Imagine a world in which any intellectual property holder can, without ever appearing before a judge or setting foot in a courtroom, shut down any website’s online advertising programs and block access to credit card payments. The credit card processors and the advertising networks would be required to take quick action against the named website; only the filing of a “counter notification” by the website could get service restored.

It’s the world envisioned by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) in today’s introduction of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the US House of Representatives. This isn’t some off-the-wall piece of legislation with no chance of passing, either; it’s the House equivalent to the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act, which would officially bring Internet censorship to the US as a matter of law.

Calling its plan a “market-based system to protect US customers and prevent US funding of sites dedicated to theft of US property,” the new bill gives broad powers to private actors. Any holder of intellectual property rights could simply send a letter to ad network operators like Google and to payment processors like MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal, demanding these companies cut off access to any site the IP holder names as an infringer.

The scheme is much like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) “takedown notices,” in which a copyright holder can demand some piece of content be removed from sites like YouTube with a letter. The content will be removed unless the person who posted the content objects; at that point, the copyright holder can decide if it wants to take the person to court over the issue.

Here, though, the stakes are higher. Rather than requesting the takedown of certain hosted material, intellectual property owners can go directly for the jugular: marketing and revenue for the entire site. So long as the intellectual property holders include some “specific facts” supporting their infringement claim, ad networks and payment processors will have five days to cut off contact with the website in question.

The scheme is largely targeted at foreign websites which do not recognize US law, and which therefore will often refuse to comply with takedown requests. But the potential for abuse—even inadvertent abuse—here is astonishing, given the terrifically outsized stick with which content owners can now beat on suspected infringers.

Blockade

One thing private actors can’t do under the new bill is actually block a site from the Internet, though it hardly matters, because the government has agreed to do it for them. The bill gives government lawyers the power to go to court and obtain an injunction against any foreign website based on a generally single-sided presentation to a judge. Once that happens, Internet providers have 5 days to “prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site.”

The government can also go after anyone who builds a tool designed for the “circumvention or bypassing” of the Internet block. Such tools already exist as a result of the US government’s ongoing campaign to seize Internet domain names it believes host infringing content; they can redirect visitors who enter the site’s address to its new location. The government has already asked Web browser makers like Mozilla to remove access to these sorts of tools. Mozilla refused, so the new bill just tries to ban such tools completely. (Pointing your computer’s browser to a foreign DNS server in order to view a less-censored Internet still appears to be legal.)

Search engines, too, are affected, with the duty to prevent the site in question “from being served as a direct hypertext link.” Payment processors and ad networks would also have to cut off the site.

Finally, and for good measure, Internet service providers and payment processors get the green light to simply block access to sites on their own volition—no content owner notification even needed. So long as they believe the site is “dedicated to the theft of US property,” Internet providers and payment processors can’t be sued.

“Industry norms”

The House bill is shockingly sympathetic to a narrow subsection of business interests. For instance, buried deep in the back of the >70-page document is a requirement that the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator prepare a study for Congress. That study should analyze “notorious foreign infringers” and attempt to quantify the “significant harm inflicted by notorious foreign infringers.” (Talk about assuming your conclusions before you start.)

The report, which is specifically charged to give weight to the views of content owners, requests a set of specific policy recommendations that might “encourage foreign businesses to adopt industry norms to promote the protection of intellectual property globally.” Should the bill pass, the US government would be explicitly charged with promoting private “industry norms”—not actual laws or treaties—around the world.

In the request for the report, we can also see the IP maximalist lobby preparing for its next move: shutting off access to US capital markets and preventing companies from “offering stock for sale to the public” in the US.

Call it what it is

Not all censorship is bad—but we need to have an honest discussion about when and how to deploy it, rather than wrapping an unprecedented set of censorship tools in meaningless terms like “rogue site,” or by calling a key section of the new bill the “E-PARASITE Act.”

You don’t have to support piracy—and we don’t—to see the many problems with this new approach. Just today, the RIAA submitted to the US government a list of “notorious markets.” As part of that list, the RIAA included “cyberlockers” like MegaUpload, which are “notorious services” that “thumb their noses at international laws, all while pocketing significant advertising revenues from trafficking in free, unlicensed copyrighted materials.”

It’s not hard to imagine how long it would take before such sites–which certainly do host plenty of user-uploaded infringing content–are targeted under the new law. Yet they have a host of legal uses, and cyberlockers like RapidShare have been declared legal by both US and European courts.

Not surprisingly, the new bill is getting pushback from groups like NetCoalition, which counts Google, Yahoo, and small ISPs among its members. “As leading brands of the Internet, we strongly oppose offshore ‘rogue’ websites and share policymakers’ goal of combating online infringement of copyrights and trademarks,” said executive director Markham Erickson in a statement.

“However, we do not believe that the solution lies in regulating the Internet and comprising its stability and security. We do not believe that it is worth overturning a decade of settled law that has formed the legal foundation for all social media. And finally, we do not believe that it is worth restricting free speech or providing comfort to totalitarian regimes that seek to control and restrict the Internet freedoms of their own citizens.”

Dozens of law professors have also claimed the original PROTECT IP Act, which contains most of the same ideas, is unconstitutional. But the drumbeat for some sort of censorship is growing louder.

Basically he overlaid all of his fonts, on low opacity to come up with Averia. It’s a fun font that I’m sure you’ll love!

Click the image to visit his site and download the font! Enjoy!

kimtown’s Biggest SALE ever in the shoppe! Everything in the shoppe is 60% off…that’s EVERYTHING. This includes blogs, blog+sites, splash pages, templates, SPLASH YOURSELF! Editors, Client Sites, Machform, Facebook Customization and more!!!

This is MONDAY ONLY! No extensions will be granted. Mark your calendars and save big on Monday!!

Fifty-four percent of small businesses say what they need most to grow their business is more customers. Local businesses create jobs, boost the economy, and preserve neighborhoods. That’s what Small Business Saturday is all about. Get out on Nov. 26, and support your peers–and hopefully they’ll support you, too.

Shop small in kimtown at several places!

kimtown Web Design Shoppe: http://kimtown.com/shoppe

The T Boutique: http://thetboutique.com

BB’s Bottlecaps: http://bbsbottlecaps.com

Shoots for a Cure Shop: http://shootsforacure.com/shop

kimtown accepts ALL major credit cards INCLUDING American Express. Shop small on Saturday, November 26th.

First: Visit the Developer Apps page while you are logged into facebook

Second: Locate the app on the left that says “Timeline”; click it.

Third: Click EDIT SETTINGS on the right side of the screen

Fourth: Go back to the left side and click “Delete App”

Fifth: Enjoy your old wall again!

Easy peasy!

Splash Page:

Home Page:

Galleries Page:

Social Page:

Contact Page:

Take it a step further and add color overlays to the layers for a custom look! Get this template for only $12 in the shoppe!

Go from this:

To this, with a few clicks in photoshop!

Here is the second version in the new wall art templates:
Versatile 16×20 wall art you can customize for your clients!
Simply drop the image in, choose from 2 shapes, clip it to the mask, change the background colors to match your image (if you’d like adjust layers too) and you are done!

Take it a step further and add color overlays to the layers, or remove and combine, for a custom look!

Fully layered photoshop CS+ template.

Look at all you can do with this ONE template!

GET THESE TEMPLATES IN THE SHOPPE NOW!

This full size, print comparison chart is fully layered in photoshop so you can add your images to show clients not only the size difference but also where their image will crop. Includes areas for your investment information and room to spare! Use as little or as much of the template as you’d like if you offers different sizes.

These prints are fully proportionate to each other for accurate representation. This could be printed at full size of 150″x80″ to show all prints at full size, sized down to show respective sizes or even smaller to display on your website or marketing materials. It’s full size to allow you to do anything you need!

Click the Images to get them in the shoppe! 

5 Fully layered, Fun and Different Wall Layout Guides for Photoshop CS+!

These templates are awesome! Real wood floor and whitewash baseboard. The wall is on a separate layer so you can change the color to suit the image or your client’s walls!  Clip your images right to the included mask! Templates also include all standard size prints on their own layers so you can duplicate and add to the collections shown!

Click the Images to get them in the Shoppe!

Artisan Portrait Cases

While on a recent trip to India, I found a village in Rajasthan where craftsmen have been making paper since 1590. Today, they make papers of 100% recycled cotton fiber gleaned from India’s textile industry. I immediately recognized this paper could be a vast improvement over the mass produced and increasingly expensive virgin wood pulp papers used for much of our packaging.

Dajana and I returned to India this summer, meeting with craftsmen to design our new boutique line of 100% recycled photopackaging which we will brand “Eco Chic”. The first product, Artisan Portrait Cases will arrive by late October.

The Cocoa Artisan Portrait Case will come in 5×7″, 8×10″, 8×12″, 11×14″, and 16×20″ sizes. It may be preorder now.

Cotton Rag paper is naturally acid free, making it safer for your prints and safer for the environment.  The natural deckle edge makes each handmade sheet unique. Long cotton fibers allow our thick stock to fold without cracking or tearing. The paper is strong, yet soft to the touch. Cotton absorbs dye well for a deep, rich color that won’t rub off on your hands. Each sheet is made to our specifications of size, thickness, texture, and color. Surprisingly, this superior quality, archival product will cost no more than the our current mass produced items.

Other products in the “ECO CHIC ” line will include CD Sleeves and Folios, Album Boxes made from Artisan Paper, plus creulty-free leather Presentation Folders and CD packaging. Watch for updates.

At RSS, we try to feature recycled packaging whenever possible. We estimate this switch to recycled Artisan Papers will save 72 mature trees each year.

Cottage industries like papermaking are an important part of rural developement in countries like India. Access to world markets allows workers to receive a fair wage and year round employment so their children can attend school instead of having to work.

ECO CHIC - Packaging that is good for your prints and good for the planet. Exclusively from Rice Studio Supply, Inc.

    

kimtown can now hardcode your machform contact form directly into your template! Interested in this service? It’s just $35 in the shoppe!