In which the author of SOPA breaks the very laws he wishes to enforce.

(Source: believermag)

ilovecharts:

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.

thedailywhat:

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.

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

cheatsheet:

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-NB NE), 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Talking Points Memo reports that Senator John Boozman (R-AK AR), an original cosponsor of the bill, has also withdrawn support for PIPA, posting a note to his Facebook page this afternoon, writing: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.

(Source: chrismohney)

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.