SOPA/PIPA: How Far We've Come; How Far We Need To Go
from the not-over-yet dept
On October 26th, I was flying from San Francisco to Washington DC to meet with folks in the House of Representatives to explain why they should be careful about making the same mistakes as the Senate with its anti-piracy bill, PROTECT IP (PIPA). We had been assured by Rep. Bob Goodlatte that Congress had heard the myriad complaints about PIPA and that the House version would take them into account. Instead, as the plane I was on flew over the Rocky Mountains, I started getting a flood of emails from people sending me the first release of the House's version of the bill, now known as SOPA (originally, the E-PARASITE bill, a name they dropped immediately when everyone started mocking it). Thanks to the wonderful innovation of WiFi-in-the-sky, I was able to sit in my cramped seat, read the bill, and write up my horrified post explaining just how much worse SOPA was than PIPA (an already disastrous bill).The next day, October 27th, a small group of entrepreneurs, investors, innovators and creators spent the day meeting with members of Congress to express our concerns about the bill (which we'd just seen the afternoon before), as well as the whole approach to the crafting of both bills. The one thing we heard over and over again that day: "well this is the first time we've heard anything about this from the internet community."
I think it's safe to say that's no longer the case.
As I type this, I'm taking that same flight, preparing for my debate tomorrow over these bills against an MPAA representative and a US Chamber of Commerce representative, I'm sitting in that same cramped seat (actually, I think I'm on the opposite side of the plane), and thinking just how far we've come in just three and a half months.
Make no mistake: when the Senate introduced PIPA in May, it was widely assumed that this bill, and any companion bill would sail through Congress easily. Sure, some "tech-friendly" officials may express some concerns, but, as one lobbyist told me directly, "no one takes you people seriously anyway." It was this kind of hubris that we saw throughout the year with these bills. We were told repeatedly to shut up and take it, because the bills were going to pass, Obama would sign them, and piracy would magically disappear.
Instead, a funny thing happened on the way to the death of the internet: the internet woke up. While folks online may be political, it's not often that they truly get activated over internet-related issues. But in an era of bottom-up movements facilitated online, the timing was absolutely right for the massive groundswell of support from all corners of the internet to suddenly speak out in near unison to say of these bills: DO NOT WANT.
Still more to do:
At this point, it's impossible to deny that we, as a group, have had an impact. Contrary to the claims of some of the bill's supporters, we showed that this isn't just a "Google" issue. This is an internet issue. And we care about the internet and we care about innovation, and we're not going to take it lightly when elected officials, who admit they don't understand the technology, come along to say they're going to mess with it, just because their biggest campaign donors don't want to adapt to these wonderful new innovations.
But, not everyone in Congress has an understanding of what's happening online. Even with Reps. and Senators backing away from the bills, and asking leadership to slow things down... and even with Rep. Smith and Senator Leahy trying to "delay" the DNS implementation in order to get the bills passed... some in Congress still think that the outcry is minor or limited or that it's all Google.
That's why Harry Reid intends to move forward with the bill, pretending that the complaints only come from Google and Facebook... and that they're minor and easily fixed with a couple of amendments. I believe he's misjudged the internet, just as many others in Congress have misjudged the internet over the last few months. The people speaking out are not just "Google and Facebook," and they're not just speaking out for the hell of it. They're seriously pissed off at Congress for even thinking of going down this path in the first place, and simply killing the bills is unlikely to get the people online back on their side.
But there's a bigger point in the "more to do" section of this post. This isn't about one bill. This isn't about one issue. This is about an entire process. This is about the public -- not the big corporations -- finally saying "enough is enough" and making Congress recognize that crony capitalism, where subsidies and protectionism are doled out willy nilly to favorite campaign contributors, is not acceptable to the people they're supposed to represent.
This is about recognizing that the internet and the massive amount new innovation and services -- and the worldwide ability to communicate with others -- is a game changing innovation for everyone. And we're going to work damn hard to make sure that it remains open and free.
But, to do that right, this is going to take much more than stopping one bill. This is going to take prolonged effort. This is going to take an ongoing effort to make it clear that no elected official can ever again feel comfortable bragging that they don't understand the internet, as they seek to regulate it. This is about making it 100% crystal clear to those who seek to clamp down on the true engine of free expression -- the internet -- that we, the people, aren't going to be fooled with bogus claims and bogus stats in an effort to limit this wonderful platform.
This isn't over yet -- not by a long shot. But just look at how far we've come in just three and a half months, and think what we'll do in the next few months -- and years -- ahead. These bills tried to kill the "internet as we know it." But, in some ways, these bills helped birth a new kind of internet: one that doesn't let Congress screw it up without taking action.
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Filed Under: activism, copyright, free speech, innovation, net roots, pipa, politics, protect ip, sopa, the internet
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This says it all ..
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Re: This says it all ..
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Now more and more people are becoming aware of these bills, and its supporters keep taking the blue pill.
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And I love than video clip.
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Re: This says it all ..
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That's right, lie.
You can't go online today without tripping over some lunkhead that thinks SOPA is going to destroy the internet.
Why? Simple. The tech industry knew the only way to stop the bill was to lie about it.
And so they did. A full on campaign trying to strike fear into the heart of every internet user. Fear is an effective propaganda tool. Ask Bush and Cheney. And Goering.
No one expected the "do no evil" crowd to be liars. But liars they are, and this time it worked.
Let's see what happens next time.
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Actually, I think all the extra spaces in darryl's comments come from constantly having to wipe the angry spittle from the keyboard.
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That's pretty groovy, dude.
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I am a lawyer, and I have had to read the bills several times, including their references to other sections of law, in order to achieve an understanding of how they are structured, what is their scope, why various provisions are viewed as important given limitations inherent in current law associated with foreign sites, how they relate to judicial precedent, etc. It is not an easy task to accomplish, and I rather doubt that most of their detractors have not undertaken such an effort.
Whether the bills in their current form or in amended form are eventually presented for a vote in the near term, I have no doubt that the issues they are intended to address will not go away and will eventually find their way into law.
If opponents of these or similar bills believe they can simply protest without offering up solutions they believe will address the issues, they will surely and eventually find themselves on the losing end of the debate.
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And I use "problem" loosely here since I don't even believe there is a problem to begin with.
Also I don't believe people need to give an alternative to anything, life is full of instances where there are no alternatives and people learn to live with it, trying to force American business to take in all the costs and risks for others so they don't have too doesn't really sounds like good legislation.
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Also economic activity will grow as any economist can tell you granted monopolies can only shrink that while causing sky rocketing price inflation and leaving a great part of the market undeserved by it.
If people are really serious about job creation they should be looking in the other direction and that is the end of granted monopolies.
Lets end copyrights forever.
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Strike everything in the USC 17 chapter 3 and replace it with:
Copyright shall last no longer than a minute.
That is it, there will be no more problems to deal with it, no more criminals, no more costly enforcement, no more abuse, no more threats to democracy itself, no more monopolies.
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True. that doesn't explain why you people lie about the people who oppose you, nor why you ignore the great number of alternative suggestions presented to you. try listening instead of attacking those who make such suggestions, then you might understand.
Try addressing the reality, not the fantasy world you have fashioned for yourself, then maybe we'll get somewhere.
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Repeal the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
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Just go away.
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An Alternative
1. Remove money from politics. No more contributions, no more lobbyists, no more corruption.
2. Make ALL congressional business public. No more secret meetings and deal brokering.
3. End copyright and patents. Let the creators compete, and let the marketplace decide.
4. Make 10-15 be the minimum number of companies in EVERY market be the rule for antitrust.\
5. Have any corporation that sues another post a bond of 1.5 times their claim, which will go to the winner, plus court costs and ALL expenses.
6. Disallow End User License Agreements. Make all sales, sales with the right of resale, even in software.
There's a start. You would lose your job, but why should we give a damn about that.
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The last thing we need now is more IP expansion (or enforcement). We need to substantially retract these laws.
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I do think some IP, if used correctly, can be a good thing. But our current system is an abuse to humanity and needs serious reform to say the least. and abolition is also something I'm willing to support.
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I think copyright as a general concept can still serve a useful purpose in current and future society, but the current laws are both grossly distorted by corporate interests and simply not feasible in many cases due to changing technology and the general lack of technical competence by lawmakers. While there are many, many wealthy and powerful people that would like to believe it can, no amount of legislative requirements can make the impossible possible.
Given the state of current copyright laws, it might indeed be easier to simply abolish the current laws and write new ones from scratch. But I think the complete absence of copyright would be a change for the worse.
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Nobody else inside society gets a monopoly on anything, why should anyone get that for whatever reason?
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Preferably at 15 years of opt-out-able copyrights, after those 15 years, you can extend it by 5 years at a cost (increasing each term), giving the content creator an incentive to sell the work.
Also, copyright should no longer be transferable, copyright holders are the content creators.
Copyright should not be used as a welfare state.
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The idea may be noble, but as proven again in history once you give it a try monopolies becomes irresistible and grow, and grow and grow.
It has become a threat to democracy and so should end.
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The proposed bills are separate and distinct from the DMCA and do not abrogate its safe harbor provisions. They remain unchanged. Moreover, the DMCA does not have extra-territorial effect. While some foreign service providers have adopted some DMCA practices on a voluntary basis, if such providers choose not to do so there is nothing that can be done against them under the DMCA.
Perfect 10 was about the applicability of secondary liability. The pending bills do nothing to change what comprises secondary liability.
The USG does not need to consider defenses should these bills or others like them become part of the corpus of US criminal law. Thusly, I do agree with the statement attributed to the DOJ.
Injunctions are the province of the judiciary and are governed by both statutory law and the federal rules of procedure defining how actions must proceed before our courts. Nothing in these pending bills changes these, and it is important to note that current law does provide circumstances where it is appropriate to post bonds for the reasons you mention.
Economy of time prevents me from commenting on your other comments, but suffice it to say that in my opinion prima facie requirements for the government to the able to make its case and prevail are quite detailed and extensive.
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"Quite candidly, most of the so-called "debunking" you speak of has been based upon perception of the bills, and not upon what they actually say."
Quite candidly, what a load of shit. We have seen the way they are written along with current poorly written laws and the way they are currently abused. Nice try though.
I am a lawyer - I know wayyyyy more than you laypeople will ever understand. /s
"If opponents of these or similar bills believe they can simply protest without offering up solutions" As I read this all I pictured was an ostrich with its head in the sand.
No solutions as if to say We're gonna pass something damn it.
"and not upon what they actually say."
Funny guy.
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"Let's see what happens next time."
Sure lets see what happens. This time you pushed, we pushed back. What I got out of this is 200 links to people fighting this legislation.
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What we just witnessed was, metaphorically speaking, a group of media industry regulars (soldiers) getting beaten back by an overwhelming flash mob (and indeed the mob was composed more of citizens than tech companies). The next move is obvious: the media industry will send in the Seal 6 team and military technology worth more than many small countries.
Remember, we won't even be able to find out who is participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation until well after it's passed into law, and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was approved in the EU while debating agriculture and fisheries laws. That's how the pros (media industry) get it done, boy.
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Things are changing and politicians should be worried. "Oh they will forget about this before the next election" no longer holds true. With SOPA and PIPA we are seeing the birth of the American pirate party. Over the past year we have seen the Arab spring, anonymous, politicians back peddling on SOPA, and it is only going to grow and expand. People are sick of crony capitalism, corporations paying for laws, monopoly medicine prices, and getting felt up every time they go to the airport.
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The internet has a memory.
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Every push will get us more organized. We will react faster each time. We will grow, we will expand, and we will squash you.
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He'll run away from any argument he thinks he cant win (read, any argument).
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Breaking News!!!
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Re: Breaking News!!!
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Re: Breaking News!!!
the drooling idiot in a corner doesn't interest me. EPIC FAIL as a reality show.
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Instead, all you have to offer is "You're lying"...and that's it. Without a frame of reference or some context, what you wrote is completely meaningless.
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It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
All warfare is based on deception.
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Although for memorable quotes relevant to this discussion, I also think this is appropriate:
There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.
They steamrolled us, repeatedly. They tried over and over to squelch us. This is now beginning to fail, and now they've begun to awake a sleeping beast; The entire infrastructure that they depend on beginning to decide to cave from under them.
I praise those who take non-violent measures to see themselves heard. They are doing things I no longer can dream to do. I myself will no longer sit back to continue to see this happen, and have begun to pursue means of doing what we must to bring this chaos to a close.
Once again, we see that even with our first victory, they continue to attempt to battle us. Perhaps it's time some minority of us begin to put together a way to bring these criminals to jail.
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You'll lie some more about the opposition to your lies. What's the news, Lamar?
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No one expected the "do no evil" crowd to be liars. But liars they are, and this time it worked.
Let's see what happens next time.
You remind me of someone ... now who was it?
Ah yes I remember now - I think they called him "Comical Ali".
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Re: Oh what Arrogance
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Darkness
Now only the Internet could cut the power to Washington and their back-up generators.
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Re: Darkness
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No Soup for You.
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Wow
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Re: Wow
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@ Mike
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This is not a new idea. Thomas Jefferson said as much more than 200 years ago.
We are lucky to live in times when rebellion may be accomplished without violence. But make no mistake, the type of changes required are rebellion in civilized clothing. Solving our problems requires imposing our will on the government. We are not dealing with a few isolated instances of corruption. The taint of corruption permeates the government. Naked corruption has become so commonplace the powerful feel secure flaunting their misconduct and contempt for the people in full public view.
Corporate executives run companies into the ground with no real fear of the consequences. If there's a government regulation they want or don't want, or maybe just a subsidy to keep their books in the black, it's off to the first bank of Congress to make a deposit and drop off a bill. Or maybe the White House with a satchel of cash and the details of an untested, unreliable, unnecessary product some government agency could really benefit from.
Whatever damage gets done to their employees, or customers, or shareholder, or the whole damn economy gets passed on to the rest of us. Maybe we're paying unemployment for all the jobs they destroyed, or maybe it's housing subsidies for the employees and retirees whose pensions they looted. But you can bet they'll have the audacity to lecture us later about how guilty we should feel for asking them to pay a higher tax rate on their hard earned money. And Congress will react by holding out the tip jar.
The Democrats did not do this. The Republicans did not do this. They all did it, and by allowing them to do it, the people were accomplices. In a democracy it is your responsibility to police the government. If you see the broken system and do nothing, you're part of the problem. Stop being part of the problem. It's time to stand up and say, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!"
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Nice theory. (And I agree with you—in theory!)
But citizens do not have either the time nor energy to really understand what the government is up to. And even when they do, they generally lack the resources to effectively alter the government's course. Of course there are isolated cases where citizens do acquire knowledge and then organize to act decisively—but they're isolated cases, demonstrating the massive effort needed. As a general formula for governance, it doesn't work.
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Congressional approval is about 10% right now. It's not because the system is working. People can sense that it's not working.
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Americans used to have a world-wide reputation as “a practical people”. That seems to have gone out of vogue, sometime even before Americans quit saying, “It's a free country.”
In a practical occupation, you do not repair a system by blaming components for failing to live up to theory. For a mechanic, an engineer, anyone who works with physically-realizable systems, that approach is a fucking disaster.
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Freetards taking undue credit!
http://www.redstate.com/neil_stevens/2012/01/16/tech-at-night-eric-cantor-sopas-dead/
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Re: Freetards taking undue credit!
Of course some have pointed out that they may just try to pass SOPA et al again after the election is over and their jobs are, for the moment, secure. This strikes me as entirely plausible.
I wonder if Prozac (or something similar) would make the real world less depressing.
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Re: Freetards taking undue credit!
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Re: Freetards taking undue credit!
http://www.redstate.com/neil_stevens/2012/01/18/sopa-and-protect-ippipa-an-update/
I think they really believe their own BS.
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The Chinese great firewall is only bypassed by 250 million people daily or 50% of the users in 2011 with a growth rate of 10% per year.
Quote:
Source: Physorg: China's Internet population tops 500 million by Marianne Barriaux January 16, 2012
50% of people defy a government that routinely kills people for less.
The Chinese great firewall may be the biggest illusion on earth today.
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SOPA is a Red Herring
http://blog.curry.com/stories/2012/01/16/sopaIsARedHerring.html
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Re: SOPA is a Red Herring
That shell corporation's Swedish secretary set it up. She doesn't have access to the code anymore, never met anyone involved directly, and they have since let her go.
The shell corporation is shocked, shocked, that the whois is now out of date. I'm sure they will fix it soon.
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WTF!!!
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Re: WTF!!!
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Next Time
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Re: Sliding it back in under an unrelated
If we have enough people in our corner, why not try to drive all the supporters OUT of office. I realize that I'm creating a monumental task here, but even if only a few witches were driven out of Salem, it would send a shock wave through the "good ole boys" community. It would of coarse require the people in the states / districts of these offenders to take up against them, and even if it failed, it would set a framework for the move against them.
I believe that the key right now is for some of us with time to spare to pay as close of attention to what congress is up to. Pay close attention to EVERY bill meandering through those jaded halls, and reading the fine print between the lines of every sub page. We all know that these weasels like to push "Sheep's Clothing" bills with the wolves at full attention under the clothes.
The next generation of SOPA/PIPA will most likely be a subpage under some new "jobs act" or something of that nature. They will try to sneak it through without us having time to respond to it. It will most likely be an 11th hour add-on to some bill about to pass congress. This is where we need to be watching. There would be fewer supporters of the next bill if we could find a way to drive a few of the current supporters out of office now. (*next election ) Perhaps naming the local congressional supporters (of PIPA/SOPA) in their home districts before the next election would be a good reminder to the people of who they DON"T want to vote for. Don't the voters forget.
Personally, I would love to learn how to see these bills currently, all of them, not just the current "kill the Internet" bills. We all need to support our rights while we still have them. If either of these diseased bills pass, then our freedom of press has been vanquished already, since our sites can be pulled down on a whim, without due process.
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Seriously, if you can't produce something, or make your money without illegally piggybacking on someone elses work, find a new business model.
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Re: Re: Re: Sliding it back in under an unrelated
Do you have anything other than playground tactics?
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Thanks for all of your intelligent contributions.
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FTFY.
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Re: Re: Sliding it back in under an unrelated
Look at the story so far: Senate proposes COICA, it fails. Senate proposes PIPA, pending with strong opposition. House proposes SOPA, down in flames.
Ron Wyden blocks PIPA, says "filibuster". Looks like hero. Positioned as tech's "friend" in Washington. (If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.) Senator Wyden proposes "OPEN". Catchy acronym to appeal to "open source" crowd. Did I mention that Sen. Wyden is tech's friend? Sen. Wyden is a HERO!
Guesstimated outcome: OPEN becomes basis for "compromise". Hollywood gets some —but not all— of what it wants. So-called "compromise" is 100% take and no give. Copyright continues to ratchet: Always tightening, never loosening. Copyright enforcers get "new tools": A bigger wrench! More torque!
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OOOPS
"it would set a framework for the NEXT move against them.
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Not a lot of work-money
The fact is that they will get this done in one way or another-they passed the Patriot Act despite a huge outcry about it, and they started 2 wars without heeding the voices of reason against them. Didn't seem to matter that people were protesting against these and other matters.
Yes, we can do all we can to stop this. That doesn't mean it will matter in the long run, because the money invested in the opposition is far greater than our collective yelling-and closer to hand for Congress to understand.
It's inevitable that it will come to pass, because there's just too much money involved to have nothing done. To hell with individual rights.
Ask the Supreme Court about that. They ruled that corporations are people.
Sorry to be so pessimistic, but the fact is that we really don't matter to the congresscritters that much unless it comes to voting them back into office. Then they'll promise the moon, sun and heaven on earth to get us to vote for them.
People have short memories. This too will pass.
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Re: Not a lot of work-money
I still remember sitting in an auditorium, in an engineering class, listening to the professor distinguish between: "Memoryless systems" and "Systems with memory."
That was around the same time I first heard the saying, "The internet has a memory."
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I can make internet piracy into a business
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you're damned right that killing SOPA isn't enough
Most of all, I want to Roll back IP!
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Horrendous bills
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Co-Author of PIPA
Hatch would blow up computers without due process.
He's also taking tens of thousands of dollars to push these through Congress: http://blog.experts-exchange.com/ee-tech-news/sopa-update-blackouts-pacs-and-a-little-bit-of-irony/
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Big Corporations?
THey do it for YOU you IDIOT, not for me (cos they aint got me vote)
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Actually, it IS a Google issue.
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Re: Actually, it IS a Google issue.
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