Lamar Smith Follows Leahy's Steps With Plans To Delay DNS Implementation In SOPA

from the but-of-course dept

Fri, Jan 13th 2012 3:04pm — Mike Masnick

Well this is hardly a surprise given the trial balloons floated on Wednesday and Senator Leahy's announcement yesterday, but Rep. Lamar Smith has now said that, like Leahy, he wants to delay the implementation of DNS blocking within SOPA until it's been "studied." According to a press release:

"After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision. We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers."

Once again... the devil is very much in the details. And, to be honest, Smith technically "removed DNS blocking" from SOPA already. It no longer requires DNS blocking, but merely "reasonable measures" to block access to sites. So, it's not even entirely clear what he means here. Does he mean he'll remove site blocking? Or is he really leaving the document alone since it doesn't have DNS? Either way, it seems clear that the real plan here is to try to delay the controversial part until it's been "studied" and then implement it later...

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Filed Under: copyright, dns, lamar smith, patrick leahy, pipa, protect ip, sopa

16 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:13pm

Can't we just use DNS blocking to our advantage? Won't those servers simply be hacked and redirect from say RIAA's website to the PirateBay? Or some generic truth site explaining the abuse of the Internet won't be tolerated?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:15pm

Re:
I mean can't we use DNS blocking to our advantage and do unto them as they choose to do unto us?
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RonKaminsky (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:16pm

Easy for them, work for us
Possibly, but they'd have a big red button with which to do it, and we'd have to do a lot of hard work to do the same thing.
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Rich Kulawiec, 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:21pm

The appropriate quote here comes from Ash...
...who said: "It's a trick. Get an axe."

These are just cheap political tricks designed to blunt Internet opposition to these still-awful bills. The tactic is quite common, actually, and works like this:

1. Draft a bill that achieves your desired objective(s).

2. Include a provision that you KNOW is stupid, unworkable, unconstitutional, outrageous, unacceptable. Bonus points if it's three or more of these.

3. When opposition to the bill materializes, and much of it is focused on that provision, generously offer to remove it.

4. If opposition greatly diminishes, you win. If opposition doesn't greatly diminish, play the "I compromised, why won't you?" card, label bill's opponents as "unreasonable", "not negotiating in good faith", etc.

Lamar Smith doesn't know jack about the Internet, but he certainly knows enough about politics to use this ploy.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:22pm

Re: Easy for them, work for us
Let the pull their DNS BS, and then we'll see the proliferation of private DNS servers over which they have no control.

The only reason we tend to use the "standard" DNS servers is they're present and generally accurate & easy to use.
But, there already exists private DNS servers out there (OpenDNS, Google's 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4...) and lots of others.

Somebody will decide enough is enough--and there will bloom a P2P encrypted "private" DNS service which has no centralized server--it will only exist on the computers of everybody who uses; and it will entirely negate any attempt of government control short of DEEP deep-packet inspection of physical re-routing of internet cables.
[/hopeful rant]
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:25pm

industry groups across the country

He might as well have said "the guys bribing me".
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:25pm

Re: The appropriate quote here comes from Ash...
"It's a trick. Get an axe."
Bruce Campbell-; Army of Darkness (excellent film)
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RonKaminsky (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:40pm

Re: Re: Easy for them, work for us
You do realize that this still is "breaking the Internet", because any such decentralized server will almost certainly be hackable by anyone controlling a large-enough botnet?
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Chosen Reject (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:52pm

Re: The appropriate quote here comes from Ash...
Indeed, it's a very common tactic, but not just politically.
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gorehound (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 3:57pm

Creating an Event in Portland, Mine
I am Jordan the Vocalist for Big Meat Hammer and one of Maine's oldest Punk Rockers.I will post this here and on the new thread on PIPA Sponsors above this News Story.Since I am against both PIPA & SOPA I will do this same Post on two different Stories.I will not take up any more of techdirt's time on my grand plan.
I have a mission !!! I am wondering who might want to take part in a Protest against Censorship in Portland.I am thinking of an event maybe called "Burn You Big Content Day".Each person would at least bring one book,CD, or Movie put out by either MPAA,RIAA, or one of the Big Publishing Companies.We would have our Protest Signs and at one point we will all bring our "Content" to throw into a pile.We would then either take an AXE to it or BURN IT.I would bring out my expensive Camera gear to shoot a Video of this Event and we could upload that Video to the Internet.If you live here in Maine and would be willing to Donate a short period of your time for this then reply here.If enough will sign on then I should set a Date well before Jan.24TH as that is the day I am pretty sure they will be Voting on.It should be done in the next maybe 5 days ? So how many of you will sign on ? Today is Jan.13TH and you can either email me or go on my Facebook to sign up.If enough people sign up then we are going thru with this.
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SlinkySlim (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 4:37pm

Yeah mate, what's a fucking "reasonable measure" then!?

How about spelling things out for fuck's sake. Is it so much to ask for things that are intended to made into law? Congress's penchant for vague wording, where the intent seems to be deliberate obfuscation, is really having, and will continue to have, some adverse (a&e)ffects That kind of carelessness leads to abuse. That abuse will literally eat away the very tenets of this free society.

Watch the watchers.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2012 @ 6:18pm

Re: Re: Easy for them, work for us
They'll just make that illegal too. We have to stop this as it is, on their terms, in their house. Going underground just means some people will have access to the free internet while most are shackled to the "legal" internet system. Freedom for all or freedom for none.
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Hephaestus (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 7:46pm

Re: Re: Easy for them, work for us
+:Lobo Santo

You do not need a private DNS system to set up a system like the one you wish for in your "#[/hopeful rant]". What you need is a P2P virtual drive spread out over millions of machines. This can be done today using existing technologies (bit torrent - magnet - DHT). All you would need to do is split a file into pieces, and for each piece have a cryptographic hash value (CHV) and be encoded by a private key. Each link on a web page would have to be the CHV plus the user would need the public key of the web site.

The DNS on a system like this would actually be the public key of the web site you are going to.
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Hephaestus (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 7:53pm

Re: Re: Re: Easy for them, work for us
That is a way to totally circumvent any sort of IP or DNS blocking ... my bad??
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Hephaestus (profile), 13 Jan 2012 @ 7:55pm

Re: Re: Re: Easy for them, work for us
To finish this. The home page of a site would be the CHV of the home page and the public key.
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firefly, 14 Jan 2012 @ 6:53am

Re: Re: Easy for them, work for us
Has anyone read page 22 of the December 12th managers amendment http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/HR%203261%20Managers%20Amendment.pdf ? Looks to me as though they're on a path to declare an uncensored copy of the DNS to be a circumvention device.
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