Hillary Clinton's letter tacitly endorsing SOPA was sent in response to a request (linked here) by the Congressman from Hollywood, Howard Berman. In that letter Berman writes:I believe that if we can provide an open and transparent judicial process, consistent with due process, that responds to online theft swiftly, surgically, and fairly, we set a positive precedent for others to follow.
Lets look at the "open and transparent judicial process" in SOPA, shall we? Except in the case of an effective counter notification pursuant to paragraph (5), a payment network provider shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within 5 days after delivery of a notification under paragraph (4), that are designed to prevent, prohibit, or suspend its service from completing payment transactions involving customers located within the United States and the Internet site, or portion thereof, that is specified in the notification under paragraph (4).
So, IP owner sends notification to payment provider with allegation, and payment provider has five days to stop processing payments for the site in question. There is no due process here. There is no neutral decision maker. The victim has very little time to respond to the allegation before the payment provider is required to shut them off. When Berman talks about due process he is paying lip service to something which does not exist! |