SOPA Not Even Passed and Work-Around is Already Available
Two useful browser add-ons demonstrate how SOPA would do nothing to stop criminal behavior.
Though the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, is currently hibernating until congress goes back in session in early 2012, the threat that is may yet pass is still very real. Fortunately, as if to prove how out of touch and misguided our legislators are, software developers have already created means by which Internet users could completely circumvent one of the bill's most controversial provisions.
The provision in question would force search engines, advertisers, banking and financial firms and even Internet service providers to de-list websites accused - not proven, but simply accused - of copyright infringement. The provision even includes language that would allow the Justice Department to force ISPs to falsify DNS records so as to prevent users from being able to even locate a suspect site. That's bad... particularly for Internet users who are completely uninitiated. But for the rest of us who aren't members of Congress, two brilliant Firefox add-ons provide ingenious workarounds.
The first, The Pirate Bay Dance (download Link) was released on November 30th by a group calling itself MAFIAAFire. Named for the popular (and controversial) torrent hub The Pirate bay, The Pirate Bay Dance routes users to proscribed websites through a random selection of proxies in order to evade local IP and DNA blocks. The second SOPA circumvention, called DeSopa (download link), is more subtle. Once installed, users can simply click a button to tell Firefox to ignore domestic DNS blocks entirely and locate a blocked site using its IP address via foreign DNS servers.
DeSopa developer T Rizk, speaking to Torrent Freak, explained his motivation for creating the add-on. "I feel that the general public is not aware of the gravity of SOPA," he said, adding that "Congress seems like they are about to cater to the special interests involved, to the detriment of Internet." Acknowledging the problem with expansive laws affecting aspects of society the lawgivers have no experience with, he noted that congressional members may not "understand that it is technically not going to work, at all. So here’s some proof that I hope will help them err on the side of reason and vote SOPA down." Indeed.
It's telling that though the bill hasn't passed yet, effective workarounds are already available, proving that in much the same way DRM on DVDs, music and video games does nothing to prevent piracy but greatly inconveniences law abiding consumers, the odious Internet blacklist that SOPA would authorize is equally pointless. Of course, though both add-ons defang one of SOPA's nastier aspects, there is little that could be done, save a Supreme Court decision, to stop the provision that allows 'copyright holders' (which we should understand to mean major corporate entities with lavish financial assets) to act independently of the government in order to close down accused infringers without notification or prior review. Hopefully, embarrassing developments like these will help make passage of SOPA more difficult, once Congress resumes in January.
- Sony: We Didn't Apologize for PS Vita Screen Issues
- Mozilla Releases Tablet-Friendly Firefox 9 for Android
- Transforming MorpHex Robot Invades Your Nightmares
- Motorola May Be Violating Another Microsoft Patent
- Chinese Hackers Break Into U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Windows Phone 8 Coming in June 2012
- Reddit's Erik Martin on SOPA: "The End Of Reddit"
- Google Stops ICS Roll-out for Nexus S in Some Areas
- Archos Intros First Sub-$200 Honeycomb Tablet
- 700,000 Android Devices Activated Every Single Day
- Kepler Delivers Confirmation of Extrasolar Earth-Sized Planets
- Growing Trend: Botnets, Malware Are Hitting Smartphones
- Insider Claims Microsoft Was Kicked Out of Future CES Shows
- Steve Jobs Lands Trustees Award; Also Gets Bronze Statue
- Support For SOPA Gets GoDaddy in Hot Water
- Hasbro Sues Asus Over Tranformer Prime Tablet's Name
- Asterisk Prototype: Spider-Man's Long Lost Robot Cousin
- Samsung Announces Two Dual-SIM Galaxy Phones
- Amazon Relents: Kindle Fire Browses Android Market
Where there's a law, there's a hack to get around it.
Where there's a law, there's a hack to get around it.
Where there's clueless legislators, there's people who know what the hell they're doing (the public)!
The Internet community gets one over on the big wigs - just makes you feel warm inside.
Where there's clueless legislators, there's people who know what the hell they're doing (the public)!
The same people who keep voting them back into office and aren't outraged at this bill enough to do anything to stop it? Those people?
No, fandroid, they aren't. Congresscritters are unaccountable leeches, who live in their own little world, lording it over the rest of us. They buy votes of the ignorant masses with unearned benefits (which has bankrupted the country), and only support those who fill their campaign coffers; anyone else be damned.
Does this mean I can still download movies like Hurt Locker and not get in trouble?
The Internet community gets one over on the big wigs - just makes you feel warm inside.
From what is described in these "hacks," it seems that it would be pretty easy to get around this for anyone who runs their own, private DNS on their local network. There are lots of public DNS servers out there that are outside of the US. All one would need to do is point the network DNS to a public DNS that is located outside of the US. Said DNS could be a primary or a fail-over. For the US based private DNS runner, it would be a trivial change in configuration.
The same people who keep voting them back into office and aren't outraged at this bill enough to do anything to stop it? Those people?
The people who understand this technology work in the field, not in the senate playing "pay me to make a decision." They're also a minority. Don't be fooled by the sense of control you think we have as a democracy. Money votes.
The people who understand this technology work in the field, not in the senate playing "pay me to make a decision." They're also a minority. Don't be fooled by the sense of control you think we have as a democracy. Money votes.
It's a sad state of affairs.
There is no desopa addon on mozilla website!
Add-on homepage is: https://github.com/TamerRizk/desopa
i hope SOPA and MAFFIAA burn for what they're trying to do. Not what they say what they want toi do, but rather for what they actually want. And may I be wrong about them.
/dustsoffhismicrosoftserver2008booksandservers
=D
I think its hightime to start building an alternative to TCP/IP. I'm already on it =D
No, I don't want to tunnel either.
I feel bad for the majority of internet users who don't know about SOPA or how to circumvent its effects. OTOH makes me want to host a "rogue" DNS...
Plus users that want to could add the DNS entries into their routers, most routers cache these entries anyways.
If they pass this, I'm going to comb over the whitehouse.gov website for ANYTHING that might remotely be copyrighted by somebody else and file to have their site de-listed.
my golden rule: if you can play it, you can copy it.
If they pass this, I'm going to comb over the whitehouse.gov website for ANYTHING that might remotely be copyrighted by somebody else and file to have their site de-listed.
Well i think its time to have an in house DNS server
If they pass this, I'm going to comb over the whitehouse.gov website for ANYTHING that might remotely be copyrighted by somebody else and file to have their site de-listed.
If it passes then we should really report the site of every congressman that votes in favor of SOPA, citing the provisions that give us the power to do so. Nowadays plenty of them use YouTube or link to the sites of newspapers, and they probably don't understand that the content they like to show about themselves is not owned by them.
Already using Mafia fire redirector. Die Sopa die !
I'm willing to bet there is no internet site out there that doesn't have something in them that someone has copyright on. Support http://demandprogress.org/
stick it to the man...this is good news
SEE? Every single damn time, these anti-piracy measures piss off people who play by the rules but FAIL TO STOP THE PIRATES! DUH!
I think on Day One that SOPA is in effect (assuming is passes) people need to accuse the following websites of copyright infringement. Remember, it doesn't have to be proven, just an accusation.
Everything listed here... http://www.usa.gov/directory/federal/index.shtml
I bet when ISP's shut down every gov't website, in accordance with the law, the legislators responsible for this tripe will think twice.
Well if the accused has to take down their site before any guilt is proven, I don't understand how this bill would hold up in court. If it does then I don't understand why any joe schmo couldn't just file a complaint saying that Google.com is infringing and force them to shutdown until they prove otherwise. This is basically allowing a guilty until proven innocent scenario. Thankfully I don't live in that f*cked up country.
Congress can't decide what they want for lunch let alone how the internet should run. By the time they agree on anything, there will be a work-around in place.
I think most smart people dealing with illegal stuff already make use of proxies and alternative search engines.
Not really about copyright or anything like that.. its just something the government wants in place so they can have ISP's install snooping equipment that they could tap..
which won't really affect any one using their computers for illegal activity of any variety.. between the plugins listed here, and more sophisticated ways of getting around it such as tunnel encryption, this will be a useless endeavor on every front, but the government can catch the soccer moms downloading one or 2 songs..
Its a big joke, the whole damn thing is a big joke.. ACTA in EU has already been passed, so I figure its only a matter of time before the US asks China how it did the firewall, with the EU right behind us..
Land of the free huh?
jack asses...
The same people who keep voting them back into office and aren't outraged at this bill enough to do anything to stop it? Those people?
Thats funny I wasn't aware I was able to vote for 435 state reps and 100 senators. Oh wait I get to vote for a very small percentage of them.