Combating Online Infringementand Counterfeits Act

(COICA)

By Ben Smith

• What is COICA?

• What effect it will have on the web?

• How does it work?

• How to prevent COICA from passing

• Summary

COICA

What is COICA?

• A United States based act that allows the Attorney General to censor websites.

• Allows website to be censored even if it does not violate any laws.

• Targets websites that allow file hosting, controversial political discussion and piracy.

• Will change the web so that the United States government has complete control over online content.

Affects of COICA• Many popular website would disappear from the internet even though they do not break any laws, file hosting and video sharing websites would be targeted.

• More online censoring bills would come into affect.

• Freedom of speech would become limited.

• Websites that would be censored suffer financially as the act also deniesonline transactions.

How does it work?• Although COICA cannot disable a website it is able to block the DNS so computers are unable to connect.

• Since the DNS names are based in the United States, the act has the ability to block them, making a website unreachable.

• For a website to be blocked, the Attorney General simply has to ask a court to put the address on the blacklist.

• When a machine attempts to connect to a blocked website, a 404 not found error is given.

Preventing COICA• Several groups have been formed to protest the act which has stalled it from passing.

• Online petitions have been formed to show the disapproval of the act, some have over 200, 000 signatures.

• More groups need to be formed to voice opposition so the bill is not passed

• People need to be informed about the act as it is not well known.

Summary• COICA is a bill that aims to allow the United States to censor the web.

• Many popular, useful and important websites could be blocked even though they do not violate any laws.

• By blocking a website’s DNS, computers are unable to access the site and since the DNS services are US based they are able to be blocked.

• The general public must be made aware of the threat COICA poses to freedom of speech online so the bill cannot be passed.

Sources Goldstein, David. "EFF Slams US COICA Bill as Internet Censorship Allowing Domain Deletion." Domain News. 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://www.domainnews.com/en/eff-slams-us-coica-bill-as- internet-censorship-allowing-domain-deletion.html>.

Segal, David. "David Segal: Stop the Internet Blacklist." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/stop-the-internet- blackli_b_739836.html>.

Vijayan, Jaikumar. "Outcry Prompts Amendments to Online IP Protection Bill – Computerworld." Computerworld - IT News, Features, Blogs, Tech Reviews, Career Advice. 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9188780 /Outcry_prompts_amendments_to_online_IP_protection_bill>.