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

Thu Sep 20 21:48:55 UTC 2012

On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 9:35 AM, Carlton Samuels
<carlton.samuels at gmail.com>wrote:

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

For one thing, the US Department of Commerce oversees the US PTO and IANA.
This does nothing to generate confidence. I hope that ICANN General
Counsels are monitoring the same.

>
> ==============================
> 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>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> >
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> lac-discuss-en mailing list
>>>>> lac-discuss-en at atlarge-lists.icann.org
>>>>> https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/lac-discuss-en
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

-- 
Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
P.O. Box 17862
Suva
Fiji

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