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SITES UNITE TO STOP SOPA

Sites like Wikipedia, Google, YouTube, and Reddit have gone black this morning in protest of The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which threatens Internet independence and free speech as well as a host of other rights. We have long discussed the ever-widening array of criminal and civil penalties pushed through Congress by the powerful radio and television lobby as well as other industry groups. The Obama Administration has been particularly willing to carry the water for these groups over objections from public interest groups. SOPA reflects the power of this lobby and its hold over members of Congress and the Obama Administration. While the Obama Administration has now responded to the outcry by insisting that it will tweak the bill, such promises ring hallow given its past efforts to appease this industry and its dishonest statements recently in other areas like the indefinite detention controversy. Notably, the recent admission from the White House that it has some concerns over the bill did not come until the public rallied against the bill — another indication of the control of an industry group in the drafting of legislation. This lobby is not going to go quietly into the night. It is more likely that it will work with the White House and Congress to achieve the same purposes with an incremental series of laws — if it does not simply win outright.

The radio and movie industry has shown zero concern over free speech and other rights in seeking to protect profits. The bill has sweeping implications in the loss of safe harbor provisions and the right to bar Internet sites under vague provisions. Wikipedia, which has taking a lead in fighting this bill, has a good discussion of these dangers. Not only must this bill be defeated, but advocates should force a review of the current draconian and often abused copyright and trademark laws.

The standard approach of lobbyists when faced with public opposition is to pull back while working privately with the White House and Congress to achieve the same results once the fervor has died down. In the meantime, most of the Hollywood stars and recording artists who claim to support the arts and free speech are conspicuously silent as their lobbyists seek strip the Internet of protections. Just as we saw with the pharmaceutical industry, the entertainment industry has given jobs to congressional staffers who have worked for its interests in Congress. Various sites have documented the millions given to Congress by the industry to pass this law.

Sites like Rawstory have links to contact your representatives. I encourage everyone to join this worthy effort. The Internet is the single most important advance in free speech in a century, if not in the history of humanity. While this industry cannot see beyond its profits, the public needs to protect this resource for creative and political expression.

86 thoughts on “SITES UNITE TO STOP SOPA”

  1. No one disputes that piracy is a problem. Were I an author or performer, I would be outraged to see unauthorized reproductions of my work. But this legislation is not the answer. There was recently news of an SAT cheating scandal, but no one proposed that all of the students from all of the schools that had a cheater should be banned from taking the SAT.

    The problem of piracy has to be dealt with in the same manner that most international commercial issues are resolved, through the use of negotiated trade agreements and treaty law. Instead, the industry prefers that private companies become involuntary members of an internet Pinkerton Agency to enforce intellectual property rights. Nonsense.

  4. CHART: Who Is Lobbying For And Against The Protect IP Act
    By Josh Israel on Jan 18, 2012 \http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/01/18/406397/chart-who-is-lobbying-for-and-against-the-protect-ip-act/

    Excerpt:
    Supporter
    Total Reported Spending on ALL Lobbying (over 2011 periods in which it lobbied on S. 968)

    ALLIANCE OF AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURERS $3,711,300
    AMERICAN APPAREL & FOOTWEAR ASSOCIATION $341,735
    American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers $160,000
    BEACHBODY LLC (FORMERLY PRODUCT PARTNERS LLC) $40,000
    BROADCAST MUSIC INC $700,000
    CBS $150,000
    CENTER FOR INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM $10,000
    CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE U S A $19,050,000
    COMCAST CORPORATION $8,920,000
    COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE $90,000
    Directors Guild of America $120,000
    DISNEY WORLDWIDE SERVICES INC $1,330,000
    Entertainment Software Association $40,000
    ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE ASSOCIATION (ESA) $110,000
    INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES $60,000
    INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK ASSOCIATION $60,000
    MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA $890,000
    MOTOR & EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION $78,287
    NATIONAL ACADEMY OF RECORDING ARTS & SCIENCES $256,103
    National Association of Broadcasters $6,620,000
    NATIONAL CABLE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION $8,510,000
    NATIONAL ELECTRICAL MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION $580,000
    NATIONAL MUSIC PUBLISHERS’ ASSOCIATION $50,000
    NEWS AMERICA INC $3,070,000
    NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC $10,000
    OUTDOOR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION $170,000
    PEARSON EDUCATION (FKA Pearson, Inc) $480,000
    Professional Photographers of America / Alliance of Visual Artists $30,000
    RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA $2,380,133
    REED ELSEVIER INC $760,000
    SOFTWARE & INFORMATION INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION $460,000
    SONGWRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA $20,000
    SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (FORMERLY SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT) $950,000
    SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT $280,000
    SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT MARKET ASSOCIATION $100,000
    Tiffany & Co. $70,000
    TIME WARNER INC $1,646,000
    UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP $1,570,000
    VIACOM INTERNATIONAL SERVICES INC $660,000

    Opponent
    Total Reported Spending on ALL Lobbying (over 2011 periods in which it lobbied on S. 968)

    Ad Network Educational Consortium $150,000
    AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF LAW LIBRARIES $15,000
    AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION $328,218
    American Express Company $950,000
    AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION $49,911
    Business Software Alliance $140,000
    Computer & Communications Industry Association $10,000
    CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION $1,530,000
    eBay Inc. $110,000
    Escape Media Group, Inc. $120,000
    Facebook, Inc. $680,000
    Go Daddy.com $287,000
    GOOGLE INC $4,440,000
    Library Copyright Alliance $10,000
    NetCoalition $90,000
    VALUECLICK INC $30,000
    VISA INC $3,130,000
    YAHOO! Inc. $720,000

  5. tomdarch:

    “But the fact that a bunch of Senators (including my own – Dick Durbin) were willing to take the lobbying checks and apparently not bother to consult with anyone who understood the technical implications of the bill is really tragic and shameful.”

    That has been going on for years. Most of the transportation bills were written by industry and I know that for a fact. I am sure other industries lobbyists write most of the laws/regulations in this country. The staffers are in on it too.

    Lawyers at these lobbying firms sport woodies writing these codes, it is what they live for, that and the bragging rights.

  7. “We’re looking into the sausage factory and seeing that the sausage makers are tying strings around intestines full of poop, and passing it out the front door)” …. “Completely insane.” (tomdarch)

    Truth

  9. And I forgot to mention – there’s another steaming pile heading down the conveyor belt: ACTA – the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Think of it as an international SOPA, but at treaty level. For whatever reason, the Obama administration was stupid enough to allow this to be negotiated in secret (I am not making this up) – because of national security! (snort!)

    Completely insane.

  10. If nothing else, SOPA/PIPA are interesting glimpses into the current state of the art in sausage maki, er, I mean the legislative process.

    SOPA/PIPA are rife with lousiness, but the parts that sought to tinker with the Internet’s Domain Name System functions are so technically problematic as to be a huge red flag. The lobbyists who wrote it were clearly incompetent, and any lawmaker who would have bothered to check with IT/networking people would have been told immediately, in no uncertain terms that it was a complete clusterflock. (And lots of people have been pointing this out for months!) Not only would those provisions NOT impede infringement, but they would actually reduce security on the internet – for example making it easier for criminals to re-direct your browser from, say, “bankofamerica.com” to their impostor site.

    This aspect isn’t a “He said, she said” issue between old media and the tech companies – it’s plain old engineering.

    Here in Chicago, it’s well known that most Aldermen can’t write ordinances or really adequately interpret them – they rely on a few staffers and knowledgeable Aldermen to do the writing and interpreting. It’s a city council, so be it. But the fact that a bunch of Senators (including my own – Dick Durbin) were willing to take the lobbying checks and apparently not bother to consult with anyone who understood the technical implications of the bill is really tragic and shameful.

    We’re looking into the sausage factory and seeing that the sausage makers are tying strings around intestines full of poop, and passing it out the front door.

  11. I am appalled by this legislation. Theses people should be very much ashamed of themselves. Some of these service providers can shut down the entire country with one binary duplication. This means that searches can be redirected through no fault of the requester. Now I am question who is insane.

  12. anon nurse,

    I thought the one at 11:40am and 12:01pm were jokes mocking SOPA … now I’ve thoroughly confused myself.

  13. “…my original comment (the salon/Greenwald one) was gone, so I simply reported it.”

    “reported it” SB “reposted it”

    (Oh, this isn’t the corrections thread?)

  14. Somebody redacted 2 (I think … maybe 1) of anon nurse’s posts … quick, I’ll give you $10 to write a law that fixes it.

  15. Gene,
    I agree that the corporate attempts to control and throttle the “internets” is what is behind this bad legislation.
    Elaine and anon nurse,
    very informative links on explaining what SOPA is all about.

  19. All those entities pushing for SOPA missed the boat years ago when they could have developed their own sites controlling their own property. Their failure to anticipate the markets that were opening up lost them and their clients billions and billions of dollars. Now, like the banks and Wall Street, they are turning to the government for a bailout.

    “Help us … we were too stupid to help ourselves.”

    James in LA is 100% correct when he writes:

    “Any politician who thinks they can take on google, well, good luck with that. And they are but one Titan. And be rest assured: they are already several technologies down the road from SOPA/PIPA having any meaningful effect. A few public arrests using old technology is the perfect smoke screen. It always has and always will.

    As soon a Congress fills with network engineers, this may change….”

    The politicians supporting SOPA have no idea what they’ve signed up for which is what happens when one allows oneself to be led around by the nose by business men/women still living in the past. The blowback has started and I have not one whit of sympathy for the fools.

    1. “All those entities pushing for SOPA missed the boat years ago when they could have developed their own sites controlling their own property.”

      Blouise,

      Well said.

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