[governance] USPTO blocks web access to "Political/Activist Groups" including KEI, ACLU, EFF, Public Citizen, Redstate, DailyKos

Milton L Mueller mueller at syr.edu
Thu Sep 20 20:30:09 EDT 2012 

This is one of the topics in my class on Information Policy. We talk about the scalability of online censorship and the role of DPI and other technologies in attempting to filter access. Attached is a list of categories used by the DPI company Blue Coat to classify web sites.

From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 3:37 PM
To: Jamie Love
Cc: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; James S. Tyre; Dr. Alejandro Pisanty Baruch; Riaz K Tayob
Subject: Re: [governance] USPTO blocks web access to "Political/Activist Groups" including KEI, ACLU, EFF, Public Citizen, Redstate, DailyKos


On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 7:22 AM, Jamie Love <james.love at keionline.org<mailto:james.love at keionline.org>> wrote:
I was not paying that much attention to this issue, and I was surprised to learn how ubiquitous at the enterprise/government/school level these technologies have become, often directed at blocking malware, pornography, hate speech, or even sports or shopping, and apparently political activism too.  (Here are some of the categories http://goo.gl/UY4fz).

I just saw the categories. It worries me :( particularly more so when we think of what was reported in the media, in Iran and Syria who had created an elite army to hunt down dissidents. The potential for abuse is of concern :(

As others have mentioned, the Blue Coat filters (and probably their competitors products) are used in several countries as inexpensive ways to control access to some types of content.  When used to block access to information, it's just another thing to worry about or route around.


On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 1:17 PM, James S. Tyre <jstyre at jstyre.com<mailto:jstyre at jstyre.com>> wrote:
No, I don't think you'll see pics of me picketing at PTO.  Jamie is based in DC, he can just walk over.  But using a point of reference that you'll appreciate, I'm about 7 minutes away from ICANN's old MdR office (and about the same from the new one, though I've not been to it).  I'm not nearly so lathered up about this that I'm planning on flying cross-country to picket.  '-)

More seriously, I don't see this as a global issue.  But I didn't start this thread, I'm pretty new to this list, and I'm not sure I have a good understanding of what IGC considers to be local v. global.

-Jim

--
James S. Tyre
Law Offices of James S. Tyre
10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512
Culver City, CA 90230-4969
310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
jstyre at jstyre.com<mailto:jstyre at jstyre.com>
Policy Fellow, Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org

From: Dr. Alejandro Pisanty Baruch [mailto:apisan at unam.mx<mailto:apisan at unam.mx>]
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 10:00 AM
To: James S. Tyre; governance at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>; 'Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro'; 'Riaz K Tayob'

Subject: RE: [governance] USPTO blocks web access to "Political/Activist Groups" including KEI, ACLU, EFF, Public Citizen, Redstate, DailyKos

Jim,

thanks - I still see IT SOP gone wild but am in no position to test or contest.

Guess I'll see pics of you and Jamie picketing (this IS a local, not global, issue, right?)

Yours,

Alejandro Pisanty


! !! !!! !!!!
NEW PHONE NUMBER - NUEVO NÚMERO DE TELÉFONO



+52-1-5541444475<tel:%2B52-1-5541444475> FROM ABROAD

+525541444475<tel:%2B525541444475> DESDE MÉXICO

SMS +525541444475<tel:%2B525541444475>
     Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
UNAM, Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico

Blog: http://pisanty.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pisanty
Unete al grupo UNAM en LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/22285/4A106C0C8614
Twitter: http://twitter.com/apisanty
---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, http://www.isoc.org
.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

________________________________
Desde: James S. Tyre [jstyre at jstyre.com<mailto:jstyre at jstyre.com>]
Enviado el: jueves, 20 de septiembre de 2012 11:34
Hasta: governance at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>; Dr. Alejandro Pisanty Baruch; 'Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro'; 'Riaz K Tayob'
Asunto: RE: [governance] USPTO blocks web access to "Political/Activist Groups" including KEI, ACLU, EFF, Public Citizen, Redstate, DailyKos
Alejandro,

It isn't really that simple at all.  Before I begin, however, let me state two things.  First, I do not question that PTO turned the thing off shortly after becoming aware of it.  Second, I assume that you're not aware of some of the relevant facts and law, rather than that you're ignoring them.

PTO is a US government agency.  A government agency as employer is not held to the same First Amendment restrictions as a government agency as government, but, unlike private sector employers, the government as employer is subject to some First Amendment restrictions.

This particular filter was not in any way supposed to be similar to what is seen in corporate IT.  It's specific purpose, it's only purpose,  was to block access to terrorist sites and similar.  (Some of that is required by US law, whether that's a good or bad law is not something I plan on discussing here.)  How any of the blacklisted sites could be found to be terrorist sites is incomprehensible.  This was never supposed to be a pretty standard filter.

Incidentally, the filter is the handiwork of Blue Coat, which did such a marvelous job of promoting free expression on the Internet in Syria, among other places, see, e.g., https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/blue-coat-acknowledges-syrian-government-use-its-products

--
James S. Tyre
Law Offices of James S. Tyre
10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512
Culver City, CA 90230-4969
310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
jstyre at jstyre.com<mailto:jstyre at jstyre.com>
Policy Fellow, Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org

From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org> [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org]<mailto:[mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org]> On Behalf Of Dr. Alejandro Pisanty Baruch
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 7:09 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>; Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro; Riaz K Tayob
Subject: RE: [governance] USPTO blocks web access to "Political/Activist Groups" including KEI, ACLU, EFF, Public Citizen, Redstate, DailyKos

Sala,

any knowledge of corporate IT will tell you that this is a pretty standard filter used in private as well as public offices. Usually installed by third parties who set up the networks or even run them, or accessed by IT at third-party sites. As Jamie Love writes as well, the filter was removed upon request. It is the same type of filter that would have caused some hotel reservation sites to be blocked "for sexual content."

Clues... they used to be more widely available.

Alejandro Pisanty


! !! !!! !!!!
NEW PHONE NUMBER - NUEVO NÚMERO DE TELÉFONO



+52-1-5541444475<tel:%2B52-1-5541444475> FROM ABROAD

+525541444475<tel:%2B525541444475> DESDE MÉXICO

SMS +525541444475<tel:%2B525541444475>
     Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
UNAM, Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico

Blog: http://pisanty.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pisanty
Unete al grupo UNAM en LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/22285/4A106C0C8614
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---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, http://www.isoc.org
.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

________________________________
Desde: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org> [governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org>] en nombre de Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro [salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com<mailto:salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com>]
Enviado el: jueves, 20 de septiembre de 2012 05:02
Hasta: governance at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>; Riaz K Tayob
Asunto: Re: [governance] USPTO blocks web access to "Political/Activist Groups" including KEI, ACLU, EFF, Public Citizen, Redstate, DailyKos
If what is reported is legitimate, we are in for some troubling times ahead of us. :( :(:(

Sala
On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 8:21 PM, Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com<mailto:riaz.tayob at gmail.com>> wrote:
USPTO blocks web access to "Political/Activist Groups" including KEI, ACLU, EFF, Public Citizen, Redstate, DailyKos<http://keionline.org/node/1548>

  *   View<http://keionline.org/node/1548>
  *   What links here<http://keionline.org/node/1548/backlinks>
Submitted by James Love on 18. September 2012 - 12:32
Update: At 5 pm the USPTO called and said that the public access wifi network was using a filter, provided by a contractor, to block "political activist" sites. This filter was not used by the network providing Internet access for the USPTO staff. After our meeting, the USPTO reviewed its policies, and has removed the filter. USPTO says the filter was implemented by a contractor, and no one we talked to at USPTO was aware of who was being blocked. In any event, the filter has been removed.

Today I was visiting the USPTO, for a high level meeting on global negotiations on intellectual property and access to medicine. The meeting was held in the Stockholm Room, on the 2nd floor of the USPTO library, at the main USPTO building at 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA. The USPTO also uses these meeting rooms for its Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA). The USPTO offers free Wifi for the visitors. But when I tried to login to http://keionline.org, I received this message:
Access Denied (content_filter_denied)

Your request was denied because this URL contains content that is categorized as: "Political/Activist Groups" which is blocked by USPTO policy. If you believe the categorization is inaccurate, please contact the USPTO Service Desk and request a manual review of the URL.

For assistance, contact USPTO OCIO IT Service Desk. (io-proxy4)

We checked and found that the USPTO blocks access to a number of groups that have followed SOPA and the TPP intellectual property negotiations, particularly those critical of the USPTO positions on intellectual property issues. Among the NGOs that were blocked were aclu.org<http://aclu.org>, cdt.org<http://cdt.org>, citizen.org<http://citizen.org>, eff.org<http://eff.org>, healthgap.org<http://healthgap.org>, keionline.org<http://keionline.org> and publicknowledge.org<http://publicknowledge.org>. Among the sites NOT BLOCKED were the industry lobby groups BSA, MPPA, RIIA, and PhRMA.

The USPTO also selectively blocks certain blogs and new sites, including, for example, dailykos.coms, firedoglake.com<http://firedoglake.com>, redstate.org<http://redstate.org>, rushlimbaugh.com<http://rushlimbaugh.com> and talkingpointsmemo.com<http://talkingpointsmemo.com>.,

Here are examples of what the USPTO blocks, and does not block.
Blocked NGOs

aclu.org<http://aclu.org>
cdt.org<http://cdt.org>
citizen.org<http://citizen.org>
eff.org<http://eff.org>
healthgap.org<http://healthgap.org>
keionline.org<http://keionline.org>
publicknowledge.org<http://publicknowledge.org>

NGOs that are NOT blocked

bsa.org<http://bsa.org>
creativecommons.org<http://creativecommons.org>
iipa.com<http://iipa.com>
iipi.org<http://iipi.org>
ipi.org<http://ipi.org>
mpaa.org<http://mpaa.org>
PhRMA.org
pubpat.org<http://pubpat.org>
RIIA.Org
stockholm-network.org<http://stockholm-network.org>

Blocked Blogs and news outlets

dailykos.coms
firedoglake.com<http://firedoglake.com>
redstate.org<http://redstate.org>
rushlimbaugh.com<http://rushlimbaugh.com>
talkingpointsmemo.com<http://talkingpointsmemo.com>

Blogs and new outlets that are NOT blocked

71patent.blogspot.com<http://71patent.blogspot.com>
aljazeera.com<http://aljazeera.com>
boingboing.net<http://boingboing.net>
dailycaller.com<http://dailycaller.com>
democracynow.org<http://democracynow.org>
drudgereport.com<http://drudgereport.com>
groklaw.net<http://groklaw.net>
huffingtonpost.com<http://huffingtonpost.com>
ip-watch.org<http://ip-watch.org>
itcblog.com<http://itcblog.com>
lessig.org<http://lessig.org>
michaelgeist.ca<http://michaelgeist.ca>
nationalreview.com<http://nationalreview.com>
spicyipindia.blogspot.com<http://spicyipindia.blogspot.com>
techdirt.com<http://techdirt.com>
washingtonmonthly.com<http://washingtonmonthly.com>


  *   James Love's blog<http://keionline.org/blog/jamie>
  *   Add new comment<http://keionline.org/comment/reply/1548#comment-form>
  *   Printer-friendly version<http://keionline.org/print/1548>
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Cause of foul up<http://keionline.org/node/1548#comment-7970>
Submitted by Anonymous dude or dudess on 19. September 2012 - 12:02.

'Ex-Patent Examiner here. If this was anything other than a contractor foul-up, I'll eat my hat. There were a dozen instances where I'd need to call the help desk to access a website that would enable me to do my job.' If true, this means no one at USPTO tried to access those sites and asked for the filter to be removed since it was implemented.

  *   reply<http://keionline.org/comment/reply/1548/7970>

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Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
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Suva
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Twitter: @SalanietaT
Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro
Fiji Cell: +679 998 2851




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