Erick Erickson Promises To Work Hard To Defeat Any Rightwing SOPA Supporters In Congress

TechDirt.com ^ | 12/23/2011 | Mike Masnick

[JerseyHighlander]

Prominent Rightwing Blogger Promises To Work Hard To Defeat Any Rightwing SOPA Supporters In Congress

from the good-for-him,-how-about-the-left? dept

One of the more interesting things about the whole SOPA/PIPA debate (and, as I've pointed out for many years, about any of the intellectual property policy fights) is how non-partisan they are. In fact, I think it's important that they're non-partisan, because when things become partisan, they become... well... silly (on both sides). SOPA/PIPA supporters keep touting how their bills have "bi-partisan" support, but I'd argue what's much more powerful is how the growing movement protesting these bills is almost entirely non-partisan. There are tons of people all over the political spectrum protesting, and none of the discussion has been about broad political philosophies or major party talking points. They've all been about the specific issues with the bill.

And that's creating some interesting opposition that may start to wake up Congress. We've definitely seen people associated with both ends of the political spectrum come out against the bills. For example, how often do you see Nancy Pelosi and Darrell Issa agree on something? We've also seen some prominent Tea Party groups, like the Tea Party Patriots, as well as prominent "left" movements/sites like MoveOn and DailyKos come out against the bill.

Now, Erick Erickson, the guy behind the rightwing site RedState, has said that not only is he against SOPA, but that he will do everything in his power to defeat any Republican who co-sponsors the bill. And he challenges people on the left to do the same with Democratic co-sponsors:

A fund should be created and the left should go out and find candidates to take on the Democrat sponsors. The right should go out and find candidates to take on the Republican sponsors.... The money should then be used to fund the primary challenges against the incumbent sponsors of SOPA. Let the right vet and direct the funding on the right so no one thinks the left is trying to pick the challenger and vice-versa on the left.

He even admits that this might take out some politicians he really likes and supports, such as Rep. Marsha Blackburn (whose hypocrisy on the topic of regulating the internet, we've discussed in the past). As Erickson says:

Killing SOPA is that important.

So important that it's worth campaigning and sending funds against candidates you otherwise agree with.

For a few months now, we'd been warning SOPA/PIPA supporters that this was going to become an election issue. It appears that's starting in earnest, and it's not going to look good for such supporters. And this truly is a non-partisan issue. Rather than this being about some concept of "left vs. right" or Rs vs. Ds, it's about those who understand the internet vs. those who don't understand or are afraid of the internet and wish to control that which they fear. And that's why SOPA and PIPA are becoming toxic politically for their supporters. There are a lot more people who actually do get this stuff out there than are in Congress. And they're starting to speak out as they realize just how big an issue this is.

[JerseyHighlander]

Erick Erickson is doing more to publicly save FreeRepublic.com than most freepers.

Get out there and contact your Congressman and explicitly explain how support for PIPA AND SOPA means the end of their political careers.

YOU, yes YOU should call your Senator and Representative repeatedly to protest against this bill that breaks the Internet, and speels the end of FreeRepublic.com

Go here for a direct link to find your Senator and Representative's contact details.

http://boingboing.net/2011/12/01/anti-censorship-senator-diali.html

[JerseyHighlander]

OpenCongress Blog

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Net Censorship Bills On Top of the Agenda for After the Holidays

December 21, 2011 - by Donny Shaw

As grassroots opposition to the internet censorship bills known as SOPA and PIPA continues to build, the entertainment industry and their allies in Congress are scrambling to move them forward as quickly as possible. Here’s a quick update on where things stand at the moment.

Senate (PIPA)

PIPA is officially the top item on the agenda for when the Senate returns from the holiday recess. During their final day in session last week, Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] submitted a cloture petition, signed by 18 Democratic senators, on the motion to proceed to the bill, setting up a vote to occur no earlier than one hour after the Senate adjourns on the second calendar day after the motion is filed. According to the Congressional Record, that will be January 24th at 2:15 p.m. ET.

The motion will take a supermajority of 60 votes to be approved. The bill already has 41 co-sponsors, so the supporters only need 19 more to pass the motion. So far, only 4 senators have come out solidly against the bill — Sen. Ron Wyden [D, OR], Sen. Rand Paul [R, KY], Sen. Jerry Moran [R, KS], and Sen. Maria Cantwell [D, WA].

Sen. Wyden is leading an attempt to stop the cloture vote from taking by planning to basically shut down the Senate floor with a reading of the names of more than 1 million individuals who have signed a petition against the bill. The plan is to eat up as much floor time as possible and see if they can stall things long enough that Reid will withdraw his motion and give up on holding the vote. The three other senators who have already come out against the bill may help Wyden execute the reading, but they’ll probably need even more help if they hope to keep things tied up for long enough to win. It’s basically going to come down to a physical question of how long they can hold the floor. If there are 4 of them, holding the floor around the clock is pretty difficult. But if there are 10 it will be a lot easier.

If Reid waits out the Wyden filibuster and the cloture motion ends up being approved, the bill will almost certainly win final passage from the Senate later that week. Final passage only requires a bare majority of 51 votes, and 60 senators will have already shown tacit support for the in voting to approve cloture on the motion to proceed. Reid has taken $1,383,541 from corporations and special interests supporting SOPA and PIPA this year — more than any other member of Congress — and he seems to be highly motivated to get the bill passed. Don’t expect him to give into the Wyden filibuster too easily.

House (SOPA)

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by lead SOPA sponsor Rep. Lamar Smith [R, TX-21], held a marathon, 15+ hour mark-up session on the bill. Dozens of amendments were voted on, and every single amendment to improve the bill for its opponents was rejected by a wide margin, including one to take China-style DNS blocking out of the bill. But the bill itself never got a vote. During the morning of day two of the mark-up session, Smith suddenly announced that he was going to postpone the vote.

The mark-up and vote was originally scheduled to continue tomorrow morning, but now that too has been postponed by Smith, citing the schedule of the House (having voted down the Senate’s tax cut bill, the House is now adjourned). At this point, we won’t see action on the House side until late January or early February. It’s even possible that the mark-up vote will be delayed until the committee can hold hearing with security experts about how the bill could increase U.S. exposure cyberattacks.

The main reason the mark-up is postponed, however, is that the folks from all corners of the internet have risen up in a grassroots, cross partisan effort to fight this bill and the members of Congress who support it. As I wrote last week, the online uprising against the bill is itself a perfect example of what’s wrong with the bill, as many of the sites that have facilitated the uprising would be vulnerable to censorship under SOPA/PIPA. The bill’s supporters had been trying to ignore and suppress the very legitimate security and free speech concerns of the internet experts, legal scholars, human rights groups, and web companies that oppose the bill. But all the attention online, and the millions of calls and emails to Congress, simply made them impossible to ignore.

As of this moment, the mark-up has not been rescheduled. My guess, though, would be that Rep. Smith was put it back on the schedule for some time shortly after the House reconvenes on January 18th.

The January recess is going to be a crucial time for the bill’s future. If SOPA/PIPA opponents can flip some on-the-fence senators and reps. to solid “no” votes and get a few more to join the filibuster, there’s a good chance these bills can be killed. The momentum is certainly going against internet censorship at the moment, but a quick look at the 91 corporations and special interests behind the bills should be enough to show that if the public sleeps on this, there is a huge network of money and influence ready to push things back in the other direction.

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PIPA internet censorship SOPA PROTECT-IP intellectual property Lamar Smith copyright filibuster Ron Wyden Filibuster Intellectual Property

 

[JerseyHighlander]

I am *NOT* a serial pinger. one time deal.

Here are some updates on SOPA and PIPA.

If you have your own pinglists, it is worth sending out the signal here, this is an existential threat to FR and every other online social and political forum/blog/website you patronize.

Regards,

[GlockThe Vote]

These thugs voted for the detention bill. They will vote for this as well. Count on it.

[ShadowAce]

[kitkat]

BUMP

[bamahead]

VERY important internet freedom fight coming up in the new year (after you shake off your eggnog and collard greens). Thanks J.H.



Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!

[MestaMachine]

Special Ping by request. Please forgive any double pings. This is important to all of us.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

[bilhosty]

Marsha Blackburns district is right next to Jim Coopers. Maybe the Republicans who run redistricting can merge her with Cooper.

[ConradofMontferrat]

Er, Ah, I’m not cool and tech savvy like it seems all you guys are.

I would really like to know what the heck SOPA and PIPPA are and why I should care?

It would be nice to those of us not in the “know” to know what in the heck we are talking about here.

Not a criticism, just an observation.

[WeatherGuy]

PIPPA:

[BfloGuy]

You animals that are too damn lazy to type out your words should be executed!!!

I don't know where that leaves those of you too lazy to type "SOPA" into a search engine.

[Redbob]

Gee, it’d be nice to see a simple explanation of WTF SOPA, PIPA, etc. means...

[County Agent Hank Kimball]

Thank you. I like to think I’m pretty aware of what’s going on and I have no idea what SOPA and PIPPA are.....and I was beginning to think I was the only one.

Hank

[hattend]

I’ll bite: What’s SOPA and PIPA?

[willyb_jr]

It ain’t simple, and it ain’t good.

[bgill]

Hussein has been wanting an internet czar. It would follow right along with his two nazi report your friends and neighbors programs. Tin foil or not, there’s been more than one FR member’s computer to be hacked by what can only be government thugs. We’ve already slid down the slippery slop and are flying high speed smack dab into communist Amerika.

[Redbob]

"It ain’t simple, and it ain’t good."

That much I gathered; the question for me is, "WHY?"
(Moving on to a well-written, comprehensible post...)

[Redbob]

This link (below) explains the issue in simple language, including the (really simple) note that SOPA stands for the “Stop On-Line Piracy Act”:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2824965/posts

[upsdriver]

I have no idea what SOPA/PIPA is. The first paragraph of an article should spell it out.

[wintertime]

What does SOPA and PIPA mean?

Sorry, I haven't been following this story, so spelling out the acronym and giving a little background would be helpful.

[RetiredTexasVet]

It is just common courtesy to use the full text of an acronym following its first use in an article. But hey, you don’t have to, but don’t expect a lot of readers to want to read the posting of a discourteous writer.

[gogogodzilla]

Standard good writing expects the author to actually describe the subject that he is writing about. Not force the reader to ‘look it up’.

[LucyT]

SOPA stands for the “Stop On-Line Piracy Act”

Net Censorship Bills On Top of the Agenda for After the Holidays

"...call your Senator and Representative repeatedly to protest against this bill that breaks the Internet, and spells the end of FreeRepublic.com."

bgill wrote:

"Hussein has been wanting an internet czar. It would follow right along with his two nazi "report your friends and neighbors programs". - Tin foil or not, there’s been more than one FR member’s computer to be hacked by what can only be government thugs. We’ve already slid down the slippery slop and are flying high speed smack dab into communist Amerika."

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Importantly, SOPA is an “acid test” of politicians who claim to be populist or conservative. Those backing SOPA are, for all intents and purpose, bought and paid for by agenda lobbyists, who they are far more supportive of than the people they claim to represent.

In other words, they may *claim* that they support the Tea Party agenda down the line, but if they support SOPA, they are lying.

And if they have lied before, they will lie twice as hard in defending their role in this travesty, and why they should be reelected, “because they support the Tea Party agenda”.

They are lying. As much as Obama would be lying if he said that he supported the Tea Party agenda.

[JerseyHighlander]

A video explanation of SOPA and PIPA
While watching this video, keep in mind that SOPA and PIPA

1. give the US government the right to force ISPs to block access to FreeRepublic.com.

2. Gives the US government and private corporations the right to sue US based search engines from listing FreeRepublic.com in search results.

3. The US government can force payment services (such as Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, etc.) to block all financial donations transaction from freepers to FreeRepublic LLC, and shutdown accounts and confiscate all monies in FreeRepublic's accounts.

4. Any and every media copyright holder will be able to sue FreeRepublic.com for infringement and FreeRepublic.com LLC will be given no notice of the lawsuit, five days after the lawsuit is filed, FreeRepublic.com will be put on the blacklist and all US based ISPs will have to block access.

5. For FreeRepublic LLC to regain control of the FreeRepublic.com domain name, Jim Robinson, John Rbinson will have to sue in court under the pretense of guilty until proven innocent.

6. Repeated lawsuits could see Jim and John and other LLC boardmembers threatened with legal fines and jail time, depending on how the committee conference bill is written up in conference.

7. Every website becomes responsible for every single piece of user content posted on the website. A Single infringing link or copyrighted piece of media posted on FreeRepublic.com will be enough to permanently shutdown FreeRepublic.com

8. PIPA and SOPA break the foundational technology of the Internet, it's technical and I'll just post a link to an open letter from dozens of the founders of the Internet.https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/internet-inventors-warn-against-sopa-and-pipa

[JerseyHighlander]

See the above post for some explanations of SOPA and PIPA.

[kallisti]

hey, i’ve been drinking booker’s...

[conservativebuckeye]

I think most of us would appreciate you not using the God’s name in vain on Christmas. I agree it should be explained better, I think execution is a bit extreme.

[Ron H.]

Er, Ah, I’m not cool and tech savvy like it seems all you guys are.

I would really like to know what the heck SOPA and PIPPA are and why I should care?

Yeah, me too. I think it is some sort of elitism speak.

[upchuck]

Jim,

This should be attacked with the same vigor we show during a FReepathon.

Each FReeper should contact his/her two Senators and Representative about these issues.

The continued long term existence of Free Republic may hang in the balance.

upchuck

[Ron H.]

[Magic Fingers]

Have any of the Republican presidential contenders stated a position on this legislation?

[a fool in paradise]

Also puzzling as to why the author put the word “left” in quotes when describing DailyKos and MoveOn. There is no doubt they are left, if any word should have been in quotes it is “prominent”.

Redstate was called right-wing without quotes. I thought initially Redstate started out as a comedy site. Maybe that is a misconception from their viral videos campaign when they first got attention.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks JerseyHighlander.

[Bogey78O]

He should make a public bet with the move-on founder of which side will toss out the most SOPA supporters.

[upchuck]

Thanks!

[lquist1]

Good Lord! Do these freakin statists EVER give us a break! You can’t turn around for one second without them making another attempt to take away our freedoms! I thought we put an end to this B.S. legislation with the November 2010 elections. Apparently, we didn’t. EVERYBODY here needs to be in touch with their legislators frequently over their holiday recess. This CANNOT be allowed to stand!

[GlockThe Vote]

The same pofs republicans who voted for the detention bill will vote for this. Count on it.

[turn_to]

If knowledge is elitism, what is ignorance?

[GunRunner]

Ron Paul is the only one I know of, and he’s vehemently against it.

[Repeal The 17th]

I only visited this thread to try to find out what a sopa was.

[Ron H.]

If knowledge is elitism, what is ignorance?

I believe you are confusion knowledge with arrogance. It would seem I was only one of many here who was asking the same valid question regarding an arrogant supposition on the part of the OP. Are you going to turn out to be just as arrogant as well ignorant?

[TheOldLady]

Stop Online Piracy Act
Protect IP Act

Such pretty names, such evil, oppressive intent.

How about SESSA Stop Evil Sedition by Senators Act
And POFFRA Protect Our Freedom From Representatives Act

They're going too far.

Thank you for the scary ping, MestaMachine. Merry Christmas...

[lquist1]

“I believe you are confusion knowledge with arrogance. It would seem I was only one of many here who was asking the same valid question regarding an arrogant supposition on the part of the OP. Are you going to turn out to be just as arrogant as well ignorant? “

Okay let’s not get sidetracked here. I didn’t know what SOPA or PIPA was till I came across this thread. But I quickly educated myself and realized what a travesty this is. There’s a lot at stake here for anyone who values the freedom we all enjoy to express ourselves online.

I’ve been aware of this for about an hour and so far I’ve signed that online petition, emailed my reps, and shared links to the story about this and the petition along with an explanation of why everyone (right or left) needs to sign it to my Facebook friends.

Let’s stop worrying about how the information was presented to us and focus on stopping this!

[Hoodat]

Gee, it’d be nice to see a simple explanation of WTF SOPA, PIPA, etc. means...

Basically, they mean ceding more power to the federal government by giving them the authority to shut down websites they don't like.

[no-to-illegals]

Thanks for the update and personal reminder contained within this thread.

[griswold3]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CimmSCS4Xbg&feature=player_embedded#!