Can Reddit Write Legislation, Too? Proposes The 'Free Internet Act'
from the what-can't-it-do... dept
I have to admit that one of the more fun aspects of watching what has happened over the past few months with the SOPA/PIPA debate is watching the Reddit community jump on this issue... and evolve with it. The thing with the Reddit community isn't just it's sheer power as a large group of people who are more than willing to stand up for what they believe in, but their willingness to take on big challenges that most people would back away from. Not all of them work out, but as a community, they like to really jump into things and aim high. Such is the situation with the proposed plan to write a piece of legislation, The Free Internet Act, on Reddit. As an observer of these things, a reasonable first reaction is to chuckle a bit at what seems like a combination of both hubris and naivete that an online community (mostly of political novices) can create a reasonable piece of legislation. But... then you think of what else Reddit has done, and you begin to realize that if it can somehow pull this off -- or at least influence the debate in a positive way, this could be amazing (even if it's a long shot).A specific sub-Reddit has been set up, where different people are discussing different thoughts on what such a bill might include and other issues related to the bill's central concept: guaranteeing a free internet.
Again, there's a big hill to climb here to make this into any sort of reality, but there's something really amazing and compelling about this self-forming group taking the initiative to try to not just drive the debate, but to actually craft legislation that would protect internet freedom. As much as I've been impressed by the process of the Wyden/Issa proposed OPEN bill, in which they put it up on a platform that allowed the public to crowdsource thoughts on a bill, they still started with a bill suggested in Congress. What happens when a bill is crowdsourced from scratch? Possibly nothing at all, but as an experiment, it will be fascinating to watch...
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Filed Under: free internet act, open, pipa, sopa
Companies: reddit
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I am optimistic
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Go read what they have come up with so far.
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I don't really think it's hubris nor naivete, but people who realize they can't/couldn't change the system from within now setting up competition to that system.
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Funny, Hollywood's actions, and back room dealings, could be what brings the US back to something resembling a democratic republic. /snicker
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Admiral Yamamoto, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoroku_Yamamoto's_sleeping_giant_quote
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But....But...
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Preamble
We have reached this point again.
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Free internet you say?
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You've got the right idea there. Laws are mostly worthless because they require public support. If people don't support the law, it may just as well be a recommendation. Laws will only be effective as the number of people that abide by them. A law that is supported by only 1% of the people it applies to will only be 1% effective and there isn't a single law that is 100% effective (meaning that law is never broken).
The real solution to stopping censorship of the internet is to make it impossible to censor. An internet that can't be censored is truly free.
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I hope I am wrong. I hope users saw the back room dealings that will influence their lives and dont forget that there is a constant push to pass these kinds of laws. What we need to watch out for now is these provisions creeping into unrelated legislation a drop at a time. They have the time, money, and influence. They went for the major power grab and failed. They wont let it happen again.
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A: since people may disagree on other aspects of the free internet act, those other aspects may make the act as a whole more difficult to get the public support necessary to pass it
B: Those other aspects distract from copy protection lengths reducing the impact that copy protection length reduction will have on the passage of the bill as a whole.
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Of course, Just John was taken, so instead I am helixhamin, my alternate online name.
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O brave new world!
Since I've been involved in the SOPA/PIPA fight, I feel for the first time in my life that I have political power.
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I've been a long term member there and go pretty much every day to see what is happening. It's so huge you can't see everything there.
What amazes me in all this, is that you have the general run of internet users that are not very savvy, mixed in with some that are right down smart.
You have folks on there that are home makers, woodworkers, graphics artists wannabees, lawyers, scammers, trolls, you name it.
It reminds me of the Tyler Durden speech.
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We can't have a pure democratic rule, otherwise we'd end up with mob rule. Those in the majority imposing their will on those in the minority.
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Most people seem up in arms that "big business writes the laws", yet they want to have their own narrow view of the world prevail over everyone else. We elect people to write the laws, let them do their jobs.
The reddit thing is laughable, because it starts with "and we throw away all rights to content creators", and that will just never fly.
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Yes, we elect people to do the legislation, however the big money are the ones that write and pay for those laws to become enacted. Then the rest of us pay for it after wards.
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You, sir, are a perfect example of why I sometimes wonder if we should implement a right to breed law...
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I doubt it.
The attempt is to come up with a way of saying "neener, neener, the internet has no laws!". That just isn't going to fly.
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Is there a point to your madness, or is the raven still perched upon your bust of Pallas just above your chamber door?
No one has claimed that they are writing laws on reddit that will become part of the law of the land.
They want to work on something that will help ensure the freedom of the internet. It would still need to follow the conventional methods of implementation.
All you are doing is claiming "Hey, normal people, you have no right to try to have input into our democracy". Is this new message what you want to say? At least with the rapist response, I could laugh at you. Now I just want to pity you and the fact that you want to try to stop the democratic, free speech process because you feel those involved are "a few whiners on the internet".
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The rest of your post looks like straw man arguments, ending with "this new approach will never work".
Is it my imagination, or are a lot of anonymous posts like this cropping up on this site since we humbled the old-school political system with our new approach a couple of weeks ago?
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/Did I miss anything?
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Proof google is behind it? Everything trolls dont like is backed by google money this week. That's your proof!
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bill of rights?
FTFY
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naivete? Seriously?
As for the process -- people suggesting legislation -- it's not that strange, some countries actually use it in their political process.
@carolv27
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can reddit write legislation
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Political novices crowdsourcing legislation
More than ten years ago, a group of people (mainly from Argentina, but also from other Spanish-speaking countries) used e-mail communications to draft a bill prohibiting the Public Administration from using non-free software on the grounds of preserving sovereignty.
We don't seem to have done it too shoddily: the bill has since there not only been sponsored by many Argentine legislators from different parties (only to be stopped each time by the proprietary software lobby, of course), but also in other countries such as Per�, where it prompted the infamous Villanueva-Microsoft incident, and it's even been translated to other languages and even recommended by the University of Masstricht as proposed legislation for all member states of the EU.
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Some Simple Rules
- All thing over 25 years old = public domain NOW
- Copyright is owned SOLELY by the work creator (he can subcontract independently after)
- Period is 10+10+5 = positive renewal twice by creator
- THAT IS IT - no Disney/Corporate BS
For Patents:
- Patent is owned SOLELY by the creator
- Product must be demonstrated and not composed of
obvious component uses (stupid SW patents)
- Period is 3 years for non-marketed products 7? for marketed products
- THAT IS ALL - no minor change 'follow ons' (Rx)
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