What the Eff is the EFF?

The EFF, or Electronic Frontier Foundation is associated by some to 'hackers' and trying to get hackers or other alleged criminals out of jail. However, they have a much more sinister motive -- To protect people just like you and me, and their digital rights. In the world we live in, most of our information whether public or private exists in digital format. Is it protected?

Well, there two ways of looking at protected; the first would be protected from the bad guys, and second would be protected from Big Brother. There's nothing we can do as individuals to help protect our data from the bad guys, so let's concentrate on the other.

The EFF works vigorously to help ensure that your data is protected from Big Brother -- usually by fighting for your 4th and/or 5th (among others) amendment rights. Look them up if you don't know what they are. Really. Look them up right now if you don't know what they are. These are your rights, and you should understand them. I'll wait...

Okay...

Some would say that "if you don't have anything to hide, you shouldn't be concerned by Big Brother looking into your data;" but really that's not the point. The point (as so graciously noted by the founders of this country) is that I should not have to fear anyone searching my data without just cause, nor should I fear torture or other means by which I may utter words to incriminate myself.

I attended a conference this past weekend in which there were two talks given by folks that work at the EFF. They are intelligent and well versed in both law and technology -- oh, and they're nice people too.

Do you have a 'rooted' smart phone? You can thank the people at EFF for working to ensure you're not arrested for playing with something you own. (Which by the way is up for debate again.)

Do you use a Tivo or DVR? You can thank the EFF.

In more complicated matters such as encryption, a woman in colorado (yes, an alleged criminal) is being forced to decrypt data that she encrypted. As I said, it's more complicated than that, but the underlying issue is privacy and encryption, Can we say "Slippery Slope?"

They are also staunchly opposed to SOPA/PIPA.

What's the point I'm getting at? Well. . .

Some of you have probably never heard of this organization, and they fight every day to protect your rights. I know it's easy to throw money at a corporation and get a song, playing device, phone, TV, etc. . . Also, might I ask what your congress critter has done for you lately -- or in the past decade for that matter?

How about giving some to the folks who are trying to help protect us from these corporations and greedy fools in congress.

I know it's a tough economy, but please join or donate to the EFF. They're good folks trying to help protect your rights.

What did the Blackout accomplish?

So, my wife has urged me to blog more, and I can think of no better opportunity than after a massive 'grassroots' effort took place to help show our Congressmen and Representatives we are not a silent mass that can be ignored. Reddit and Wikipedia led the effort to show the citizens how two proposed bills, one in the House, SOPA, and one in the Senate, PIPA. These efforts were also aided by Googles black bar; even Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Wil Wheaton weighed in.

In short, I'm amazed by the number of posts I saw from friends on the Social Networking sites. I've signed petitions, and written my Congress critters. In fact, according to EFF over 4.5 million people have signed Google's petition. What's more amazing is that it actually worked (for now). Both PIPA and SOPA have lost support in the House and in the Senate.

However, I'm left wondering, why did it get this far, and why was there such an amazing effect, and do people really understand what they were petitioning against, or were they just hopping on the bandwagon?

To begin, how did we get here? How did it come to Wikipedia putting a roadblock up? Well, To begin with, the Supreme Court of the United States has long upheld the notion that corporations are people, and that money is free speech. What does that really mean? It means corporations are free to lobby, and give 'donations' to the very representatives that are supposed to be looking out for our interests, and who's gonna win that fight, us, or (enter multi-billion dollar corporation here) . Congress is looking out for themselves. They're looking to stay in office. What's the easiest way to do that? Take 'donations' from corporations to aid in 'campaigning.' So. . .

Lamar Smith received over $60,000 in 'campaign contributions' in 2011-2012 from the TV/Movies/Music industry, e.g. "Here's 60k., can you push this legislation through?" This is only minor compared to the alleged $94 million that the MPAA has given to Congress. And I won't even go into the hypocracy of the MPAA's statement about the blackout. It's not worth the strain on my typing fingers.

These bills were introduced in May and October of 2011. Why did it take so long for people to get involved?

My initial guess is because, "ZOMG!11!, Wikipedia is down! I can't find out what a car is; which brings us to the effect the blackout had.

Well, a great effect. It made our congress critters stop and think, and eventually some withdrew their support. They were probably thinking more about staying in office rather than the ridiculous pieces of legilation before them, but hey; the intended outcome was achieved.

YAY!! Woohoo! We win the Internets! But what did we actually accomplish? We let congress know that if they push this legislation through, it might 'break the Internet.' However, Congress doesn't understand the Internet, nor do they have the technical savvy to understand what they were actually proposing. Think about it this way. Ask your parents and grandparents if they know what DNS is. Take a mental note of the blank stare you receive, then picture it on your congress critter, only with a bubble over his/her head that says "Must. Pass. SOPA/PIPA."

How might it 'break the Internet?' What did these bills set out to accomplish? Essentially this bill would allow a coporate entity to pressure the Attorney General to send to online service providers an action to block the 'infringing site.' Unfortunately, the term 'infringing site' is left up to interpretation by the corporate entity, and this 'infringing site' is immediately stricken from the Internet with no due process. There's more tech to it than that, but it's boring to most people.

The intention of the bills are to stop piracy -- which is not a bad thing. I'm against piracy as I'm sure most law abiding citizens are. I wouldn't want my Intellectual Property stolen and distributed to others for free. However, the effect that these bills would have is atrocious, and I'm appalled that any elected official would put forth any type of legislation that may infringe on our rights. Personally, I believe that any person that sponsors this bill should be at the very least voted out of office, and at the very most brought up on charges as should any corporation responsible for helping. What charges? I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. However, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are people; thus, they should be held accountable to the same laws as people, and if necessary, jailed and fined like people.

So, do people really understand what happened, or were they just hopping on the bandwagon? Quite frankly, I don't care. I believe the overall purpose was to get the word out, and thanks to Reddit, Wikipedia, Google, that was accomplished...

But what's in store for the future? Well, fortunately large corporations like Google and Facebook were on our side this time. What happens next time when it's laws that Google and Facebook have lobbied for? What happens when SOPA and PIPA become riders to important legislation that needs to be passed (like the budget, for example) Will we still be able to get word out to everyone? Will there be legislation already in place that will not let us get word out? Will we hold our Congressmen and women responsible?

This fight isn't over. Corporations will continue to "speak to" (read pay) representatives and try their damnedest to make the Internet a media consumption device rather than the two-way street that it is today.

If that happens, we can say goodby to the most enlightening and educational period the Human race has ever witnessed.