Una approfondita riflessione sulle politiche di Obama sulla Rete Internet
*http://www.robertomasiero.org/blog/?view=plink&id=150 *

I am sure that many citizens of the US and of the whole World will seriously
reconsider Mr Obama's doubtful consistency after reviewing what he was
saying about the freedom that he would commit to guarantee to the Internet
and the poor spectacle provided in occasion of the  Anti-Counterfeiting
Trade Agreement  negotiations in South Corea

I would just remind that in his Program on Technology and Innovation
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/technology/Fact_Sheet_Innovatio...
  Obama was taking quite serious committments:

" ..*Ensure the Full and Free Exchange of Information through an Open
Internet and Diverse Media Outlets..*

*Democracy is strongest when its citizens can engage in the full and free
exchange of information and ideas, including freely expressing themselves
and learning from information offered by others. The Internet and
traditional media outlets are critical in facilitating communication by and
between Americans and citizens of the world. *

*As president, Barack Obama will ensure that these critical communications
pathways remain accessible to all Americans and reflect the diversity of our
nation. By doing so, this policy will enable Americans to discuss and debate
more actively the key issues that affect our lives and will give citizens
greater autonomy to  **determine where the truth lies*
***

Protect the Openness of the Internet: A key reason the Internet has been
such a success is because it is the most open network in history. It needs
to stay that way. Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network
neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet.
Users must be free to access content, to use applications, and to attach
personal devices. They have a right to receive accurate and honest
information about service plans.

But these guarantees are not enough to prevent network providers from
discriminating in ways that limit the freedom of expression on the
Internet...
*
**

*..Obama will protect the Internet's traditional openness to innovation and
creativity and ensure that it remains a platform for free speech and
innovation that will benefit consumers and our democracy. *"

Now let's compare these general statemets with the total lack of
transparency characterizing the present negotiations, while the first
details that are leaking are extremely concerning. So the question is very
legitimate:

*WHY DID YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND, PRESIDENT OBAMA?*

Copyright Treaty Is Policy Laundering at Its Finest By David Kravets
November 4, 2009 | 7:59 pm | Categories: Copyrights and Patents, Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, The Ridiculous
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/policy-laundering/

*The blogosphere is abuzz over an apparently leaked document showing the
United States trying to push its controversial DMCA-style
notice-and-takedown process on the world. But since Threat Level already
lives in the land of the DMCA, or Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we’re
more bothered by the fact that the U.S. proposal goes far beyond that 1998
law, and would require Congress to alter the DMCA in a manner even more
hostile to consumers.

At issue is the internet section of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
being developed under a cloak of secrecy by dozens of countries. The leaked
document is a three-page European Commission memo written by an unnamed EU
official, which purports to summarizes a private briefing given in September
by U.S. trade officials.

The language in the Sept. 30 memo shows the United States wants ISPs around
the world to punish suspected, repeat downloaders with a system of
“graduated response” — code for a three-strikes policy that results in the
customer eventually being disconnected from the internet with the ISP alone
deciding what constitutes infringement and fair use.

While the proposal specifically says that three strikes wouldn’t be
mandated, it might as well be. That’s because companies that refused to
implement the policy would be ejected from the immunity or “safe harbor”
that otherwise protects them from copyright infringement lawsuits over the
actions of their customers.

Currently, the DMCA grants safe harbor status to internet companies that
promptly remove allegedly infringing content at the request of the copyright
holder. Only if they fail to do so can they be held liable in court, and
face up to $150,000 in damages per infringement.

Under the U.S. proposal described in the memo, removing infringing content
would no longer be enough to qualify for safe harbor. Companies would have
to actively work to combat the flow of unauthorized copyrighted material
through their pipes, and specifically implement the “graduated response”
program.

Here is the key paragraph:

“On the limitations from 3rd party liability: to benefit from safe-harbours,
ISPs need to put in place policies to deter unauthorized storage and
transmission of IP infringing content (ex: clauses in customers’ contracts
allowing, inter alia, a graduated response). From what we understood, the US
will not propose that authorities need to create such systems. Instead, they
require some self-regulation by ISPs.”

Threat Level obtained the document on condition it not be posted, and we
haven’t independently verified its authenticity, or that it accurately
reflects the positions of the U.S. trade representatives. The document
indicates the U.S. refused to turn over anything in writing itself, and
briefed E.U. representatives on the plan orally in the hope of avoiding
leaks.

The Obama administration has been obsessively secretive about the draft ACTA
treaty — even, at one point, claiming national security could be jeopardized
if the proposed treaty’s working documents were disclosed to the public.
Now, it seems, we know what the administration is hiding.

Obama hasn’t asked Congress to implement a three-strike policy, which could
anger consumers and watchdog groups. But if the administration gets three
strikes written into ACTA, and the United States signs and ratifies the
treaty, Congress would be obliged to change the DMCA to comply with it,
while the administration throws its hands in the air and says, “It wasn’t
our idea! It’s that damn treaty!”

That practice is common enough to have a name: policy laundering.

Language in the leaked text throws open the door to ISP filtering for
unauthorized content, though there’s no way for filters to know whether the
material constitutes fair use. That plan is similar to a proposal by the
Motion Picture Association of America, which wants ISPs to filter for
unauthorized motion pictures.

The three-strikes language would be gold to companies like MediaSentry,
which browse peer-to-peer networks for infringing content, and identify a
user’s IP address and ISP. MediaSentry’s work was crucial in the RIAA’s
6-year-long litigation campaign that amounted to about 30,000 copyright
lawsuits against individual file sharers using Kazaa, Limewire and other
services.

Until today, the most alarming thing in the proposed ACTA treaty has been
the secrecy surrounding it. But now the threat level is higher. It seems the
executive branch would rather negotiate with other nations, instead of its
own elected officials, about the future of a free and open internet *

*Innovatori Europei*
www.innovatorieuropei.com (Web)
infoinnovatorieuro...@gmail.com  (Email)
http://groups.google.com/group/innovatorieuropei (Forum)