Whats steps can WE take to help prevent the "Snowe Bill" from being passed? Thoughts?

[Seraphim]

A good starting point would be her:

Office Fax Number
Office Phone Number
Office Address

We should start having people all over the web send in opposition letters and complaints direct.

 

[BobDiGiTaL]

Senator Dole and Burr have both been told my feelings on the "SNOWE BILL"

 

[Focus]

Seriously people, don't "let everyone else deal with it"

Open up your email and start sending and pick up the phone, you don't have to be afraid to say something and speak up about this matter, if you don't we are literally out of luck & business with this one!

 

[Theo]

Who really is behind the proposed bill.

CADNA Member List
American International Group, Inc.
Bacardi & Company Limited
Compagnie Financière Richemont SA
Dell Inc.
Eli Lilly and Company
Hilton Hotels Corporation
HSBC Holdings plc
Marriott International, Inc.
Verizon Communications Inc.
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation

 

[Focus]

If you are not on the phone today, sending letters, or sending emails about this then you should pack up your sh*t and leave this business and this forum. We are on the verge of a damn crisis in the domain world and you can look forward to seeing your even GENERIC domain names being picked off one by one using the tm loopholes & penalties this new BS bill proposes! This is where these big businesses and the US govt. attempts to take over the valuable namespace on the web! (and the money!)

 

[draggar]

One of my senators is co-sponsoring it... Grrr....

This is going to be a tough one. Apparently her roots are from Sparta

Oh god, I lived in Orono, Maine (just north of Bangor) when she was their senator...

Blogged and I will email my senators when I get home tonight.

 

[KaneCo]

Her sponsoring the bill makes no sense....she is chairman of the small business committee yet this bill completely helps big business.

 

[mediawizard]

I think to start all people really interested in stopping this can raise awareness within the domainer community.

I for one have copied Focus' sig... as a small step...

Hope others get involved too.

 

[Theo]

Lobbying is one thing and running like headless chickens is another. Random emails and letters from non-influential people is not the way to go. We need to address the matter by ensuring that the prominent figures of the domain industry convey our concerns to the politicians. Otherwise, an influx of emails is just white noise in the ears of politicians who have no idea how the domain industry functions.

 

[Deleted member 70408]

Seriously people, don't "let everyone else deal with it"

Open up your email and start sending and pick up the phone, you don't have to be afraid to say something and speak up about this matter, if you don't we are literally out of luck & business with this one!

Agreed, but be professional and respectful. There is no reason to mouth off. We need to present a strong case for why this will impact our business. If you aren't 100% comfortable doing this, I know the ICA will be able to provide assistance sometime in the near future.

 

[tonyfloyd]

Lobbying is one thing and running like headless chickens is another. Random emails and letters from non-influential people is not the way to go. We need to address the matter by ensuring that the prominent figures of the domain industry convey our concerns to the politicians. Otherwise, an influx of emails is just white noise in the ears of politicians who have no idea how the domain industry functions.

I agree...its the BIG boys that need to step up...not us lil guys......

 

[Focus]

We simply cannot allow this scare tactic propaganda of "anti-phishing" to let them takeover the rights to the Internet and claim some type of power here over the domain world and all of it's registrants of the ENTIRE WORLD. Political and financial influences are greatly involved here in this bill and we really need to get our gameface on and step up to the plate to fight this to the finish. This bill simply cannot get enacted in it's present form so again, pick up your phones and let's put all of our money and resources together..we will beat this if we try hard enough. If we can sway the opinions and favor of enough people "higher up" then we do have a good fighting chance in this matter. Remember, the straw breaks the camels back, not the load. If you think your voice does'nt matter then you're probably right.

 

[Ridge]

""Finally, the bill would make it a crime for any person to knowingly, and with intent to defraud, use a website or domain name that falsely or deceptively represented itself as another’s business and use the website to get any other person to provide them with “any means of identification”. Violations would be subject to fines and imprisonment of up to five years.""


would this not implicate ppc providers, parking companies, yahoo, google, etc? or do i got this all wrong?

 

[NostraDomainus]

Excuse my ignorance of not having read the Bill or much of an understanding of the full scope of such a Bill (being Canadian and home lethargic with the flu today *cough cough*), but as an American law, wouldn't this just push American domainers to international jurisdictions? (As someone eluded to in another thread on this same matter.)

As well, while this may affect individual entrepreneurs, will it not also affect domain companies whom hold heaps of domains and would be in the same actionable position?
That is to say, are there any big domaining industry players/businesses challenging this Bill?

Seems to be more 'free market capitalism' and 'democracy' at it's best. *rollin eyes emoticon*

!Best Success in All Your Endeavours (-:

 

[Focus]

I think that because the central registry for .com resides in the USA it would be applicable domain wise to all .com domains on the Internet. (which matter the most)

 

[PeterMan]

Don't tell me the US is trying to force it's agenda on the rest of the world!?! They would never do such a thing, would they???

:uhoh:

 

[draggar]

I just sent this to Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL)

Senator Bill Nelson,

I am writing this letter in response to the Ms. Snowe’s bill a.k.a. the “Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008” (“APCPA”). I am emailing it to your office now so I can be assured that there is a quick delivery of this letter and I will also mail it (USPS) a copy of it to your office in the next few days so there is a hard copy on paper about my serious concerns in regards to this bill.

While the cover of this bill does seem for the better good of every person in the US, the law itself opens the gateway to take control of a large part of the internet from the people to large corporations.

The two major points in the bill are both already illegal or against parent-organization policies.

Phishing (a.k.a. using deceptive practices to obtain information to acquire a gain from an unsuspecting target (monetary, etc...)). This is already illegal against US law (fraud, theft etc..) and including this in the bill is just a redundant addition to our laws. Not only that, the vast majority of phishing attempts are conducted by individuals outside the US and outside of US jurisdiction. This bill would not even put a small dent in the number of phishing scams we see in our emails often (I’ve seen many). The average consumer needs to be educated on how to notice a phishing attempt as opposed to a legitimate communication from the institution that they do business with (most commonly banks).

Typo-Squatting and Cyber-Squatting (a.k.a. the use of a trademark in a domain or something that is “confusingly similar” to a trademark and/or creating a site that is confusingly similar to the copyrighted material in order to profit (either though ads or the sale of the site and/or domain). This is already against ICANN and WIPO policies, so once again, this addition to the law is redundant to current policies.

Both of the main points in this law are not needed in new legislation since they already exist with their respective governing bodies.

The main concern is that this bill allows entities to register a trademark then file a case with WIPO and obtain any domain name (including generic words), even if it is used for legitimate purposes and had been registered long before the trademark was submitted.

For example, if I own the domain “laptops.com” (I do not, just an example) that I registered years ago and had a site dedicated to laptops (sales, support, reviews, etc..). A large computer company could easily trademark “laptops” and then file a claim against me for the domain forcing me to hand it over. I would lose all the time and money I put into the site plus the large corporation would then quickly and easily gain from all of my hard work (by getting in all the traffic I was getting on the site) and my reputation as a web master would be tarnished since I would have this case against me and would have a “cyber squatter” black mark on my name. While this bill is proposing to prevent cyber squatting the exact opposite would happen, large corporations would be able to profit from the hard work of small businesses and individuals who pour a lot of hard work into developing a successful site.

I can understand that many members of the senate may not have the most current knowledge of web development, domaining, and related industries. If you’d like, feel free to contact me (information at the bottom of this letter) and I can give you a list of names of people who are very well educated as well as ethical in this industry who can discuss it in full detail. This bill is bad news for small web-based businesses and I’m sure you can agree that small businesses are the backbone of this country’s economy more so than the large corporations who would fully benefit from the points in the bill that are not already covered under other laws and policies.

(contact information)

 

[Focus]

Excellent start! Does anyone care to further this letter with more specifics on how this harms our Internet and economy?

 

[Rockefeller]

Sign the petition at www.snowebill.com.

 

[Focus]

Excellent idea rockefeller, (I did'nt want to register that one for obvious reasons! lol)