Where Do Your Members of Congress Stand on SOPA and PIPA?
via arnndffr
Click through for the rest of this monstrously good interactive chart, by the monstrously good at data-wielding ProPublica.
Reblogged from ilovecharts with 516 notes / Politics SOPA
Salman Khan offers the most succinct and straightforward rundown of how the language in SOPA’s current iteration leaves wide open the possibility that, despite its ostensible intention to block foreign sites trafficking in pirated content, completely legal websites operating inside the United States could easily be labeled “enablers” of “U.S. property theft” and subjected to crippling sanctions that would effectively shut them down.
Reblogged from thedailywhat with 1,109 notes / SOPA Politics
SOPA blackouts begin as MPAA calls foul
Current MPAA president and thirty-year senator Chris Dodd further blasts the blackout as a stunt that punishes the users of the aforementioned services or turns them “into corporate pawns.” He decries the decision to protest as “an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today” and claims that online information services are “intentionally skew[ing] the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.”
There are times in this job when irony and ignorance fuse together to form a black hole of stupidity that no journalist, however highbrow, can escape. This is one of those times. Here we have the president of an organization notorious for buying campaign votes declaring that Wikipedia and Reddit users are in the pockets of huge corporate interests.
Pause and consider that a moment.
More Politicians Withdraw Support of PIPA and SOPA
More politicians have retracted their support of either or both the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) since Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ) and Rep. Lee Terry (R-
NBNE), two co-sponsors of SOPA, did so yesterday and this morning.Also one of our intrepid Tumblrers went down to the offices of New York Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to report on the “emergency meet” of New York tech scene. They are both cosponsors of PIPA.
Talking Points Memo reports that Senator John Boozman (R-
AKAR), an original cosponsor of the bill, has also withdrawn support for PIPA, posting a note to his Facebook page this afternoon, writing:I can say, with all honesty, that the feedback I received from Arkansans has been overwhelmingly in opposition to the Senate bill (S.968, the PROTECT IP Act) in its current form. That is why I am announcing today that I intend to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act.
Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Mark Rubio (R-FL), and Jerry Moran (R-KS), also cosponsors of PIPA, posted their withdrawals to either Facebook or Twitter today as well. Additionally Senators Jeff Markey (D-OR) and Allen West (R-FL) condemned the bill on Twitter. Not to be outdone, Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Mike Honda (D-CA) blacked out their websites in support.
[via TPM]
See also: Buzzfeed’s 50 Best Statements By Members Of Congress Against SOPA/PIPA
UPDATE: List of PIPA’s 40 cosponsors (guess where I found it)
Having trouble using Wikipedia today? That’s because the popular crowd-sourced online encyclopedia is participating in an “Internet blackout” in protest of two controversial anti-piracy bills: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
SOPA, PIPA: What you need to know.
Kids today and their lack of work ethic and general ability to traverse the Internet.
(via newsweek)
SOPA-Supporting News Outlets Aren't Covering SOPA [STUDY]
MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, CBS and NBC have dedicated no time to covering the Stop Online Piracy Act in their evening newscasts since Oct. 1, according to a report by Ben Dimiero of Media Matters For America.
CNN, meanwhile, has dedicated a single evening news segment to the issue. All of the companies covered in the report have either publicly supported SOPA or have parent companies that have done so.
Twitter, Facebook, and Google endorse alternate online piracy bill
Gautham Nagesh for The Hill - Eight of the largest Web companies have endorsed an online piracy bill offered by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) as an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate counterpart PROTECT IP.
The OPEN Act would direct online patent infringement claims against foreign websites to the International Trade Commission, which would be authorized to order online ad networks and payment processors to sever ties with the rogue foreign sites.
Under SOPA, websites can be blacklisted and removed from the Internet if they appear to be infringing on intellectual property or distributing copyrighted works. This is especially troublesome for artists whose work depends on fair use law and resides at the intersection of art, mass media critique and appropriation.
If SOPA passes, the U.S. government would easily be able to remove art from the Internet by seeking a court order against either the artist or the hosting provider. Corporate lobbyists would decide what art could and could not be shown online.
Alicia Eler, ReadWriteWeb. How SOPA Would Kill Art & Creativity Online.
In related news:
- Technology Review argues that antipiracy legislation such as SOPA and PIPA will weaken Internet security.
- Ars Technica writes that conservatives are beginning to line up against SOPA.
- GoDaddy is still taking a huge PR hit for its initial SOPA support (it reversed its position) as individuals and companies move their domains to other registrars
(via futurejournalismproject)
Reblogged from futurejournalismproject with 185 notes / SOPA Politics
SOPA
Agreed:
As a major donor to Obama’s last campaign, I get my regularly-scheduled call of them trying to get me to be a bundler. For the last couple months, whenever they call, I tell them that SOPA is a very big deal to me, and I will not donate until he takes a position against it, as written now.
“I understand you have a pet issue,” the caller said, “but at the end of the day, we both know that we want Obama to get elected.”
There were a lot of things that I wanted to say right then, most of them started with the F word. I was kind of appalled. Of course, she’s probably right, but my want and my money are two very different things.
Eventually I calmed down enough to say: “Look. The internet is my livelihood, and this bill is evil. I don’t know what you do for a living, but if Obama wasn’t actively protecting you from a bill that could kill that living, I seriously doubt you’d be making this call to me right now.”
That finally got through to her.
The NDAA was awful enough. I feel embarrassed that that happened. I get it though. We needed to pass a defense appropriations bill. Pragmatism. Signing statements.
But this bill. We don’t even NEED it. It’s ridiculous. Even without the patently offensive, miserable parts of the bill, it is utterly unneeded.
