NH House - Right to Work Public Hearing will be Streamed Live Online

CONCORD – The House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitation Services Committee Thursday will hear House Bill 1677, relative to choice as to whether to join a labor union. The bill also would eliminate the duty of a public employee labor organization to represent employees who elect not to join or to pay dues or fees to the employee organization. The hearing will be held in Representatives Hall at the State House in Concord and will be streamed live online beginning at 1:30pm on the New Hampshire House of Representatives website, which can be found here: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/default.htm

ALG: Internet Censorship Bill 'un-American'

Dec. 14, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged members of the House Judiciary Committee to reject HR 3261, warning the legislation would "take the mind of throwing the book at alleged offenders, shutting down their websites, cutting off their revenue streams, locking them up and asking questions later."

Wilson warned in his letter, "It is un-American to set up a situation where people are guilty until proven innocent."

The letter points to existing provisions of Copyright Law, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and Fair Use doctrine, wherein "Internet users can receive a cease-and-desist takedown notice prior to civil action being taken by an [intellectual property] holder."

Wilson called these protections "adequate" for intellectual property (IP) holders, and said the new law would undermine "safe harbor provisions that allow users to be notified of any instances of infringement to provide an opportunity to have them removed without penalty."

Wilson said the legislation "completely averts that process," warning the first notification a webmaster could receive would be the website being shut down, getting served with a massive fine, or "being arrested under criminal charges for having anything infringing up on the web for longer than 180 days, even if (s)he was unaware of any violation of IP."

"Such outcomes appear to be rather draconian, and will most certainly have a chilling effect on what is in effect cyber speech: on uploading, posting and sharing files.  Existing laws protect copyright and protect innocent users of the Internet," Wilson explained.

The letter urged members to consider how the new law would affect millions of their constituents: "In the digital age, with the ease of sharing files, images, videos and music, nobody should be served with criminal or civil action for copyright infringement without first being notified of that infringement, and being provided an opportunity to correct it."

HR 3261 is scheduled for markup in the House Judiciary Committee on Dec. 15. 

Attachments:

Letter to Members of the House Judiciary Committee, ALG President Bill Wilson (Dec.14, 2011) at http://netrightdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/AntiSOPA-12-14-11.pdf.

"An Internet Without Uploading?" ALG President Bill Wilson (Dec. 14, 2011) at http://netrightdaily.com/2011/12/an-internet-without-uploading/.

"Internet piracy bill: A free speech 'kill switch'," ALG President Bill Wilson, The Hill (Dec. 12, 2011) at http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/198687-internet-piracy-bill-a-free-speech-kill-switch.

Interview with ALG President Bill Wilson, WGEM, Hosts Rich Cain and Lindsey Hess, Quincy, IL (Dec. 12, 2011) at http://my.wgem.com/_Bill-Wilson-Americans-for-Limited-Govt/audio/916294/29404.html.

"Legislation by Rep. Lamar Smith equals Internet censorship," ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano (Dec. 12, 2011) at http://netrightdaily.com/2011/12/legislation-by-rep-lamar-smith-equals-internet-censorship/.

Bipartisan Letter from Rep. Zoe Lofgren and Rep. Darrell Issa against Internet Censorship Bill (Nov. 8, 2011) at http://gov20.govfresh.com/issa-and-lofgren-dear-colleague-letter-versus-sopa/.

Three Libertarians Raise Concerns about the Stop Online Piracy Act, Cato Institute (Nov. 7, 2011) at http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/three-libertarians-raise-concerns-about-the-stop-online-piracy-act/.

"Guilty until proven innocent," By ALG Communications Director Rick Manning, Nov. 16, 2011 at http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/economy-a-budget/193901-guilty-until-proven-innocent.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

ALG Urges Defeat of Manager's Amendment to Internet Censorship Bill in Judiciary Committee

Dec. 13, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement in opposition to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith's manager's amendment to HR 3261:

"Even with the changes proposed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith, this bill will essentially criminalize the Internet, making it impossible to upload and share content.  Any service that allows for storing files or posting hyperlinks could be targeted, and on the Internet, that's everything.  In cyberspace, this is like trying to pass a law against breathing. Copyright can be protected on the Internet, but it will be done by adapting copyright law to the technology, not by outlawing the technology.

"This legislation will still give government the power to censor the Internet in the name of protecting copyright.  It will still threaten any website, including social networks and search engines that allow users to upload content, with being shut down.  This legislation will still take the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and chuck them in the garbage.  Those safe harbor provisions protected websites that provided easy takedown procedures for potential infringing materials, and already had a system in place for their removal. 

"The bill will still allow copyright holders to pursue private actions against alleged infringing websites with the force of law behind them, including seeking the termination of advertising and payment services, whether the site is foreign or domestic. 

"Finally, even with its so-called 'savings' clauses, this bill will still risk placing unfeasible, court-ordered technology mandates on Internet service providers requiring websites to somehow prevent their services from being used to post infringing material, even if doing so is technically impossible.  To avoid litigation, Internet companies will simply stop allowing uploading and file sharing.

"Censorship is never the solution.  Internet piracy can be combated without a regime of suppression that threatens activities that are protected by the First Amendment.  This will have a chilling effect on what is in effect cyber speech: on uploading, posting and sharing files.  That it is the heart of the Internet, and it is being gutted by this legislation."

Attachments:

"Internet piracy bill: A free speech 'kill switch'," ALG President Bill Wilson, The Hill (Dec. 12, 2011) at http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/198687-internet-piracy-bill-a-free-speech-kill-switch.

Interview with ALG President Bill Wilson, WGEM, Hosts Rich Cain and Lindsey Hess, Quincy, IL (Dec. 12, 2011) at http://my.wgem.com/_Bill-Wilson-Americans-for-Limited-Govt/audio/916294/29404.html.

"Legislation by Rep. Lamar Smith equals Internet censorship," ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano (Dec. 12, 2011) at http://netrightdaily.com/2011/12/legislation-by-rep-lamar-smith-equals-internet-censorship/.

Bipartisan Letter from Rep. Zoe Lofgren and Rep. Darrell Issa against Internet Censorship Bill (Nov. 8, 2011) at http://gov20.govfresh.com/issa-and-lofgren-dear-colleague-letter-versus-sopa/. .

Three Libertarians Raise Concerns about the Stop Online Piracy Act, Cato Institute (Nov. 7, 2011) at http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/three-libertarians-raise-concerns-about-the-stop-online-piracy-act/.

"Guilty until proven innocent," By ALG Communications Director Rick Manning, Nov. 16, 2011 at http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/economy-a-budget/193901-guilty-until-proven-innocent.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

ALG Urges House Judiciary Committee to Kill Internet Censorship Bill

Dec. 9, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged members of the House Judiciary Committee to reject legislation he said would "give the government power to censor the Internet."

"Nobody likes Internet piracy, but this legislation is going to create a regime of Internet censorship in the name of protecting copyright.  This will particularly endanger social networking sites, search engines, and any website that allows users to upload content of being shut down," Wilson warned.

"Why would anyone want to give government the power to shut down websites?" Wilson asked, adding, "There are already sufficient protections for copyright under existing law, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."

Wilson expressed concern that the "safe harbor" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act would be undermined by the new legislation, which protects social websites that provide for easy takedown procedures for potential infringing materials.

"Under current law, rights holders can inform a website that it has infringing material and ask that it is removed, and failing that, can already take action," Wilson noted.  "This takes the safe harbor provisions of current law and throws them in the garbage for websites that have been diligent in following the rules."

The legislation, HR 3261, would also allow copyright holders to take private actions against alleged infringing websites with the force of law behind them, including seeking the termination of advertising and payment services.  

Wilson called it "overkill," calling it a "death sentence for Internet service providers" noting that websites can have millions of pages, and that under the legislation revenue streams or the website itself could be shut down  if just a single page of a site is found to have infringing material.  

"The bill also risks placing onerous mandates on Internet service providers that would require websites to somehow prevent their services from being used to post infringing material, even if it's technologically impossible to do so," Wilson warned.

"This bill will be the end of social networking all together and it must be defeated.  Censorship is not the solution to Internet piracy," Wilson concluded.

HR 3261 is expected to be voted on in the House Judiciary Committee next week.

Attachments:

"Guilty until proven innocent," By ALG Communications Director Rick Manning, Nov. 16, 2011 at http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/economy-a-budget/193901-guilty-until-proven-innocent .

CEI Daily - E-Cigarette and Liquor Privatization

E-Cigarette

E-Cigarettes have successfully helped smokers quit---but the product is now the target of regulators. Senior Counsel Hans Bader comments. "Attorney generals in states like Oregon have also attacked e-cigarettes and sought to ban them from their states. If smokers stopped smoking, states would receive less money under the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which is effectively a revenue-sharing scheme between the largest tobacco companies and the 46 states that entered into that settlement."

Liquor Privatization

Voters in the state of Washington will soon be able to decide whether they want the state to have less of a role in the sale of liquor. 

Policy Analyst Michelle Minton comments.

"For months, advertisements on both the “yes” and the “no” side of the fight have filled the media. Many  observers lamented how much money has been spent on the issue. But in Washington State, this isn’t exactly new. For two years running, supporters and detractors of measures to sell off the state-run liquor store and liquor wholesaling business have shoveled millions of dollars into advertisements. This year’s attempt, Initiative 1183 has provoked a flood of cash like never before. Interested parties on both sides have given millions of dollars to sway voters."