It's Baaaaaaaaack: Lamar Smith Says SOPA Markup To Resume In February

from the bill's-not-dead-yet dept

Tue, Jan 17th 2012 1:00pm — Mike Masnick

For all the talk from some that SOPA was "dead," it appears it's alive and well and getting ready for its big re-entrance. Lamar Smith has just sent out a press release saying that he intends to resume the markup in February:

Stop Online Piracy Act Markup to Resume in February

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today said that he expects the Committee to continue its markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act in February.

Chairman Smith: "To enact legislation that protects consumers, businesses and jobs from foreign thieves who steal America's intellectual property, we will continue to bring together industry representatives and Members to find ways to combat online piracy.

"Due to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks, markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act is expected to resume in February.

"I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that saves American jobs and protects intellectual property."

There had been some talk that, due to Rep. Eric Cantor telling Rep. Darrell Issa that he would not take it to the floor, the bill was "dead." But, we knew all along it was only "delayed." Especially given the Senate's planned vote next week. This really is zombie legislation. It will not die... because some businesses that don't want to adapt want to make sure it never dies.

All the more reason to make your calls to Congress really count tomorrow.

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Filed Under: lamar smith, markup, pipa, protect ip, sopa, zombie legilsation

57 Comments

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blaktron (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:05pm

Piracy was originally defined as an aggressive attack against a shipping lane.

Since the internet is the 'shipping lane' of the 21st century, and PIPA/SOPA attack its foundation, then both PIPA and SOPA would technically be acts of piracy.

Blows your mind doesnt it?
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Matthew A. Sawtell, 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:06pm

Was anyone who watches the beltway surprised?
Good explantion about what to expect was done by David Gewirtz at ZDNet:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/government/5-reasons-why-sopa-protect-ip-and-other-legislative-i diocy-will-never-die/11087

If there is money to be raised for a campaign, there are politicans willing to 'work hard for the money'.
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weneedhelp (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:10pm

Overkill anyone?
money hungry, power thirsty, penny piching, fear inflicting
double crossing, back stabbing, promising eternity for a price suckin', brain washing, mind raping, soul stealing
constant preaching, salvation reaching
lowest form of human, fucking life
evil never dies!!!!
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Chris Rhodes (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:11pm

What Will Really Happen
Now that we've called their bluff and gotten it on the front page, so to speak, they will simply shelve it for a bit, and the bring it back as an attachment to a bill that would be politically damaging for most representatives to oppose, such as more funding for injured veterans.
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Machin Shin (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:18pm

Re: What Will Really Happen
Once again I find myself looking for a "sad but true" button.
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Kevin H (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:21pm

Re: What Will Really Happen
Its so sad that, that is so true.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:25pm

Re: What Will Really Happen
You left out "rename the roller-coaster and paint it a different color" but yeah, totally.

Wait.. I'm thinking of rollercoaster tycoon.

Same deal, really.
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Someantimalwareguy (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:26pm

Re: Overkill anyone?
money hungry, power thirsty, penny piching, fear inflicting
double crossing, back stabbing, promising eternity for a price suckin', brain washing, mind raping, soul stealing
constant preaching, salvation reaching
lowest form of human, fucking life
evil never dies!!!!
Come on man! Don't hold back...really tell us how you feel.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:29pm

You should give the Ars Technica article a read.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/reeling-mpaa-declares-dns-filtering-off-the-t able.ars

I find it quite disturbing that an MPAA spokesman tells the press what will or will not be in legislation, and they're not even trying to be sneaky about it.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:31pm

Overall, this is a horrible war of attrition...except you can never regain lost ground :_(
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:32pm

Re: Sneak Suit
They don't need to be sneaky--there aren't enough people paying attention to matter.

Lately there's really hardly any secrets--just stuff which is severely under-reported. All the under-handed crap is right out there in the open, just not publicised.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:36pm

Well, we knew he would not give up easily: Beter to crush every chance of that bill from reviving and estuff.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 1:49pm

Wow, they suck at strategy
With tomorrow's impending mass blackout, I was expecting them to say "look, people are overreacting, SOPA has already been killed", to try to take out a bit of the blackout's effect. Some people could even not bother blacking out their websites.

And now they do this. With only a few hours left before the mass blackout starts.

Are they stupid?

Not only it completely kills any attempt at diverting the public's attention by saying SOPA is dead (ignoring PIPA, but "the public" would not know there are two of them), but also it will probably strengthen the resolve of those of us protesting these laws. This announcement seems to have been timed for maximum effect in helping the opposition to SOPA.
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ShellMG, 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:00pm

Re:
They've gotten away with it before, why not now?

Oh...wait...there's that internet-tube-thingy that people use to communicate now.
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Keroberos (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:05pm

Chairman Smith: "To enact legislation that protects Hollywood businesses from consumers, and my future job a a industry lobbyist from innovators who create new ways to distribute America's intellectual property in ways that consumers want, we will continue to bring together Hollywood representatives and Members to find ways to combat online innovation.

There, fixed that for him.
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Trerro, 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:16pm

So.. how exactly DO we stop this?
So, they're going to wait a few months until we're not paying attention, then tack it on as an amendment to the Bill Urging Laughing Lunatics to Stop Harming Infants and Toddlers.

So... how do we actually stop this for real, instead of just getting it passed behind our backs. The old "fire them if they pass it" line doesn't work, because Hollywood will give them all "executive" jobs where they're paid millions/year to do nothing after they're removed from office, and they have plenty of money to do this with the next 10 or so waves of senators to make sure it's not overturned. There's a one-word term for this - bribery - but they'll of course never be charged.
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gorehound (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:17pm

Re: Was anyone who watches the beltway surprised?
Great Article and thank you for sharing.
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gorehound (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:23pm

Re: So.. how exactly DO we stop this?
You do not want to know how to stop this as you will not like the solution or possible solution/solutions

1.Total boycott of all things Big Content.That means you cancel cable,netflix,Amz,Itunes,buying new products,etc.
I am already doing this and I swear Big Content is never getting my wallet again
2.Outright Revolution
Might be that is the way to go as the more you look at it the worst it gets.Corruption won't end nor will these asshole lobbyists.And with every few years that goes by we just keep losing more and more rights until We Are our Worst Nightmares.
3.March on Washington by the Millions and stand together
Millions literally all March on Washington and bring the place to a standstill.Refuse to leave and make them arrest you by the millions or something like that.
4.Pull any of your Investments if they are in Big Contnet out and put them in another Market ?

Anyone got more ideas ?
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Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:37pm

"To enact legislation that protects consumers, businesses and jobs from foreign thieves who steal America's intellectual property..."

Good thing the TSA is now patrolling the roads in conjunction with ICE. I can't count how many trucks loaded with American IP I've seen hightailing it to Mexico. One was stacked to the ceiling with pending patents. Another had nothing but 1's and 0's in it but still somehow managed to be over the weight limit.

I saw an ICE agent dressed in a Donald Duck outfit (undercover?) patting down a semi driver for any extra Brothers Grimm stories he might have hidden on his person. I even saw Smith's former IT person sitting in the back of squad car while SWAT-geared officers searched his trunk for unlicensed photos. He claimed he had no idea the photos weren't in the public domain, at which point the ICE agent let out a huge guffaw, stating in a barely intelligible quack that "the public domain is nothing but a pirate myth."

But the worst thing I saw, the thing that chilled me right to my completely American bones, was a trailer full of nothing but empty hard drives, each one capable of housing huge tracts of intellectual property, and if one had the means to link them, could contain all of the mp3s at allofmp3.com with room to spare. The worst part, though? The hard drives were stamped "Made in China."

At that point I wept harder than any person with first world problems like "intellectual property theft" has ever wept, knowing that all of our hard-won IP would now be freely handled by third-world countries where reliable and affordable sources of food, heat and clean water were not much more than a hazy mirage on the very distant horizon.

But I knew right then and there that we were right: we had the power to legislate the entire world through a controlled internet. I knew we could help add to the amount of repression and censorship in the countries that were busy victimizing our way of life. I knew that, despite America being in the midst of a recession and attendant financial crises and that an internal occupation indicated great dissatisfaction with the status quo, despite our soldiers still being embroiled in unwinnable wars and our human rights swiftly eroding back home, despite an out-of-control debt and deficit, despite public approval of all levels of government having fallen to all-time lows, I knew in my heart of hearts that this legislation would still be first and foremost in the minds of our legislators and I KNEW that despite everything else, these industries MUST BE PROTECTED.
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OC, 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:48pm

Deadlayed?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:51pm

Re: What Will Really Happen
That would play nicely with the whole "stop evil foreign scammers from hoodwinking our troops into buying counterfeit body armor and medical supplies" meme.

ugh
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Zos (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 2:55pm

Mike, are you going dark tomorrow?
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Justin Olbrantz (Quantam), 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:07pm

Re:
I don't see the point, really. TechDirt isn't such a big site in comparison to the entire internet, and just about all of the TechDirt readers are already well aware of SOPA.

Though I suppose it could be hypocritical not to.
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pyro, 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:23pm

Keep at it guys :)
Australia had this problem with the GVT trying to implement DNS level filtering and it's finally been shelved. It took us over a year though and there wasn't as much money involved at there is with SOPA/PIPA, so I'm expecting that this fight will go on for a fair while longer than a year.
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The eejit (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:25pm

Re: Re: So.. how exactly DO we stop this?
Treat them like zombies? That is, all the Senators and Congresscritters in favour of legislation like this.
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joe, 17 Jan 2012 @ 5:14pm

The mayans predicted it
So this could be what ends the world?
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Mike, 17 Jan 2012 @ 5:16pm

why the lies?!
This bill destroys jobs! How can they say it saves jobs?! Its gonna ruien online small business and nearly bankrupt big businesses!
SOPA IS UNHEALTHY FOR THE ECONOMY!!!!!!
NO SOPA!!!!
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FM Hilton, 17 Jan 2012 @ 5:54pm

No, it's not going to go away.
Hate to say this, but here goes:

"Told you so."

They're going to resurrect the bones of this bill so many times that it won't be recognizable by the time it actually passes.

They're hoping that by then, everyone will forget about this little problem of "fixing what's not broke".
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JarHead, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:11pm

Re: Re: So.. how exactly DO we stop this?
To my simple mind, the only viable option is no #2, Outright Revolution, but I fear it still not enough. What really needed is a genuine Hard Reset, or to put it another way, an Outright Re-evolution, and for that to happen, the first step is a Systematic Mass Genocide based on any political affiliation and past conduct (read: at least all politician and lobbyist must be eliminated).

DISCLAIMER: This is not sarcasm, it's what I truly believe and will do if I have the power to do so effectively.
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JarHead, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:26pm

Re: Re: Re: So.. how exactly DO we stop this?
Oh, I forgot to add the bankers and insurance guys of all levels to the list. How can we not consider them....
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:42pm

it won't die because justice never sleeps.
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Al Bert (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:48pm

Re: No, it's not going to go away.
Undoubtedly, but if history suggests anything, it's that the driving interests behind such bills will continue to trample on others' rights and the sum of existing law even if the bills do not pass. By the time this has gone on long enough, much of the dangers surrounding such legislation will be completely irrelevant.

They can always act as though they rightfully have the powers these bills are to buy them. That is, at least to the extent their litigation dollar can justify.
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Violated (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 8:18pm

CrAzY
One thing you can say about Lamar Smith is that he sure works hard to try and obtain his RIAA/MPAA lobbying bonus.

Any politician who votes for SOPA would be one step away from ruining their political career. The Internet does not forgive or forget those who want to harm it.
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jbuck, 17 Jan 2012 @ 10:08pm

Sopa / MPAA / PIPA
wasn't Hitler the one who protected Germany's intellectual properties from being stolen by foreign thieves by burning all the books in the libraries?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2012 @ 12:34am

Re: What Will Really Happen
Or the Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act - http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/old7e/sopa_is_back_it_has_not_been_shelved_and_its/c3i9f qe
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Karl (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 1:27am

Re: Re: What Will Really Happen
Or the Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act

Nice catch. This wouldn't surprise me in the least. We've already seen many of the most noxious AC's here compare piracy to kiddie porn. Considering that those same AC's have Washington D.C. IP addresses, I'd say it's a likely political ploy.
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Dave P, 18 Jan 2012 @ 5:39am

Re: Re: Overkill anyone?
Yup. I do hate mealy-mouthed folk who don't mean what they say. Don't be subtle - tell us straight next time!
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Hephaestus (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 6:38am

Re:
Add this to any email you send to you reps ....

If you vote for this I will be voting for the other guy. I do not care who the other guy is, he could wear a boot on his head, hear voices and I would still vote for him.
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A Conservative Teacher, 18 Jan 2012 @ 7:54am

SOPA Isn't All Bad
People need to be careful with this whole SOPA thing- the government is charged by the Constitution with protecting intellectual and other property rights, and stealing movies/videos/music/books is illegal and should be prosecuted. Many businesses argue that the current framework for prosecuting these theives is not strong enough, and they have a point- stealing is easy to do on the internet. There needs to be stronger rules and regulations- but the real trick is stronger rules and regulations without harming the open nature of the internet or putting an undue burden on website providers. Just be careful with how you talk about this issue- the current version of SOPA is bad, but some version of it should likely pass.
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Ninja (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 8:15am

I wonder if the Americans will be that dense and put Lamar back in power on next elections... No seriously, there's a limit to the "I can't hear you!" attitude. He should have come and announced that the bill would be killed and started from zero with every1 involved instead of only the MAFIAA.
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Paul Kersey, 18 Jan 2012 @ 8:44am

FUCK YOU, SOPA AND PIPA
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JustDon, 18 Jan 2012 @ 9:41am

> Are they stupid?

Is that a rhetorical question...?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2012 @ 10:05am

The proper way to deal with zombies
As this is a zombie bill, it should be treated like any other zombie: shot in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun.
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eeehcogote@hotmail.com, 18 Jan 2012 @ 11:03am

eeehcogote!@hotmail.com
VIEJO PAJERO CHUPAME EL CHOTO CULO ROTO NO ME CAGUES EL PORNO QUE DESPUES MIGUEL ME ROMPE
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2012 @ 11:41am

Re: SOPA Isn't All Bad
As you claim to be a teacher, you really should understand some principles, such as, the definition of theft and the definition of harm.

If understanding both those words, you can then find any evidence of harm to any business from people copying IP without paying specifically for it, not counting anything that is not already covered by prior legislation such as fraud etc, then please fell free to show that evidence to everyone because at the moment there has been no display of any evidence to back up any claim of harm.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2012 @ 11:48am

Re: SOPA Isn't All Bad
Oh, btw on your blog
You have an entry opening
"Every month teacher unions from around the nation gather together to pray at the alter of the Democratic Party..."

It's Altar, not alter.

Typo's happen, but seriously, you're a teacher and that was the very first line.
Write out 50 times, I will not alter the spelling of altar.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2012 @ 11:49am

Re: Re: SOPA Isn't All Bad
I would have preferred to make this comment on your blog entry on your blog, but apparently comments can only be made by "team members", pity.
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s. keeling (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 12:37pm

Re: CrAzY
Any politician who votes for SOPA would be one step away from ruining their political career. The Internet does not forgive or forget those who want to harm it.

We wish. :-P

Unfortunately, "The Internet", or those who understand its issues, are a piddlingly small percentage of the population. Case in point: my step-dad's working on his furnace. The replacement parts came with a tutorial on DVD. He just called me up to find out what region encoding was, as his Mac popped open a window demanding he set his box' region encoding. He'd never heard of region encoding before. If he's never heard of that, he's definitely out of the loop wrt SOPA/PIPA, et al.

I hope the blackout educates lots of people on this and other issues, but I doubt my step-dad even goes to wikipedia today, if ever.

The *AAs may be ignorant/stupid/tyrannical/willfully evil, but this's still going to be an uphill battle to keep them from wrecking the net. Expecting this to topple pro-SOPA/PIPA politicians in upcoming elections is really stretching, IMHO.

The EFF will never let go of this, so my money's on them. I hope yours is too. I wish I could afford to send them more.
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s. keeling (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 2:34pm

Re: SOPA Isn't All Bad
... the government is charged by the Constitution with protecting intellectual and other property rights ...

IANAL, but no, I believe you're incorrect. IP is a very new concept, one that many believe to be a serious perversion of law. Patents are supposed to protect specific implementations of ideas, copyright to protect trademarks. IP is protectionism, nothing less. It hobbles future entrepreneurs from innovating on current technology. It locks away culture, forcing everyone to pay rent on ideas to use them at all.

I'm all for the LEOs putting bank robbers behind bars, but when Apple sues another manufacturer for producing less expensive cell-phones because they look somewhat similar to Apple's, the system's been co-opted and is being abused.
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tommy ames, 18 Jan 2012 @ 3:12pm

Sopa
Larmar Smith,

The people have spoken and no one wants your sopa bill to become law. I sorry you took the many thousands of dollars from sponsors in Hollywood. I guess you better pay them back their bribe money.

No one will forget you coming November. You and the captain of the cruise ship will get your just reward for abandoning your people who trusted you with the power to lead.

Have you thought of tuning up your job searching skills ?

Tommy
A USA Citizen
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AzureSky (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 4:22pm

Re:
thanks, this was great, made my day...lol
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AzureSky (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 5:06pm

Re: Re: Re: SOPA Isn't All Bad
problems with this person is the first part of their online name, conservative...."Free" govt education is not something these people want or support, its a "hand out" like unemployment or social security(just listen to the right about unemployment, despite the fact people pay into it when they work..)

Im not a democreaten or repug, I view both sides of our system as 2 heads of the same snake(corporate interests).....tho thats giving snakes an undue bad rap, I mean they dont do what they do with intent to harm us....unlike these twits.
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Mark Zemrak, 18 Jan 2012 @ 8:32pm

SOPA
Lamar Smith is a a bastard
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darkplataform, 19 Jan 2012 @ 8:45am

Lamar u can kiss my big-fat latin ASS, you PoS mudafuckaaaaaa
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Jake J., 21 Jan 2012 @ 5:39pm

I e-mailed the President on this. I made a few points.

1. We crucified other countries for doing EXACTLY this; except, here's the kicker, we did it out of greed for a few wealthy bastards.

2. I compared it to the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria. Taking down the current and most extensive collection of human knowledge in history at that point in time. Do we REALLY want to repeat that great loss?

3. You guys are fucking rich already. You want to disperse the wealth equally among us, yet you try to save a few bucks by denying our Internets. I mean, seriously. We struggle to pay bills, insurance, car insurance/payment, etc. and you're taking MORE of our money. I honestly only have one thing to say this: FUCK YOU.
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davidbarcomb, 18 Nov 2014 @ 9:04pm

Should have read this before
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Donald Coomer, 4 Apr 2015 @ 2:42am

Piracy was originally defined as an aggressive attack against a shipping lane.

Since the internet is the 'shipping lane' of the 21st century, and PIPA/SOPA attack its foundation, then both PIPA and SOPA would technically be acts of piracy.

Blows your mind doesnt it?
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