In one of the strongest statements made to date in opposition to SOPA, internet pioneer Vinton Serf sent a letter to SOPA author House Judiciary chairman Lamar Smith (Texas Republican).
When one of the creators of the technology of the internet tells you that your plan to regulate it is severely flawed, perhaps you should listen.
The debate has heated up and become fierce this week over the Stop Online Piracy Act commonly known as SOPA. The Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R.3261) has been proposed in the US House to tackle internet piracy. Thursday's marathon session in Congress produced nothing beyond some childish name calling.
Internet founding father speaks out
While no one single person can claim sole credit for inventing the internet, Vinton Cerf would be on a very short list of names who could be considered one of the founding fathers of the internet for his work in the estblishment of TCP/IP. During the 1970s Bob Kahn and Vinton Cerf would collaborate as key members of a team to create TCP/IP, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), the building blocks of the modern internet.
In a well crafted letter addressed to House Judiciary chairman Lamar Smith, and also sent to Members of the House Judiciary Committee, Cerf introduces himself as one of the "fathers of the Internet" and then goes on to systematically explain the technological flaws in SOPA.
Some of the comments made by Cerf in his letter:
"Thus, even with the proposed manager's amendment, SOPA's site-blocking provisions remain problematic. They would undermine the architecture of the Internet and obstruct the 15 year effort by the public and private sectors to improve cybersecurity through implementation of DNSSEC, a critical set of extensions designed to address security vulnerabilities in the DNS.This collateral damage of SOPA would be particularly regrettable because site blocking or redirection mechanisms are unlikely to make a significant dent in the availability of infringing material and counterfeits online, given that DNS manipulation can be defeated by simply choosing an offshore DNS resolution provider, maintaining one's own local DNS cache or using direct IP address references."
Hello Congress?
Some folks might question Cerf's current loyalties, as Cerf is now a Vice President and the Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, but it would be hard to argue his knowledge of the topic. When one of the creators of the technology of the internet tells you that your plan is flawed, perhaps you should listen.
Darrell Issa (California Republican) has confirmed via a tweet that talks regarding SOPA will continue on Wednesday, December 21, right before lawmakers depart for holiday break.
We will be following the fight for intenet freedom in the weeks ahead. To stay informed or to share your Technology News, follow Tom Peracchio @Gu42 on Twitter or Guru42 on Facebook.
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