Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The internet blackout in January 2012 saw thousands of websites ‘go dark’ to protest proposed US laws designed to implement a ‘multi-system denial of service attack’ against alleged IP-infringing websites by making them both unfindable, and by cutting off any financial support. Within days, the laws – known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) – effectively were dead. But when and how did such laws even reach the stage of serious discussion? This examines what has changed, and looks at how and why regulating internet intermediaries and making them the internet ‘police’ has gradually become more acceptable to governments.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anderson

2012, ‘SOPA Masala: 387 Indian ISPs Must Block 104 Piratical Websites’, Ars Technica, 16 March, http://arstechnica.com.

Attorney-General's Department 1997, Discussion Paper: Copyright Reform and the Digital Agenda, Australian Government Printing Office, Canberra.

Barlow

J.P.

1996, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Electronic Frontiers Foundation, https://projects.eff.org/∼barlow/Declaration-Final.html.

Bell

1974, The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting, Heinemann, London.

Benkler

2011, ‘WikiLeaks and the PROTECT-IP Act; A New Public-Private Threat to the Internet Commons’, Daedalus, vol. 140, p. 154.

Booz and Company 2011, The Impact of US Internet Copyright Regulations on Early-Stage Investment, a Quantitative Study, www.booz.com/media/uploads/BoozCo-Impact-US-Internet-Copyright-Regulations-Early-Stage-Investment.pdf.

Castells

1996, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol 1: The Rise of the Network Society, Blackwell, Oxford.

Clinton

2010, ‘Remarks on Internet Freedom’, speech given at the Newseum, Washington DC, 21 January.

Clinton

2011, ‘Internet Rights and Wrongs: Choices and Challenges in a Networked World’, speech given at the George Washington University, Washington, DC, 15 February.

10.

Clinton

Gore

1997, A Global Framework for Electronic Commerce, http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/New/Commerce/read.html.

11.

Commission of the European Communities 1994, Europe's Way to the Information Society – An Action Plan, COM(94) 347 final.

12.

Commission of the European Communities 1995, Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society: Green Paper, COM(95) 382 final.

13.

Commonwealth of Australia Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy 2009, Australia's Digital Economy: Future Directions (Final Report), Australian Government Printing Office, Canberra.

14.

Crocker

Dagon

Kaminski

McPherson

Vixie

2011, ‘Security and Other Technical Concerns Raised by the DNS Filtering Requirements of the PROTECT IP Bill’, White Paper.

15.

De Beer

Clemmer

2009, ‘Global Trends in Online Copyright Enforcement: A Non-Neutral Role for Network Intermediaries’, Jurimetrics, vol. 49, p. 375.

16.

Department for Business Innovation and Skills (UK) 2009, Digital Britain: Final Report, Government Printer, London.

17.

Elkin-Koren

2005, ‘Making Technology Visible: Liability of Internet Service Providers for Peer-to-Peer Traffic’, NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, vol. 9, p. 15.

18.

Geist

2011, ‘SOPA: All Your Internets Belong to US’, 16 November, www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6134/135.

19.

Giblin

2011, Code Wars: 10 Years of P2P Software Litigation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

20.

Government of Canada 2010, Improving Canada's Digital Advantage: Strategies for Sustainable Prosperity, Government of Canada Ottawa.

21.

The Guardian , ‘Government Scraps Plan to Block Illegal Filesharing Websites’, 3 August.

22.

Hargreaves

2011, Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth, Ian Hargreaves, London.

23.

The Hon. Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State 2011, ‘Boldness Be My Friend’, speech to the Royal Television Society, 14 September.

24.

High Level Group on the Information Society 1994, Europe and the Global Information Society: Bangemann Report Recommendations to the European Council, www.epractice.eu/files/media/media_694.pdf.

25.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 2012, White Paper: Guidance for Preparing Domain Name Orders, Seizures and Takedowns, www.icann.org/en/about/staff/security/guidance-domain-seizures-07mar12-en.pdf.

26.

Johnson

D.R.

Post

D.G.

1996, ‘Law and Borders: The Rise of Law in Cyberspace’, Stanford Law Review, vol. 48, p. 1367.

27.

Landes

W.M.

Posner

R.A.

2003, The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law, Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA.

28.

Lindsay

2007, International Domain Name Law: ICANN and the UDRP, Hart, Oxford.

29.

Litman

2001, Digital Copyright: Protecting Intellectual Property on the Internet, Prometheus, Amherst, NY.

30.

MacKinnon

2011, ‘Stop the Great Firewall of America’, New York Times, 15 November.

31.

Martinez

2011, ‘Shootout at the Digital Corral’, Politico 16 November, www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68448.html.

32.

Motion Picture Association of America 2011, ‘Rogue Websites’, www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/roguewebsites.

33.

Ofcom, 2011, ‘Site Blocking' to Reduce Online Copyright Infringement: A Review of Sections 17 and 18 of the Digital Economy Act, Ofcom, London.

34.

Office of the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator 2010, 2010 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement, Government Printer, Washington, DC.

35.

Reese

2009, ‘The Relationship Between the ISP Safe Harbours and the Ordinary Rules of Copyright Liability’, Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts, vol. 32, p. 427.

36.

Sag

2006, ‘Piracy: Twelve Year-Olds, Grandmothers and Other Good Targets for the Recording Industry’, Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, vol. 4, p. 133.

37.

Select Committee on Science and Technology 1995–96, Information Society Agenda for Action in the United Kingdom, HL Paper 77, Sess. 1995–6, London.

38.

Seltzer

2011, ‘ICANN: The Stakes in Registrar Accreditation’, Wendy's Blog, 4 November.

39.

Servaes

2003, ‘The European Information Society: A Wake-Up Call’, in Servaes

, The European Information Society: A Reality Check, Intellect, Bristol.

40.

Toffler

1984, The Third Wave, Bantam, New York.

41.

Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, 1995, Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure, Washington DC.

42.

2010, ‘The Graduated Response’, Florida Law Review, vol. 62, p. 1373.

43.

Zittrain

Jonathan

Albert

Kendra

Solow-Niederman

Alicia

2011, ‘A Close Look at SOPA’, The Future of the Internet and How To Stop It Blog, 2 December, http://futureoftheinternet.org/reading-sopa.

44.

Zittrain

2008, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, Yale University Press, New Haven, NH.

45.

Dramatico Entertainment Limited v British Sky Broadcasting Ltd [2012] EWHC 268

46.

Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v Roommates.com , LLC 521 F 3d 1157, 1164, note 15 (9th Cir 2008)

47.

Elsevier Ltd v Chitika, Inc. (D Mass 2011)

48.

Gucci America, Inc. v Frontline Processing Corp 721 F Supp 2d 228 (SDNY 2010)

49.

Perfect 10, Inc. v Visa Intern. Service Ass'n 494 F.3d 788 (9^th Cir 2007)

50.

Reno v American Civil Liberties Union 521 US 844 (1997)

51.

Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v Prodigy Servs Co. 23 Media L Rep 1794 (NY Sup Ct 1995)

52.

Scarlet Extended SA v Société belge des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs SCRL (SABAM) (Case C-70/10, Judgment 24 November 2011)

53.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v British Telecommunications Plc [2011] EWHC 1981 (Newzbin 2)

54.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v Newzbin Ltd [2010] FSR 21

55.

Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd v Sharman License Holdings Ltd (2005) 65 IPR 289

56.

Viacom International Inc. v YouTube, Inc 718 F Supp 2d 514 (SDNY 2010)

The New (Old) War on Copyright Infringement,and How Context is Opening New Regulatory Possibilities

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References