[Infowarrior] - Irony Alert: Rep. Howard Berman

[Richard Forno]

(The irony is, this is the same Congresscritter who in 2002 proposed  
legislation to allow the entertainment industry to disable the  
computers of people it believed were infringing on their products.  I  
wrote about it at    http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/99   -rick)


Irony Alert: Hollywood Howard Berman To Introduce 'Internet Freedom'  
Bill
from the are-you-serious? dept
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100312/0129208532.shtml

Earlier this year we noted this was likely, but now it appears that  
Rep. Howard Berman is getting ready to introduce an "Internet Freedom  
Bill," that would limit how US companies could operate in "internet- 
restricting countries." Now, we've already pointed out that it's odd  
to see politicians pushing such bills when the US itself is pushing to  
restrict the internet in similar ways -- but it's particularly ironic  
with Berman. In supporting this new legislation, Berman notes:

He's trying to figure out "what's the most effective thing we can do  
to help people in countries where the government is" seeking to  
restrict Internet freedom. But, here's the thing. Howard Berman, who  
literally is the Representative for (part of) Hollywood, has been a  
very, very, very strong proponent of restricting internet freedoms any  
chance he gets -- as long as those restrictions are part of  
Hollywood's plan to prop up its business model. Berman famously  
proposed letting companies hack into file sharing networks to break  
them a few years back. He's also been a major proponent of turning  
ISPs into copyright cops, and (of course) was actively involved in the  
initial planning for ACTA. He's also sought to limit the ability for  
people to access publicly funded research, claiming that he didn't  
want the "N" in NIH to "stand for Napster."

Perhaps before passing legislation to try to punish other countries  
for their internet restrictions, Berman should take a long hard look  
in the mirror, at his own long and detailed history of supporting  
internet restrictions in the US.

Separately, with the news coming out that New Zealand has just started  
rolling out its own internet censoring system, it will be interesting  
to see if Berman's legislation includes "friendly" countries like New  
Zealand and Australia that push internet censorship.