Censoring the Search Engines
Published May 11th, 2011 | 
Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act? Huh? Yes, this is the current name of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) bill that sprung from Congressional hearings on the subject a short time ago. Basically, it’s a bill that, should it become law, will make it legal to ban certain sites the government decides is dangerous like torrent and warez sites. Essentially, under this law, search engines would be required to block these sites from showing up in search results.
I’m firmly against this bill. Not because I have <3 for Internet pirates, but because I think this bill sets an unhealthy precedent and goes against everything America and the Internet are supposed to be about.
When I mentioned this topic before, I said outright that the federal government has the right and responsibility to go after Internet pirates and prosecute them provided they have evidence of wrongdoing. What the government shouldn’t have the right to do is prevent Internet users from searching for any web sites even if those site promote illegal activity or unsavory ideas nor should the government have the right to monitor your search activity online.
What? Are we children, America? Should we be told what web sites we can and cannot view? Should Congress be given that much power over our lives? Hell no!
And really, there is no wholesale Insurance against intellectual property theft; any pirate who has the means to hack, steal and redistribute software and other types of intellectual property can probably figure out a way around the ban anyway, so who does this bill hurt? Average Internet users. But saying it’s okay to block one type of website, they creating the possibility of newer laws that can ban any web site the government doesn’t like.
