Threats to the Open Net: May 27, 2011

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* The US Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously this week to approve the Protect IP Act, which would allow the Department of Justice to seek court orders against website that infringe copyright and require search engines, ISPs, and others to block or take down infringing content. Hacker group Anonymous has responded to the bill by launching a DDoS attack against the US Chamber of Commerce and threatening action against the RIAA and MPAA.

* A group of activists has filed a lawsuit against Chinese search engine Baidu and the Chinese government itself, alleging that Internet censorship in China violates the US constitution. A second lawsuit, filed by members of the Falun Gong movement, accuses Cisco of customizing its software to help the Chinese government track Falun Gong members.

* New plans for mandatory Internet filtering in Turkey, under which all Internet users would be required to choose one of four filtering plans from their ISPs, sparked protests in over 30 cities around the country. The proposed filtering plans follow a ban on over 100 words online, including "girl," "overweight," and "hot." A member of the European Parliament has called for the European Commission to investigate the issue.