SOPA and PIPA Blackout

SST and TA Will be "down" today in sympathy.  pl

Comments

[confusedponderer]

I approve and applaud!

Good luck, and may SOPA and PIPA go down in metaphorical flames, along with their respective intellectual parents.

[Brad Ruble]

Good for you

[Roy G.]

This time it really seems 'Big Content' has gone too far in its draconian piggy bank shaking. Speaking of piggys, here is what Roman Senator Chris Dodd (who in 2010 swore he would never become a lobbyist, yet now leads one of the biggest lobbying organizations, the MPAA) had to say, in an amazingly hypocritical 100% b.s. statement about today's blackout protest:

"It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today."

"It's a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporatee interests."

"A so-called 'blackout' is yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals. It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this 'blackout' to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy."

//

What a perfect example of how our government works hand in pocketbook with lobbyists for corporate interests to pass incredibly flawed legislation that would demonstrably harm the internet commons, for the negligible benefit of a few rich donors. I'm glad SST is with Google, Wikipedia, BoingBoing and other technorati who understand the danger that Dodd and his cronies pose with this foul piece legislation. Sic Semper Tyrannis!

[Jay Mcanally]

I approve and applaud as well.

[Tim]

I applaud your stand and look forward to reading STT again soon

[Charles I]

If I couldn't get on here and at least read, I'd be calling Harry Reid!:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Phone: (202) 224-3542

Talking points:

• To save the free Internet I call on you to remove the PIPA vote from the Senate's schedule.
• Over a million people across the world object to this clumsy censorship of the global Internet which would bring the US into the ranks of countries like China and Iran.
• You can find other, less damaging, ways to protect copyright and commercial interests.

Sony and Electronic Arts

These companies are supporters of the censorship bills. Tweet and Facebook them to stop pushing the censorship bills and tell them that global public opinion is against them -- over a million people across the world oppose them and object to US censorship of the global internet.

Sample Tweet: @Sony @EA We need you to come out publicly and oppose SOPA and PIPA -- help Save the Internet #UScensorship #sopa #pipa

Sample Facebook Message: I call on you to stand for a free and open Internet and to stop pushing Internet censorship. Oppose both the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Sony: Twitter profile: http://twitter.com/Sony
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Sony?sk=wall

Electronic Arts: Twitter profile: http://twitter.com/ea
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/EA

from my Avaaz email

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_signing_g/?aTqoscb

[The Moar You Know]

Applauded. The internet was paid for by the people, let it remain the property of the people.

[The Twisted Genius]

The blackout and the ensuing publicity caused a dramatic change in the prospect of this legislation becoming law. ¡Viva la Revolución!

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/pipa-support-collapses-with-13-new-opponents-in-senate.ars

[confusedponderer]

IMO the extent of copyright protection in the US has eventually become counter-productive to the society proper, in that it stifles innovation and, indeed, freedom, since the few big player who can afford to make use of the crippling tools that bills like SOFA/PIPA offer.

Property are essential. Their use becomes overreach at the point at which rights enforcement and with little other benefits is harassing, stifling and harming others. That is arguably abuse of property rights.

Have fun explaining that to that free market fundamentalists and the pro-corporate shills haunting the halls of congress, predominately, but not exclusively, on the Republican 'side of the isle'.

The US needs to afford themselves a public debate on that, in congress, in the Senate. Sadly, the sudden death of SOPA/PIPA prevents that from happening.

As a result, and since this episode plays in the US, I have a hunch that this isn't over yet. They will seen trying to sneak it in again, later, under a different name.

The people pushing it probably see this as a temporary setback. The outcry has led them to yield now. I fully expect it to resurface in half a year or so. Stupid crap like that, in which affluent people have a profit interest in, has a tendency re-spawn. Bodies like ALEC are there to institutionalise the re-spawn.

That said, I have another hunch, and that is that the language of these bills was so deliberately extreme to (a) have one of the bills to be sold as the "moderate version" if the other one faces massive opposition, and (b) to have the two bills extreme provisions as a starting position in negotiations in which the 'compromise' still is going to be very one sided and still allow for effective corporate censorship. With Obama being the big, easily rolled, compromiser, the chances of that happening are good. And if it sails through unobstructed - all the better.

In the current US political setting setting there is no incentive to be reasonable or moderate since being an extremist pays so handsomely.

[Charles I]

Um, anyone who can see inside China knows that a business model based on global copyright protection is dead, but confusedponderer is correct, the next version will be more subtle but just as misguided and pernicious.

[Reylan]

So many people just get annoyed in a 24 hrs blackout protest by Wikipedia and things might get worst if this bill will be implemented.