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Originally Posted by stonetools
Under international law, governments, given enabling legislation, can take action against criminal activity that strikes at targets within that nation's borders. The USA isn't alone in this.
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Government's by their nature have the power to enact so-called "extra-territorial" legislation, whether or not it is aimed at criminal activity and whether or not it takes place inside their borders. They also have the power in many countries to make retrospective legislation. Such legislation is usually ineffective, unfair and dangerous, and often not enforceable. Countries value their sovereignty, often to the point of fighting for it. Many relations between countries are founded on the principle of reciprocity.
Where the USA is unique at the moment is in its ability to inconvenience internet users around the world with this proposed legislation which will not work. Already the so-called technologists are working on a number of alternative DNS type systems.
I would recommend reading the thread on US Publishing and Piracy on this forum. The US publishing industry was built on piracy, and in particular the failure to respect European and in particular British copyrights. Much as modern China has not been too concerned to date with enforcing intellectual property laws, as it is in China's interest not to do so. The US is now a strong proponent of copyright simply because it is in the interests of the US to do so, given the strong position of Hollywood in movies and the division of the world book markets between US and British publishers. As China comes to hold more intellectual property it too will no doubt start enforcing such laws.
The publishers are like water selling corporations in a country where changing weather patterns have lead to frequent rain, lobbying government to legislate to preserve their monopolies whilst water is falling from the sky! Any such legislation would be not only unworkable but draconian. And, like publishing, everyone will likely be better off under the new model except the vested interests.
We in the rest of the world are fortunate indeed that the US, despite it's shortcomings, remains a great democracy and their government still sometimes responds to the wishes of its people in preference to preserving a few vested interests at great cost.