SOPA & PIPA More good things thrown away than bad things

In certain countries our websites are not allowed to be shown on the internet. We can find many of our articles being blocked.

Being Christian and on plus non-trinitarian we are considered to be dangerous and fulfilling a criminal act also by trying to convert Muslims. When we publicised on MSN in the Groups we often had to take away articles and more than once certain people we helped to escape from Iran, Iak, Afghanistan and Turkey asked us to take away their name from the site and to remove the articles of the success of our actions, because of repercussions to family members.

Because we are also active in helping people to flee violence and torturing, and spreading the Good News in different areas in the world, we are also sometimes considered working in illegality. Therefore we are by some governements blacklisted and accused of being part of ‘terror groups’. Though we can assure you we only want to preach Good News and peace and are totally against any form of violence.

For our publications we pay perhaps not so much for copyrights (last year 280.99€ for the extra copyrights), because we also try to use copyright free material (older photographs and illustrations) and limited allowed quotes. Though we are voluntary working and have to face much higher costs to be able to put our writings on the net and to get them publicised. For bigger companies they shall have to face a much higher bill.

We agree, and do have no objection that we and other people do have to pay copyrights to the rightful owners. But there are limitations in how far you can go. For example in case we use music in a place where more people are present we should pay the copyright office. So for our meetings where we use only Christadelphian music, we honestly agree that we do not pay extra, and do not fulfil all the paperwork for the Copyright registration office, because our Christadelphian brothers never receive any penny for it.

In Belgium you get such absurdities that when you go to the dentist he has not his radio on, because then he has to pay extra fees to the Copyright office, but he switches his computer on and let the music stream that way. (Using a loophole in the law.) (Plus we already do pay copyrights for listening with our subscription with the server, radio and television providers. Why to pay once more?)

For the articles on the internet we provide the readers also with quotes from other related articles on other, even non- Christadelphian and trinitarian sites. In case we should have to pay extra for it we would abandon such a service. But that way people become limited to know more and to look further or to compare other opinions. We think it is important for the matter of freedom that people should be able to get as much information as possible about a certain subject. Providing free information, either by taking care of presenting free visible articles on several research sites or free encyclopaedic works, like Wikipedia, are important to give as much people as possible the opportunity to broaden their mind and to form their own opinion.

Three years ago the Belgian government wanted already to limit publication on Social Networks, because the Muslim groups had found a means to get people together for their protest marches. Also the Occupy Movement and Indignados caused a problem that way, and therefore the government is looking for ways to restrict such gatherings by be able in the future to cut down certain websites and social networks.

Also in the United States of America they have noted the danger social networks can do for certain governments when people can get mobilized by such electronic networks. They are also aware that in case in an other country an uproar happens their own people could get to know about it and ask them to react, while other while they would prefer not to interfere and not to spend any money to actions.

The “Protect IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 or PIPA), also known as Senate Bill 968 or S. 968, is now be put forward as a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to “rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods”, especially those registered outside the U.S.. { The legislation should not be confused with HR 2391, or the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2004, which was an earlier collection of intellectual property related legislation. Although the 2006 legislation does involve a very similar representation of the 2004 legislation, it is more of an expansion and addition rather than a refurbished copy.}

We are totally aware of the difficulty of fighting against malicious groups, and that there is a relationship between terrorist organizations and intellectual property infringement and infringement of IP. We also know that , especially pirated CDs and DVDs and other counterfeit goods, have become the main source of terrorist organization funding, but to put all the publications on the net on chains is a step to far.

People should consider the danger of such a text as “”making available” for civil violation, regardless of whether there is any distribution or copying, let alone infringement. ” in the new law, where you can wonder when we can speak of a “civil violation”? For many countries we as a religious group are bringing their population in danger, because we could be able to convert them to a dreadful belief. We are considered as dreadful liars so therefor we should be blacked out.

A good thing would be H.R. 5136 The Preservation of Orphan Works Act which would allow libraries to create copies of certain copyrighted works that, in their last twenty years of copyright term, are no longer commercially exploited, and are not available at a reasonable price. Introduced Sept. 23, 2004.But at such an instance we would find it better that as in Belgium the photocopy copyrights would still be taken into account.

On the other hand what about occasional or not intentional copies of an art work or monument, like by private family pictures in front of a painting, statue or monument. When they would have to pay for the copyrights using the painting, statue or monument in their picture this would be ridiculous. It would be even more ridiculous if the server company who allowed to have the photo or film be placed on the net would also be taken accountable for the publication and infringement of copyright laws. can yo imagine which fines and problems Facebook is going to encounter?

Also for schools and institutions the “Piracy Deterrence in Education” is too vague, and could include material stored on computers and shared on networks, bringing those institutions in big problems.

The last decennia we could find in the internet a blessing to be able to communicate more easily with each other and to share opinions. This open free space is under threat.

We should be careful that we are not choosing for a money making ‘so called’ “Democracy” that is in favor of intrest and maximum gain profit, without counting the human factor. The freedom of Free speech is important for everybody. Even when we have to face that certain things we do not agree with are written so that everybody can read them. We should give everybody also the freedom to choose what they want to read and how they want to interpret it. Though we do agree there are certain limitations like pornographic material and extreme violence which should be filtered down.

The Christadelphians are non-political, and normally we would not interfere with political matters as such, though we greatly react to injustice, violation of human rights, and any form of violence against humankind.

We also are for the freedom of mind and the freedom of intellectual exchange.

We are pleased WordPress, Wikipedia and Zemanta with several servercompanies provide us with tools to bring our ideas across many borders. Limited in our own resources, being dependant on free gifts, as non-paid preachers we are thankful for the provisions certain companies make to give us the opportunity to publish our ideas.

With the proposed bill we can see that a lot of freedom of speech can be dangered, and therefore want to express our opinion and stand up with many protesters against the new proposal.

Yesterday you could perhaps find our site also blacked out in your country and until the 24th of November you shall be able to see a black banner at the right-hand corner of the screen. We may not forget that in case the United States of America gets this bill accepted by parliament, many other countries would follow and by doing so will close all the good things about the internet as well.

We would propose that they at first would concentrate more on all the spammers and fishing companies and got those before court. In case they are able to find the right IP addresses and servers for the other things why not for those malicious companies? Why do they tackle them first?

Joe Biden filled in for Hillary Clinton at the London Conference on Cyberspace (LCC) on November 1st, giving a speech on the importance of freedom in cyberspace and talking up the importance of freedom on the internet and not regulating the internet. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration stands with congress in full support of H.R 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would give copyright holders the ability to censor websites on the net. We need to stand up now and let Congress know that they shouldn’t mess with the Internet!