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When we designed the Internet the first time, our priorities were reliability, robustness and minimizing central points of failure or control. We are alarmed that Congress is so close to mandating censorship-compliance as a design requirement for new Internet innovations. This can only damage the security of the network, and give authoritarian governments more power over what their citizens can read and publish. The US government has regularly claimed that it supports a free and open Internet, both domestically and abroad. We cannot have a free and open Internet unless its naming and routing systems sit above the political concerns and objectives of any one government or industry. To date, the leading role the US has played in this infrastructure has been fairly uncontroversial because America is seen as a trustworthy arbiter and a neutral bastion of free expression. If the US begins to use its central position in the network for censorship that advances its political and economic agenda, the consequences will be far-reaching and destructive.

This indicates that no proof of copyright infringement must exist in order to block a Web site, just an assumption that a violation has occurred or will occur. Such broad language means that Web sites large and small, from YouTube to your next door neighbor’s blog, are in danger if accusations of copyright infringement are made against them.

Without any obligation to provide proof of wrongdoing, the bill creates the potential for abuse and…dare we say it…censorship.

The other side of the argument is, of course, that entertainment companies and copyright holders lose billions of dollars due to online piracy and illegal filesharing of copyrighted works.