SOPA: Endgame Is Total Internet Censorship Steve Watson Infowars.com December 28, 2011 Web blacklist legislation latest assault on free flow of information The Stop Online Piracy Act is not intended to make the internet more secure or even to protect copyrighted material. Its sole purpose is to codify First amendment killing actions already being undertaken by an out of control federal government. Media talking heads and bloggers alike continue to debate the technicalities of the legislation, however, it is clear that SOPA and PIPA, (Protecting IP Act) the Senate version of the bill, form a double pronged attack on the free and open internet. The bills constitute weapons of mass destruction in the infowar, a huge leap forward for the long running agenda to completely restructure and centralize the internet under government control. As detailed in depth in an excellent article today in The Globe and Mail, should the legislation be signed into law in January, it will provide the U.S. government, through the office of the Attorney General, the power to pursue court orders against any site believed to be engaging in or ‘facilitating’ ‘copyright infringement’. The problem being that the bill’s definition of such terms is so broad that entire web sites could come under threat of being effectively seized and shut down for merely displaying one offending hyperlink. Some felonies under SOPA, such as “streaming copyrighted content” – again the terminology is vague at best – carry a five-year prison sentence. As we reported back in October, the bill will also force compliance from search engines and Internet Service Providers, demanding they create a list of banned web sites and prevent their users from accessing the sites. Advertising networks, payment providers and credit card processors would also be ordered to stop doing business with any site deemed to be acting unlawfully under SOPA.
“…all those entities are compelled to comply. Indeed, the bill imposes stiff penalties on anyone who doesn’t, and offers immunity to ad networks and payment processors that follow orders. As such, SOPA is chock-full of incentives for ISPs, contenthosting sites and other such entities to go along with the government’s demands.” writes Omar El Akkad of The Globe & Mail. SOPA is not legislating for anything that the government isn’t already engaged in carrying out. 1. The Department of Homeland Security has already seized dozens of web sites merely for linking to copyrighted material, despite the fact that such material isn’t even hosted on the web site itself, a process the Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized as, “Blunt instruments that cause unacceptable collateral damage to free speech rights.” Most recently, the DHS seized a popular music blog and shut down the web site for over a year on charges it now admits were completely false. Under SOPA, even domain name server (DNS) forwarding, a core functionality of the internet as a whole, would have to be suspended for any site accused of “piracy”. Enacting the legislation would constitute a massive internet-wide operation, and may be part of the reason why backlash, even corporate backlash, is continuing to grow against it. Furthermore, experts contend that anyone who is determined to download pirated content from a forbidden site could easily switch their computer settings to bypass SOPA restrictions, by using a foreign-based DNS, for example. In short, intense lobbying from the entertainment industry, urging the government to protect copyrighted content, is being used as yet another front by an establishment hell bent on restricting freedom of speech and the free flow of information to ramp up a long running crack down on the internet. As we have ceaselessly documented, legislation is being drafted left, right and center in an effort to ensure complete control over cyberspace. Lawmakers like Senator Joe Lieberman have teamed up with Department of Homeland Security officials to push draconian legislation in an effort to mimic the Communist Chinese system of policing the Internet. Legislation such as The Protecting
Cyberspace as a National Asset Act is written around the notion that big government decides who can say what on the web. The nightmare vision provides the President the power to shut down the entire Internet with a figurative flick of a switch. Simultaneously, legislation such as The Cybersecurity Act and the “Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011¢ propose allowing the federal government to tap into any digital aspect of every citizen’s information without a warrant. Banking, business and medical records would be wide open to inspection, as well as personal instant message and e mail communications. The push to restrict and control the internet, as we have repeatedly warned for years, is being pursued by an elite few petrified at the fact that alternative and independent sources of information are now eclipsing corporate and government controlled outlets in terms of audience share, trust, and influence. Regulation and censorship of the Internet would not only represent a massive assault on free speech, it would also create new roadblocks for e-commerce and as a consequence further devastate the economy. The move should be met with fierce opposition at every level and from across the political spectrum.
Homeland Security to Hold Secret Meeting on Domestic “Extremist” Threats Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com December 28, 2011 The Federal Register published a notice of December 28 providing a brief overview on a behind closed doors Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) meeting to be held at TSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on January 9, 2012. The HSAC was created by 2. executive order on March 19, 2002. “The HSAC will meet for the purpose of receiving sensitive operational information from senior DHS leadership,” the notice posted on the Cryptome.org website states. “The meeting will address threats to our homeland security, border security, examine U.S. Coast Guard counterterrorism efforts; provide an operational update of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Frequent Traveler Program; examine evolving threats in cyber security; and provide information on the threat of an electromagnetic pulse attack and its associated vulnerabilities.” The DHS notice explains that disclosing further details on the meeting would not be in the public interest, although it states that “there will be material presented regarding the latest viable threats against the United States, and how DHS and other Federal agencies plan to address those threats.” The DHS Office of Counterterrorism will present a briefing on the Department’s implementation plan to counter domestic violent extremism. Providing this information to the public
would provide terrorists with a road map regarding the Department’s plan to counter their actions, and thus, allow them to take different actions to avoid counterterrorism efforts. In April of 2009, Infowars.com posted a leaked Department of Homeland Security document warning of a rise in "rightwing extremist groups" bent on violence. According to the DHS, these “hate-oriented” groups “are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.” Related government reports issued by law enforcement in Missouri and Virginia have classified followers of Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr as potential terrorists. The HSAC meeting will be held on January 9, 2012, in Arlington, Virginia, from 8:50 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST, at the Transportation Security Administration, 601 South 12th Street, (East Building), Arlington, VA 22202.
TSA ‘Spot Searches’ Expand To Union Station Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Wednesday, December 28, 2011 Increasing focus on searches of travelers disembarking from trains Random TSA ‘spot searches’ are expanding to Los Angeles’ busiest train station as the federal agency gets set to receive a massive boost in funding as part of a program to set up thousands more unnanounced checkpoints across the country. “An all-too-familiar sight at LAX and the rest of the nation’s airports
will soon be coming to the city’s busiest train station,” 1. reports CBS News. “Rail passengers have started seeing Transportation Security Administration on patrol at Union Station on a more frequent basis.” The TSA is set to deploy 12 more VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams in addition to the 25 already active, who will be responsible for manning checkpoints on highways, in bus and train terminals, at sports events and even high school prom nights. Over the course of this year, roughly 9,300 checkpoints were set up, with that figure set to increase in 2012. The demand for $24 million in extra funding is in addition to the $110 million spent in fiscal year 2011. The figures are completely independent from the federal agency’s role inside the nation’s airports, which costs taxpayers $5 billion a year. The extra money is being demanded despite the fact that there is “no proof that the roving viper teams have foiled any terrorist plots or thwarted any major threat to public safety,” according to a recent 1. L.A. Times report, which also highlights how the TSA’s sniffer dogs are used to single out people for questioning if the dog smells the scent of the owner’s pets on their clothing. “Those searches may happen when passengers step off a train into the station, instead of the more expected pre-boarding search,” reports Lindsay William-Ross. The use of searches on passengers who are disembarking from trains has become more prevalent. In one instance, passengers who had already completed their journey when arriving in Savannah were subjected to airport-style pat downs.