. 18 00:01:07,867 --> 00:01:10,200 So lets write this down, so SOPA stands for: 19 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:12,533 Stop Online Piracy Act - 20 00:01:12,533 --> 00:01:14,200 and it sounds pretty reasonable - 21 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,600 and this is the version of the bill that's coming from the House of Representatives. 22 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,133 The one from the Senate that's slightly different, 23 00:01:20,133 --> 00:01:23,267 but they have the same intent, is PIPA. 24 00:01:23,267 --> 00:01:26,067 And what it does is, if you can´t go after this site itself 25 00:01:26,067 --> 00:01:30,467 maybe you can go after sites that is somehow benefiting this site. 26 00:01:30,467 --> 00:01:32,933 And those sites are inside the United States. 27 00:01:32,933 --> 00:01:36,400 So this is outside, this is inside the United States. 28 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,600 So things that are doing that might include search engines. 29 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,133 So search engines like Google or Bing. 30 00:01:43,133 --> 00:01:46,933 They obviously link to this site over here. You might have ad networks - 31 00:01:46,933 --> 00:01:53,533 so sites that allow this site over here to display ads and to get revenue from them - 32 00:01:53,533 --> 00:01:55,867 that are benefting this site over here. 33 00:01:55,867 --> 00:01:58,733 You might have payment sites like PayPal 34 00:01:58,733 --> 00:02:04,133 or credit card processors that this site uses to collect revenue. 35 00:02:04,133 --> 00:02:09,600 And, maybe most importantly, you have things like the DNS servers within the US 36 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,467 that associate this site's domain name with the actual servers. 37 00:02:13,467 --> 00:02:17,133 And I wont get to technical about it, but when you type in 38 00:02:17,133 --> 00:02:22,533 something like www.shady.foreign 39 00:02:22,533 --> 00:02:24,800 , and once again, we´re gonna see that this site might 40 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,267 not even have to be shady or foreign- 41 00:02:27,267 --> 00:02:29,200 but when you type something like that in - 42 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:31,800 there´re servers in the United states that associate that with these servers 43 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:38,067 that might be operated outsite the United States - that associate this text with a number 44 00:02:38,067 --> 00:02:42,867 that points to this website, that points to this website's servers. 45 00:02:42,867 --> 00:02:44,800 So this are all things within the United States - 46 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,667 that to some degree this site is dependent on. 47 00:02:47,667 --> 00:02:51,800 So what SOPA does is, it allows these actors here - 48 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,267 the ones that are obviously concerned with enforcing their copyrights - 49 00:02:56,267 --> 00:03:01,333 to issue court orders and notices to these actors right over here 50 00:03:01,333 --> 00:03:05,000 that essentially compels them, very strongly, to immediately 51 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:12,533 cut off ties with this illegal site - or what they think is an illegal site. 52 00:03:12,533 --> 00:03:16,333 Now that might seem reasonable to you - except for the fact that 53 00:03:16,333 --> 00:03:19,600 it's kind of a "shoot first and think later" type of policy. 54 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,533 The basic way it works is, you presume guilt until this guy 55 00:03:23,533 --> 00:03:26,467 somehow tries to proof his innocence and we´ll see 56 00:03:26,467 --> 00:03:29,133 this guy isn´t naturally outside the US. 57 00:03:29,133 --> 00:03:31,667 It might even be completely legal, or what I would consider 58 00:03:31,667 --> 00:03:34,667 completely legal sites inside the US. 59 00:03:34,667 --> 00:03:37,267 Essentially as soon as this allegation is made and either a court order 60 00:03:37,267 --> 00:03:42,000 or a notice is payed, these enablers have to cut off ties to this site - 61 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,467 and you can imagine that if these cut off ties to this site, 62 00:03:45,467 --> 00:03:48,800 - this sites´ business - whatever it might be - whether illegal or legal, 63 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,333 immediately gets obliterated, especially this one here 64 00:03:51,333 --> 00:03:53,200 including search engines, ad networks and payment. 65 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:58,267 And if they don´t comply then these guys are going to start having illegal balast. 66 00:03:58,267 --> 00:04:02,067 So these guys are not going to have to comply and that by itself is hard 67 00:04:02,067 --> 00:04:04,800 but if they don´t comply, then they themselves are going to be in trouble. 68 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,333 Now it gets really obviously creepy, when you start 69 00:04:08,333 --> 00:04:10,867 going into - so when you thing of this - you´re like 70 00:04:10,867 --> 00:04:13,667 okay, so maybe we can work arround this a little bit. 71 00:04:13,667 --> 00:04:16,800 But it gets creepy when you even know this is the spirit of the legislation, 72 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,067 when you actually read the wording of the legislation- 73 00:04:19,067 --> 00:04:21,200 and obviously that's what matters, not the name or the intent- 74 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:23,533 But actually how it's worded-I mean, the way it's worded 75 00:04:23,533 --> 00:04:27,600 - it´s pretty clear that its intent is to go after much more 76 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:31,267 than just a site that's explicitly selling illegal pharmaceuticals or 77 00:04:31,267 --> 00:04:37,631 allowing people to download movies or, or videos or music 78 00:04:37,662 --> 00:04:40,425 that these owners don´t have access to. 79 00:04:40,425 --> 00:04:43,518 When you read the wording, its pretty clear that they want to be able 80 00:04:43,564 --> 00:04:47,000 to shut down anything that isn´t in any way associating with itself - 81 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,200 or in any way enabling it. 82 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:53,333 And you see it in the wording. So this is actually section 1.0.3 of the SOPA legislation 83 00:04:53,333 --> 00:04:59,267 - and this is how the define a site that is dedicated to theft of US property. 84 00:04:59,267 --> 00:05:01,933 So an internet site is dedicated to theft of US property - 85 00:05:01,933 --> 00:05:03,333 So an internet site is dedicated to theft of US property if - 86 00:05:03,333 --> 00:05:06,800 and so you know its useable by people in the United States - 87 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,200 and this is interessting. It´s primary designed to operated for purpose of, 88 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,200 has only limited purpose or use other than, 89 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:14,800 or is marketed by its operater or another acting in concert 90 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,133 with that operater for use in offering goods or services in a manner 91 00:05:18,133 --> 00:05:22,867 that engages in, enables or facilitates - now that is interesting - 92 00:05:22,867 --> 00:05:26,800 enables or facilitates all of these violations. 93 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,333 And these are the violations that would be illegal: 94 00:05:29,333 --> 00:05:31,333 You´re selling things that you can´t sell, 95 00:05:31,333 --> 00:05:34,200 you´re infringing on other people´s copyright. 96 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:38,533 And it might seem harmless, this "enables or facilitates" until you think about 97 00:05:38,533 --> 00:05:40,600 what that could encapsulate. 98 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,200 If I have a site, like this, I´am part of a site : Khan academy 99 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,600 Let´s say someone puts a message on Khan Academy 100 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:53,267 and from Khan Academy they link to a site that actually is really illegal 101 00:05:53,267 --> 00:05:56,815 and that is really shady and they link to it in the message boards. 102 00:05:56,831 --> 00:06:01,000 Well, under this am I enabling, is Khan Academy enabling or facilitating? 103 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,667 And if that's the case, then Khan Academy - by this definition - 104 00:06:04,667 --> 00:06:08,702 would be considered to be a site that is dedicated to theft of US property. 105 00:06:08,810 --> 00:06:12,400 And there are much bigger players than just Khan Academy, 106 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:16,067 that can be thrown into this bucket, players like YouTube or Vimeo or any site. 107 00:06:16,067 --> 00:06:19,800 Or even a news site, that allows people to put comments, 108 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,338 or allows people to put images, things like Flickr. 109 00:06:22,338 --> 00:06:26,800 That maybe had - in some way - their users infringing on the copyright 110 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,400 now all of the sudden the whole site - based on this definition - the entire site 111 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,800 can be defined as a site dedicated to theft of US property. 112 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,533 By this definition YouTube could be that, if its viewed in kind of 113 00:06:38,533 --> 00:06:41,267 enabling or facilitating. 114 00:06:41,267 --> 00:06:43,667 Khan Academy, any news site could be viewed like that. 115 00:06:43,667 --> 00:06:45,200 Vimeo could be viewed that way, 116 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:47,067 a photo sharing site could be viewed like that. 117 00:06:47,067 --> 00:06:49,267 People might take a photo or something that they don´t have the copyright 118 00:06:49,267 --> 00:06:52,000 and upload an image and all the sudden - by this definition - 119 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:57,133 based on just a sense that's being violated, 120 00:06:57,133 --> 00:07:00,467 they won´t just be able to shut down the illegal sites. 121 00:07:00,467 --> 00:07:03,600 They would be able to shut down things like Youtube, or Vimeo 122 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:08,200 or even things like CNN.com, if someone puts some message 123 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,533 or an image, that they think is somehow violating. 124 00:07:11,533 --> 00:07:14,333 And so ist not just going - right now the methodology is 125 00:07:14,333 --> 00:07:17,600 if there is some content on Youtube or Vimeo or some other sites, 126 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,533 that they feel is infringing on their copyrights - 127 00:07:20,533 --> 00:07:22,800 there are laws, where they contact Youtube directly, 128 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,267 they point them to the content, that seems to be infringing 129 00:07:25,267 --> 00:07:30,067 and Youtube or Vimeo or who ever will take down that content. 130 00:07:30,067 --> 00:07:32,667 But what this allows them to do is shoot first and think later. 131 00:07:32,667 --> 00:07:35,000 Oh, look: You´re enabling that, if they could some court 132 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:39,733 to give a court order, they can start giving notice to these players over here 133 00:07:39,733 --> 00:07:44,200 to cut off ties with major - what I would consider very legal sites - 134 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,841 like Youtube or Vimeo or CNN. 135 00:07:46,841 --> 00:07:49,633 It´s really almost any site that allows people to upload things 136 00:07:49,633 --> 00:07:55,267 or put links on it, which is almost - Facebook is another one - 137 00:07:55,267 --> 00:07:59,200 anything that has user generated content. 138 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:02,000 On just a whim they could take down the entire site - 139 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:03,800 not just take down that user generated content - 140 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:08,133 they could, on just convincing one judge, or convincing any of these, 141 00:08:08,133 --> 00:08:10,133 they could cut off ties with Facebook. 142 00:08:10,133 --> 00:08:13,733 Not even making Facebook. com pointing to Facebook anymore. 143 00:08:13,733 --> 00:08:17,333 CNN - they could just completly take down these sites on a whim. 144 00:08:17,333 --> 00:08:19,533 And it gets worse than that, because you would say 145 00:08:19,533 --> 00:08:21,467 well if they can take this down on a whim and you know 146 00:08:21,467 --> 00:08:23,600 maybe they kind of thought it was, but they didn´t do homework 147 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,133 and then they realize that it wasn´t copyright infringement. 148 00:08:26,133 --> 00:08:29,800 Couldn´t these guys sue back, although the damage would have been down, 149 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:31,431 these sites would have been taken down. 150 00:08:31,431 --> 00:08:33,400 They would have lost millions or billions of dollars. 151 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,113 Millions or tenth or hundreds of users would not be able to access these things 152 00:08:38,082 --> 00:08:39,052 and this would also be true for wikipedia 153 00:08:39,052 --> 00:08:43,533 if someone uploaded something that wasn´t completly, 100 % vetted. 154 00:08:43,533 --> 00:08:48,867 They could take down the entire site, not just that content. 155 00:08:48,867 --> 00:08:50,421 And you say: Okay, thats bad enough! 156 00:08:50,421 --> 00:08:53,667 But couldn´t these people say: Hey, look you´re wrongfully took us down 157 00:08:53,667 --> 00:08:56,467 we´re going to sue you now. Well to see that they can´t and 158 00:08:56,467 --> 00:08:59,600 to see how onesided this legislation is notice: 159 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,267 The threshold for beeing able to sued back, if you kind of 160 00:09:03,267 --> 00:09:07,333 misrepresented a violation - the only way you´re kind of held 161 00:09:07,333 --> 00:09:12,133 accoutable is if you´re knowingly materially misrepresented the violation. 162 00:09:12,133 --> 00:09:16,600 So, if the copyright holder says: Oh, I think someone on Youtube 163 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,867 - I feel pretty good that someone on Youtube is violating 164 00:09:19,867 --> 00:09:22,533 and that Youtube is enabling a violation and therefore Youtube 165 00:09:22,533 --> 00:09:26,600 is a site dedicated to theft of US Propertie and it later on 166 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:30,333 it finds out that it wasn´t, it was fair used or maybe that person 167 00:09:30,333 --> 00:09:32,133 actually did have the copyright to it. 168 00:09:32,133 --> 00:09:34,200 They can´t be sued, because they said: Oh, I just thought it was. 169 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:39,933 They werent knowingly materially misrepresenting themselfs. 170 00:09:39,933 --> 00:09:43,800 So even if it ends up, not even beeing a violation, these guys 171 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:46,267 could take the site down. Maybe some small producers actually 172 00:09:46,267 --> 00:09:49,133 secured the rights, put it up on Youtube and them, 173 00:09:49,133 --> 00:09:52,200 all the sudden these guys take down all of Youtube based on 174 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:54,867 not actually knowing what they are talking about. 175 00:09:54,867 --> 00:09:59,133 And they can´t even be a counter sued in that case, based on the law. 176 00:09:59,133 --> 00:10:02,533 And it gets even creepier than that, because to be concidered this 177 00:10:02,533 --> 00:10:06,200 you don´t even just enable or facilitate - which is almost anything- 178 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,667 one could argue a computer is enabling or facilitating this on some level. 179 00:10:09,667 --> 00:10:15,867 But you are concidered to be site, dedicated to theft of US property. 180 00:10:15,867 --> 00:10:18,800 Even if you do nothing illegal, even if you don´t enable anything illegal - 181 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:24,333 but if you just take actions that make it difficult for authorities to confirm 182 00:10:24,333 --> 00:10:28,333 that you´re doing something illegal. So if you view this in the physical world: 183 00:10:28,333 --> 00:10:31,800 Obvioulsy some people are doing illegal things in their homes 184 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:35,733 and obviously some people lock their door to keep people out of their homes. 185 00:10:35,733 --> 00:10:38,333 And maybe people are doing illegal things, it would even be 186 00:10:38,333 --> 00:10:40,769 more likely to look their doors and close their shutters. 187 00:10:40,769 --> 00:10:43,733 What this would do and this would do in the virtual sense, 188 00:10:43,733 --> 00:10:48,467 is that say: Look! Just by taking the action of closing your shutters 189 00:10:48,467 --> 00:10:51,067 and looking your doors. Which makes it hard for federal agents to confirm 190 00:10:51,067 --> 00:10:56,800 that you´re doing illegal things - just by doing that - that itself is an illegal act. 191 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:01,333 This is maybe one of the creepiest and draconian Intrusions of privacy, 192 00:11:01,333 --> 00:11:03,533 that I have actually heard of - 193 00:11:03,533 --> 00:11:06,000 that was even attempted to be passed into law. 194 00:11:06,000 --> 99:59:59,999 So if I where you - just as a privacy and liberty loving American - I´d be worried.