[lac-discuss-en] [At-Large] US PTO Blocks Access to Certain Websites

Carlton Samuels carlton.samuels at gmail.com
Thu Sep 20 21:35:35 UTC 2012


Exactly!   Expect now to be told this is a routine disclaimer, it means
nothing in context.

- Carlton

==============================
Carlton A Samuels
Mobile: 876-818-1799
*Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround*
=============================


On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 4:30 PM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro <
salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com> wrote:

> Actually, if we look at the response that James Love got when he was
> blocked, it says that he was blocked according to the US PTO Policy. I
> would also love to see the Policy. The fact that they were blocked because
> of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement negotiations is very very very
> telling.
>
> Yes, they may have lifted it - but the question is WHY DID THEY DO IT in
> the first place?
>
> I have highlighted the relevant bits.
>
>
>
>>>>
>>>> *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, cdt.org,
>>>> citizen.org
>>>>  , eff.org, healthgap.org, keionline.org andpublicknowledge.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, redstate.org,
>>>> rushlimbaugh.com
>>>>  andtalkingpointsmemo.com.,
>>>>
>>>> Here are examples of what the USPTO blocks, and does not block.
>>>> *Blocked NGOs* aclu.org
>>>>
>>>> cdt.org
>>>> citizen.org
>>>> eff.org
>>>> healthgap.org
>>>> keionline.org
>>>> publicknowledge.org*NGOs that are NOT blocked* bsa.org
>>>>
>>>> creativecommons.org
>>>> iipa.com
>>>> iipi.org
>>>> ipi.org
>>>> mpaa.org
>>>> PhRMA.org
>>>> pubpat.org
>>>> RIIA.Org
>>>> stockholm-network.org *Blocked Blogs and news outlets*dailykos.coms
>>>> firedoglake.com
>>>> redstate.org
>>>> rushlimbaugh.com
>>>> talkingpointsmemo.com *Blogs and new outlets that are NOT blocked*
>>>>
>>>> 71patent.blogspot.com
>>>> aljazeera.com
>>>> boingboing.net
>>>> dailycaller.com
>>>> democracynow.org
>>>> drudgereport.com
>>>> groklaw.net
>>>> huffingtonpost.com
>>>> ip-watch.org
>>>> itcblog.com
>>>> lessig.org
>>>> michaelgeist.ca
>>>> nationalreview.com
>>>> spicyipindia.blogspot.com
>>>> techdirt.com
>>>> 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>
>>>>    - Send by email <http://keionline.org/printmail/1548>
>>>>
>>>> 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
>> P.O. Box 17862
>> Suva
>> Fiji
>>
>> Twitter: @SalanietaT
>> Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro
>> Fiji Cell: +679 998 2851
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
> P.O. Box 17862
> Suva
> Fiji
>
> Twitter: @SalanietaT
> Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro
> Fiji Cell: +679 998 2851
>
>
>
>
>


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