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US legislators are urged to drop SOPA
A GROUNDSWELL OF OPPOSITION has come out swinging against what people see as misguided US plans to stop copyright infringement in the Stop Online Piracy Act.
SOPA, as the act is more easily called, promises an iron fist approach to dealing with suspected copyright infringers and threatens web site blacklisting and internet subscriber disconnection.
Massive in its scale, draconian in its nature and with the stealthy backing of technology firms, the bill could be unstoppable. Or it might, that is, if so many people weren't determined to stop it.
The bill has been promoted in a shroud of positive-sounding blather. It is proposed as a means of fostering and promoting creativity, expression, prosperity and innovation, and claims to offer a simple set of solutions to prevent copyright infringement, if only more control is imposed over the internet, web sites and subscribers.
Protests against SOPA, which was discussed in the US House of Representatives last week, have taken many forms. Firms including Mozilla, Facebook, AOL, Ebay, Twitter and Zynga co-signed a letter in opposition to it, while Mozilla turned its home page over to a statement about why it opposed the bill.
Although they support some of its goals, SOPA goes too far to achieve them, they warned in their letter, and could cost the US much more than it hopes to achieve.
Targeting "rogue web sites" as the letter has it, could harm local cyber security, damage America's ability to innovate, and cost jobs, they warned. In addition it is likely to affect the provisions of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act that offer safe harbour for web sites and online service providers.
"Unfortunately, the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding US internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of web sites," they wrote.
"We should not jeopardise a foundation structure that has worked for content owners and internet companies alike and provides certainty to innovators with new ideas for how people create, find, discuss and share information lawfully online."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is frustrated by SOPA, but also by the fact that it has been locked out of hearings in the House of Representatives. It suggested that since the politicians could not even work a telecast, they should not be allowed to set the rules for the network that runs it.
"We find it ironic and deeply concerning that Congress is unable to successfully stream video of an event this important to all Internet users, even as they are debating a dangerous plan to change the Internet in fundamental ways and deputize Internet intermediaries to act like content police," it said in a statement critical of a hearing it was not allowed to attend.
Tags: Internet
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The First Amendment objections to SOPA are basically feeble: sites don't have rights to publish links to, or host, infringing material.
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No, your mind is simply too feeble to understand the objections.
SOPA only serves to get the court system out of the way so that simply an accusation will equal guilty. Something the content industry would like after getting SO MANY cases thrown out of court due to lack of evidence - which is exactly what should happen when no evidence is presented.
As usual, copyright owners are being idiots. The more restrictions they put on what they sell, the less it is worth.
I like obscure old music. It surprises me how much music was remastered for CD, but is now out of print. If not for the used CD market, there is a lot of music I wouldn't be able to get legally. The used market is preventing piracy, at least by me.
Now with downloads, there is no used market. If there is no way to sell what you buy, then it is worthless and no one will be bothered trying to preserve it or keep it from being copied.
Same with copy protection. The fewer devices I can play something on, the less it is worth.
Consumers aren't idiots. If the copyright holders don't offer a good deal, we won't buy it. They dream that if they could only prevent copying, people would start buying again; but people won't start buying until the copyright owners either make their product more valuable, or lower the price to what the products are worth.
This bill goes way deeper then what is seen from the murky surface. True this bill is wrong on so many levels that any rational person would at the least be aware that our freedoms as Americans would be severely impacted. And that would be a negative in case common since didn’t let you know. Internet piracy is not the real problem. That is just a by product of a system that has been set up to work off of greed. Someone please tell me why they are surprised. They created the problem and are now punishing us for having fed off the BS. True this is just a small part of what SOPA is using as a leg to stand on but if we are to pick apart just one of the BS legs it stands on it does do some good. Bottom line is that big business once again is setting in motion or at least backing a government manipulated money making scam. I get it. You worked hard to produce a product and you would like to get paid for it. Guess what we as a people don’t see it that way. We are tired of paying for some BS that we so mind numbly give into. I will hold the artist accountable. Why? Because they have the voice the power to tell the entertainment industry no we make music for the people not for you not for your pocket book not for your big fancy house and 80,000 dollar car… Oh but wait I forgot lol They aren’t artist they are just puppets.
You know what on second thought maybe it should pass so that all the BS that we buy into, listen and fall head over heals for would disappear. Maybe this would re ignite our love for knowledge and depth of self instead of this crazy obsetion with “the star”.
No one is mad to you, only feel so sorry, you are still in time when song are sell on disks and tapes, and only chance to be listed before was radio.
Good lack with your vision for future,
By the way, did you remember haw many people save music and movies on type from TV and radio ???
Really sorry for you ...
At least whichever "internet companies" rely on pirated content to give value to their sites and draw eyeballs for ads.
SOPA is intended to close up the legal loophole of "safe harbors" made by DMCA, where links site and file host are separated so that both can PRETEND they don't know the content in files is actually pirated. That's sheerly a legal loophole, can't be justified in any way except by those who want to steal from those who made the content.
The First Amendment objections to SOPA are basically feeble: sites don't have rights to publish links to, or host, infringing material.
The happy days of rampant pirating are likely to end. You can recall them fondly in your dotage.
And I'm sorry to bring this bad news, but there are too many pirates now, something WILL be done by those who are losing money. Just a fact, don't get mad at me.