Posted on 01/16/2012 2:45:18 PM PST by Sub-Driver
US Crackdown On Web Piracy 'Shelved'
9:28pm UK, Monday January 16, 2012
US plans to legislate against internet piracy appear to have been effectively shelved after Barack Obama came out against it and Congressional leaders reportedly said a vote would not be held "unless there is consensus".
The bill, popularly known as the 'Stop Online Privacy Act' or Sopa, had been hotly opposed by tech giants such as Google and Facebook.
User-generated website Reddit had vowed to carry out a blackout on January 18 in protest against the bill, with Wikipedia possibly following suit.
Today, California congressman Darrell Issa, who opposes Sopa, was reported as saying that House majority leader Eric Cantor had told him there would be no vote "unless there is consensus on the bill".
The statement was widely taken as a death knell for the bill by online observers, with many on Twitter saying it had been "shelved" - although no official announcement declaring it has been withdrawn has yet been released.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
Tort reform
Copyright reform
Patent reform
Three big reforms that we’ve been promised since 1980 that have yet to show up. Instead, we’ve just gotten shafted time and time again... Copyrights extended for all intents and purposes forever, violating the ‘limited time’ clause of the constitution, and negating the value exchange of protecting a piece of ‘useful arts’ in exchange for public domain rights later.
The patent office says that the sitting on a swing and swaying it sideways method patent can be overturned if someone takes the issue to court, but will not cancel the method patent on their own.
And tort reform.. US courts presently have the power to seize any amount of money without restraint for any purpose or reason. That still has not changed...
Did you link to the correct article? I can’t find the text in your post... (hope it’s accurate!)
Good, something else the Demwit a-holes can blame on the Pubbies during the 2012 campaign, effin’ gridlock makin’ bastards. ;’) Thanks Sub-Driver.
If the Liberal Messiah's damnation of the House version doom it, why would it not doom the Senate version?
He was just defending algores invention.
To: English Wikipedia Readers and Community
From: Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director
Date: January 16, 2012
Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 [Eastern Standard Time is UTC-5 hours]...
The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States—the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECTIP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate—that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.
This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made.
If this idiocy got shut down then that’s a good thing; at least Obama’s good for something every once in a while (this is probably the first). Online piracy is a problem, but it’s one that needs to be fought with something other than a shotgun.
On top of which, the basic premises - that one can effectively block individuals within a geographic area from obtaining access to sites they really want to access - is false; the only people who get stopped are the kiddies and those who just surf and don’t dig into things. For those who want to get access to pirated stuff, there’s always some way to get around the barricade - the Chinese firewall isn’t completely leak-proof. As a simple example, there is always the judicious use of an anonymizing system such as the Tor network - if US government agents use it to obscure their internet tracks, then it’s almost certain that motivated individuals seeking pirated IP can do the same thing, and once someone brings something onshore that way, then the blocks proposed by this legislation become pointless in any event. Essentially, this is the i-Maginot Line.
Mayhaps Step 1 of the crackdown is to announce that the plan is “shelved”.
We know better, don’t we?
Hollywood, the MPAA and RIAA want this bill. They’ll do anything, pay anything, sleep with anyone to get this bill passed. Who cares if it breaks the internet? Obamacare was hated and turncoats in the house and senate voted for it anyway...then decided to “retire” when they realize they’d never win an election again. If/when this gets crammed through, those legislators will land in nice, cushy lobbyist jobs with a bigger paycheck and longer vacations.
Twitter is doing a good job of fighting this thing, even though TPTB think it’s “silly.” FB and Google need to help educate casual internet users just what dismantling or intentionally outlawing DNS will do.
Yup. It’s been “shelved.”
Not “They took it to the middle of the Mojave and drove a spike through its heart.”
Can you operate without search engine queries? What are you going to do? Go to the library? Look in the card catalog? Ask the nice librarian?
Sorry, but I'm 100% in Google's corner on this one!
That's all we need to know. How many GOP votes are there in Hollywood?
Any legislation or failure to legislate that screws Hollywood is free to the GOP!
Any Democrat votes cast in response would have been forthcoming in any case. Thus, vote anti-Hollywood is a no-brainer.
The real question is how much money is the big media industry giving to both parties.
This bill was a pretty insane move on the part of any republican. It will not gain them any support among the leftist dominated media and will lose them big time support among the people. It was lose-lose for any republican from day 1.
I find myself wondering if Congressional republicans really want to win in 2012. Part of me thinks they are intentionally sabotaging our band out of a desire to keep the goverment they serve powerful. That they would rather just be an influential minority in an all powerful Federal Goverment then be in a position where they have to seriously cut down the same power.
More than an opinion, you’re exactly correct.
I found the story with a Google search, but it seems that most all of the sources are UK news services. You would think that this would appear in the US media outlets as it affected the US.
From one of the articles
“In response, Sopa supporter News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, said on Twitter: “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.”
http://www.lbc.co.uk/us-crackdown-on-web-piracy-shelved-49837
“They’ll probably attach it to some defense spending bill or something.
Bingo. It will be slipped into something like the “Taking Care of Our Military Families and Homeless Puppy Dogs Act.”
Then pass it at midnight on Christmas Eve hoping no one sees or hears about it.
Uh, there is still PIPA and the blackouts are against that as well.
These are dangerous bills, and I am glad to see them look less likely to pass.
Obama is on the right side for once.
Actually, Murdoch is SUPPORTING SOPA.
He attacked Google the other day. Murdoch is on the wrong side here.
I want Lamar Smith's head on a platter for this fiasco.
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