More And More Internet Infrastructure Players Coming Out To Say How Bad SOPA/PIPA Are

Prominent Rightwing Blogger Promises To Work Hard To Defeat Any Rightwing SOPA Supporters In Congress

from the good-for-him,-how-about-the-left? dept

Fri, Dec 23rd 2011 12:03pm — Mike Masnick

One of the more interesting things about the whole SOPA/PIPA debate (and, as I've pointed out for many years, about any of the intellectual property policy fights) is how non-partisan they are. In fact, I think it's important that they're non-partisan, because when things become partisan, they become... well... silly (on both sides). SOPA/PIPA supporters keep touting how their bills have "bi-partisan" support, but I'd argue what's much more powerful is how the growing movement protesting these bills is almost entirely non-partisan. There are tons of people all over the political spectrum protesting, and none of the discussion has been about broad political philosophies or major party talking points. They've all been about the specific issues with the bill.

And that's creating some interesting opposition that may start to wake up Congress. We've definitely seen people associated with both ends of the political spectrum come out against the bills. For example, how often do you see Nancy Pelosi and Darrell Issa agree on something? We've also seen some prominent Tea Party groups, like the Tea Party Patriots, as well as prominent "left" movements/sites like MoveOn and DailyKos come out against the bill.

Now, Erick Erickson, the guy behind the rightwing site RedState, has said that not only is he against SOPA, but that he will do everything in his power to defeat any Republican who co-sponsors the bill. And he challenges people on the left to do the same with Democratic co-sponsors:

A fund should be created and the left should go out and find candidates to take on the Democrat sponsors. The right should go out and find candidates to take on the Republican sponsors.... The money should then be used to fund the primary challenges against the incumbent sponsors of SOPA. Let the right vet and direct the funding on the right so no one thinks the left is trying to pick the challenger and vice-versa on the left.

He even admits that this might take out some politicians he really likes and supports, such as Rep. Marsha Blackburn (whose hypocrisy on the topic of regulating the internet, we've discussed in the past). As Erickson says:

Killing SOPA is that important.

So important that it's worth campaigning and sending funds against candidates you otherwise agree with.

For a few months now, we'd been warning SOPA/PIPA supporters that this was going to become an election issue. It appears that's starting in earnest, and it's not going to look good for such supporters. And this truly is a non-partisan issue. Rather than this being about some concept of "left vs. right" or Rs vs. Ds, it's about those who understand the internet vs. those who don't understand or are afraid of the internet and wish to control that which they fear. And that's why SOPA and PIPA are becoming toxic politically for their supporters. There are a lot more people who actually do get this stuff out there than are in Congress. And they're starting to speak out as they realize just how big an issue this is.

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Filed Under: bi-partisan, erick erickson, free speech, left wing, non-partisan, pipa, protect ip, right wing, sopa
Companies: redstate

28 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:15pm

Yup, it's about "grifters" and "non-grifters". It's about websites and companies who based their business model on taking advantage of safe harbors, on taking advantage of actual IP producers, and such.

The R's and the D's pretty much agree on this one: IP is important the US future, and letting the grifters screw us out of that future is something to stand up against, no matter how hard they push and how hard they threaten people's livelihoods and careers.
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Spaceman Spiff, 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:17pm

Kudos to Mike!
Mike, you have been just such a rock during all of this SOPA/PIPA kerfuffle that if you were running for Congress in my district (District 14, Illinois), I'd vote for you in a flash!
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MAJikMARCer (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:17pm

I have to admit this whole thing was starting to get me pretty down but it's good to see that the PEOPLE still DO have a voice.
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MAJikMARCer (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:22pm

Re:
Hey no one said you can stand against piracy, but don't break the Constitution and/or other peoples rights to do it.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:23pm

Re:
"IP is important the US future"

So is communication. Lrn 2 rite, Kaptin Speling....
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el_segfaulto (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:27pm

Re:
I agree completely! The "content creators" have been ripping off the public domain for far too long without giving anything back. They depend on safe harbors and taking advantage of actual IP producers.

So, now that we've discussed the **AA business models, when are we going to discuss the internet companies?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:28pm

Re:
Using the word "grifter" outside of a cretin online gaming context is erroneous. Please look it up the word on Wikipedia.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:29pm

Re:
Excellent trolling. Though you forgot to add /troll or /sarc to it. Else people will start to think you believe what you are saying.
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fogbugzd (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:32pm

SOPA may turn out to be a watershed in American government no matter how it turns out.

Special interest groups have taken over the US government. Most people simply accept that as a given. Any pretense that Congress represents the people is gone.

If SOPA passes it establishes that special interests officially own the government. Schools might as well stop wasting time teaching about things like the Bill of Rights because they can be subverted at the whim of special interests. The schools can use the time they used to use to talk about freedom to implement MPAA/RIAA sponsored curriculum for the next few years, then move on to whatever special interest takes over after them.

On the other hand if SOPA is defeated it shows that there is still some hope. The anti-SOPA effort has awaken some sleeping giants, and just defeating SOPA/PIPA may not be the end of the story.

If nothing else, I hope that a lot of businesses have learned a hard lesson in signing generic letters of support on issues. Organizations that found their names on the SOPA supporters list have learned that signing generic letters of support can be as foolish as signing blank checks.
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Rikuo (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:34pm

Re: Kudos to Mike!
I'd vote for him, and I'm not even a US citizen. Mike for Prez!
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:39pm

Re: Re:
Please explain "ripping off the public domain"? How can you rip off something that is in the public domain? If it is in the public domain, it is in there public domain.

The **AAs don't depend on safe harbors to rip people off. Talk about bullshit. [citation needed] (and no, techdirt isn't citation, it's an opinion blog).
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Jeff McHugh, 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:52pm

Re:
Sorry AC, but that type of rhetoric just doesn't work anymore. It's clearly not about "grifters" and "non-grifters".
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anonymous, 23 Dec 2011 @ 12:58pm

i know there are some very intelligent and extremely knowledgeable people post here on Techdirt. i wonder if anyone has ever put together a list of the Bills/Laws that have been introduced/amended under the guise of protecting artists/companies/consumers/the economy when in actual fact everything has been done with the sole intention of protecting only the big corporations like the entertainment industries and pharma companies etc. things like always condemning the latest technology, extending copyright terms, putting more under copyright, ACTA, The Patriot Act etc etc. up to SOPA. how these things have been forced on other countries under threat of sanctions or similar if not implemented. anyone able to produce that list? would make interesting reading, i bet!
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Atkray (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 1:06pm

Re: Re: Re:
Life + 70 instead of 14 years is ripping off the public domain.
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Richard (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 1:17pm

Re:
Yup, it's about "grifters" and "non-grifters". It's about websites and companies who based their business model on taking advantage of safe harbors, on taking advantage of actual IP producers, and such.

The R's and the D's pretty much agree on this one: IP is important the US future, and letting the grifters screw us out of that future is something to stand up against, no matter how hard they push and how hard they threaten people's livelihoods and careers.

In a related development light is the result of a disturbance in a mysterious substance called the ether, heat is the result of the presence of a fluid called Phlogiston and the Earth travels around the Sun.
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Jay (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 1:17pm

Re: Re: Re:
Please explain "ripping off the public domain"? How can you rip off something that is in the public domain?

Compare the different versions of Disney movies that can come out because of copyright laws when compared to folktales based on Grimm's fairy tales. The public domain got screwed.

The **AAs don't depend on safe harbors to rip people off.

Right. Because they download movies and music that's not theirs all the time. Gotcha.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2011 @ 1:24pm

Re: Re:
Grifter means confidence man. I'm not sure what you think the OP meant with the word, but the word existed long before online gaming.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2011 @ 2:29pm

Re: Re: Re:
That's what happens when you give the dead more rights than the living. And for such a long time, too! Oh well, I suppose the public domain should just stop growing anyway.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2011 @ 3:05pm

Re: Re: Re:
"Please explain "ripping off the public domain"? "

here's a quick example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKPBtZ0Zzok
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mickeywhite, 23 Dec 2011 @ 3:13pm

Why does Marsha Want Congress to Regulate the Internet? Why not just say NO FEDERAL branch (the FCC and congress and the federal courts included) has any authority to decide or rule on any aspect concerning the Internet?

BUT Marsha Blackburn did Vote FOR: Patriot Act Reauthorization, Electronic Surveillance, Funding the REAL ID Act (National ID), Foreign Intelligence Surveillance, Thought Crimes �Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, Warrantless Searches, Employee Verification Program, Body Imaging Screening, Patriot Act extension; and only NOW she is worried about free speech, privacy, and government take over of the internet?

Marsha Blackburn is my Congressman.
See her �blatantly unconstitutional� votes at :
http://mickeywhite.blogspot.com/2009/09/tn-congressman-marsha-blackburn-votes.html
Mickey
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TtfnJohn (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 3:43pm

Re:
I'd describe Erick Erickson as a lot of uncomplimentary things but "grifter" has never been one of them.

Ahhhh, did you read who Mike is referring to or just hit some script button you have for autoposting on techdirt? (And reddit and slashdot and others, I'm sure.)

Then there's few large herds of D's and R's who oppose this stupidity.

Are you afraid your "sure deal", "done thing" and "mission accomplished" statements were just a teeny weeny bit premature so you're reaching into the bottom of the barrel to see if there's anything there?

I do think you're a troll. Sadly, I am sure you believe this utter tripe.
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Hephaestus (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 5:34pm

Re:
LOL, IP is only important to US corporations. Setting up and artificial ever expanding set of IP rules is what is dangerous to the US as a whole. If the corporations fail the guy in the garage will come and replace him. Nature and business abhor a vacuum.
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ahow628 (profile), 23 Dec 2011 @ 8:08pm

Mike Pence
Mike Pence is the congressman of the district next to mine but is on the Judiciary Committee. I sent him a comprehensive email about the damage SOPA is about to do to the internet and freedom of speech. I received back what I assume to be a form letter telling me that having strong IP laws is essential, blah, blah, blah.

I sent him a second email stating that if I find out he voted for SOPA in either the committee or the general vote, I will personally campaign against him whether he runs for his seat again or, more likely, runs for Indiana governor. Please Pence, don't be a douchenozzle.
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btr1701, 23 Dec 2011 @ 8:25pm

Re:
> It's about websites and companies who based their business
> model on taking advantage of safe harbors

So... the law allows for safe harbors, but it's inappropriate for anyone to actually use them.

Gotcha.
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Chris (profile), 24 Dec 2011 @ 1:10am

Re: Re: Re:
Google Disney's extension of copyright on a certain mouse.

It should have been public domain by now. Learn your history.

Corporations have been stealing from the public for the last 40 years by repeatedly extending copyright. Now the shoe is on the other foot and the only defense is ad-hominy attacks.
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Loki, 24 Dec 2011 @ 5:35am

Re:
Tell you what, when you roll back copyright to it's original 14 years then we'll be ready to talk. Until then, what you have to say about copyright means less than nothing. Life + 50 years says to me "I'm to lazy to do any real work". Go get a job, lazy bones.
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Loki, 24 Dec 2011 @ 5:47am

Re: Re: Re:
Really? Extending copyright by a good 100 years or more isn't ripping off the public domain? Extending copyright into areas it was never intended for isn't ripping off the public domain? Retroactively removing content that had already fallen into the public domain back under copyright isn't ripping off the public domain?
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 24 Dec 2011 @ 11:25am

Re:
It's not a R's vs D's, a Left vs Right issue.

I agree that it is a Congresscritter vs The Public issue. The Public, being the ones being fucked over by this law, and the Congresscritter, being the one that is being paid off to pass this law.
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