February 01, 2012, 10:14 AM — Social networking site Reddit.com is going against the most successful habits of successful politicians by actually proposing solutions to proposals Reddit was instrumental in defeating.
Rather than simply continue to crow about the success of a coalition of civil- and digital-rights groups in opposing the Internet-censoring SOPA and PIPA bills, Reddit is now proposing alternative legislation (Reddit video announcement) to address copyright infringement on the web without (the proposers hope) the same dismissal of individual rights that were integral to both the original bills.
The "Free Internet Act," is open-source legislation, debated and hammered into shape by volunteer contributors on Reddit's r/fia sub-forum, standing in as volunteer representatives for the rest of us.
The proposal is partly an effort to treat international copyright infringement as a legitimate issue, but not an excuse to criminalize most consumers and deputize ISPs, site owners, the Dept. of Justice and almost anyone else into service to enforce exaggerated rights of private industry.
Even trying to develop a reasonable law with the cooperation of people of varying points of view violates all the most successful tactics of modern domestic politics – in which it's rare to call anyone on the carpet for simply complaining about an issue rather than offering an alternative that might fix a problem.
Looking for an answer before we get slimed by the next "solution"
In this case the FIA is an attempt to head off what looks like building momentum to accept the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) – an international treaty agreed to in principle last Fall by the U.S. and 22 European nations, but ratified so far by only a few.
ACTA's main point is to treat digital property in exactly the same way as physical property and to allow owners of that property to identify theft, smuggling or other misuses of their brand or property.
Reuters/Tony Gentile
