PolicyFail - SOPA/PIPA protest update

I've commented before on the bad policy at the heart of the SOPA/PIPA legislative proposals.  Last week, thousands of websites "went dark" for a day in protest.  Some gave an indication of what a DNS seizure (perhaps the most egregious part of the proposed anti-piracy legislation) would look like, by blocking access to their main sites.  Many others, including a number of the largest Internet sites, placed protest notices and directions for contacting Congresscritters to register their objections.
  The efforts did not go unheeded.  “The voice of the Internet community has been heard,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), indicating that House leaders would not vote on a bill that included the most problematic sections.  The White House also issued a strongly worded statement, saying the President would veto any bill that did the things critics alleged that SOPA/PIPA would do, after months of "strong support" for the bills.
  After the protests, though, came news that U.S. officials had arranged for the arrest of the chief executives of Megaupload in New Zealand, and seized their DNS address.  This action, however, raised questions about the "urgent need" for the SOPA/PIPA legislation, and the negative side-effects of DNS seizures.  Megaupload offers what's called cyberlocker facilities - a place where users can store files online, and allow others to access them.  There are plenty of legitimate uses for such a service, and, of course, it could also facilitate online content piracy.  The U.S. argued that Megaupload facilitated piracy, by not verifying that every uploaded file was legally licensed (and in the way it promoted and rewarded high-volume file-sharing that was likely to be trafficking in pirated content).
  While proclaiming a victory against piracy, the action showed that they didn't need the SOPA/PIPA legislation, flatly contradicting their earlier positions, and the content industry's vehement claims, that the proposed bills were essential to combat global piracy.  It also amply illustrated the major problems with the approach.  The piracy continues - the larger content pirates quickly moved to other sites, as has happened with previous DNS seizures.  In fact, a DNS seizure does nothing about the alleged pirated content - it only disconnects the site's text name (domain name) from its numeric web address. A simple registration and the site can re-open under a new domain name (or savvy Web users can use the numerical web address for direct access to the content).  Yahoo! News is already reporting a numerical address for the Megaupload cyberfiles.
  In the meantime, until the numeric address or a new domain name is publicized, the seizure prevents legal users from accessing their files; one of the biggest problems with such an approach is that it does not discriminate between legal and illegal uses, another is that the action is based on an allegation of criminal activity rather than actual evidence of it - it's akin to seizing and closing a drug store because someone complains that they saw a counterfeit aspirin.
  And rather than fighting cyberterrorism, such actions encourage it.  In response, the hactivist collective ANONYMOUS countered the seizure with cyberattacks shutting down more than 10 websites at the DOJ, RIAA, MPAA, and large content providers backing the bills, all within a 20 minute period.  A posted statement allegedly from the group promised "more is coming"
  So, while a few people were arrested, thousands of innocents are harmed, and the piracy continues unabated.  It's a preview of what passage of the SOPA/PIPA could mean.
  I've been arguing for more than a decade that the only thing that could kill the Internet would be strict application of a copyright system designed for physical media to a digital world, combined with over-reaching enforcement policies and actions.  We've seen a demonstration.  Can we allow it to continue?

Sources - SOPA protests shut down Web sites, Washington Post, Post Politics blog.
Why Did the Feds Target Megaupload? And Why Now?,  Gizmodo
Megaupload is Back with New Domain Name,  Yahoo! News
Web War!  Anonymous Downs, RIAA, UMG, MPAA, Justice Dept. Websites,  AllAcess.com 


edit track: a draft was published due to a bad mouse click.  This first edit was to complete the post.