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gonZo

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #15 on: January 15, 2012, 08:07:36 AM »
Quote from: The Huffington Post / Catharine Smith

White House Will Not Support SOPA, PIPA
First Posted: 1/14/12 12:19 PM ET Updated: 1/14/12 04:59 PM ET

Saturday marked a major victory for opponents of proposed anti-piracy legislation Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which would target foreign-based websites violating U.S. copyrights.

House of Representatives bill SOPA and its Senate counterpart PIPA are designed to punish websites that make available, for example, free movies and music without the permission of the U.S. rights holders. Opponents of the bills, however, worry that the proposed laws would grant the Department of Justice too much regulatory power. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has called the measures "draconian." Other Internet giants who oppose the bill include **24**, eBay, Mozilla, Twitter, and Huffington Post parent company AOL.

The White House on Saturday officially responded to two online petitions, "Stop the E-PARASITE Act" and "Veto the SOPA bill and any other future bills that threaten to diminish the free flow of information," urging the President to reject SOPA and PIPA.

The statement was drawn up by Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff. They made clear that the White House will not support legislation that disrupts the open standards of the Internet.

"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," the statement read in part.

The White House statement went on to say, however, that the Obama Administration believes "online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy" and that 2012 should see the passage of narrower legislation that targets the source of foreign copyright infringement.

The letter also highlighted the following four points:
    Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. [...] We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. [...] That is why the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders [...] We expect and encourage all private parties, including both content creators and Internet platform providers working together, to adopt voluntary measures and best practices to reduce online piracy.

This is not the end of the debate, the White House statement emphasized. "Moving forward, we will continue to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis on legislation that provides new tools needed in the global fight against piracy and counterfeiting, while vigorously defending an open Internet based on the values of free expression, privacy, security and innovation," the letter also read.

Following the release of the White House's statement, SOPA sponsor and House Judiciary Chairman (R-Texas) Lamar Smith issued a statement of his own.

“I welcome today’s announcement that the White House will support legislation to combat online piracy that protects free speech, the Internet and America’s intellectual property," Smith said, according to The Hill. "That’s precisely what the Stop Online Piracy Act does."

On Friday, CNET reported that Smith said he will remove from the bill one of the most hotly contested provisions, Domain Name System requirements. Previously, SOPA had called for DNS blocking of infringing websites.

On Thursday, PIPA author Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said that "more study" was needed to asses the bill's DNS-blocking provision.

The White House's statement condemned DNS blocking in regulatory efforts and said that it "pose(s) a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online. We must avoid legislation that drives users to dangerous, unreliable DNS servers and puts next-generation security policies, such as the deployment of DNSSEC, at risk."

A House Oversight Committee hearing on SOPA's DNS-blocking provision had previously been scheduled for January 18. However, according to Tech Dirt, Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-California) said that the hearing will be postponed for the time being and that the focus now should be placed on the Senate's PIPA bill, which Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has committed to moving forward in the next two weeks.

UPDATE: The Motion Picture Association of America Inc. (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have each released a response to the White House's position on SOPA and PIPA.

Michael O’Leary, Senior Executive Vice President for Global Policy and External Affairs for the MPAA said the following in a statement emailed to the HuffPost:
    While we agree with the White House that protection against online piracy is vital, that protection must be meaningful to protect the people who have been and will continue to be victimized if legislation is not enacted. Meaningful legislation must include measured and reasonable remedies that include ad brokers, payment processors and search engines. They must be part of a solution that stops theft and protects American consumers. [...] On behalf of the 2.2 million Americans whose jobs depend on the film and television industries, we look forward to the Administration playing a constructive role in this process and working with us to pass legislation that will offer real protection for American jobs.

In the same email, Mitch Glazier, Senior Executive Vice President of the RIAA, said, "[L]egislation is of no benefit, nor will we support it, if it allows the leading Internet companies to direct law abiding consumers to unlawful and dangerous sites."

David Hirschmann, President and CEO of the Global Intellectual Property Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, reiterated the Chamber's strong support for both SOPA and PIPA. "The Administration's main concern, centered on DNS issues, has already been addressed by both Senator Leahy and Representative Smith. We also applaud Senator Reid, Senator Leahy, and Representative Smith for their commitment to move forward with pending legislation through an open and bipartisan process," Hirschmann said.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2012, 08:14:44 AM by gonZo »

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pedonbio

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #16 on: January 15, 2012, 07:31:00 PM »
Just a note: Rupert Murdoch has denounced President Obama's opposition to both bills.
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Bad Kitty

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #17 on: January 16, 2012, 04:52:45 AM »
Just a note: Rupert Murdoch has denounced President Obama's opposition to both bills.

wha? the media mogul? crying because not every politician wants to crown a handful of media corporations "dictators of the internet"? *gasp*
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TheZookie007

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #18 on: January 16, 2012, 09:07:33 PM »
I'm not declaring victory until all three bills (SOPA, PIPA and e-Parasite) die, and die a death. No "shelving", no "we're going back to the drawing board", no "we're waiting for a consensus of the Internet community", none of that shit.
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TheZookie007

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #19 on: January 16, 2012, 09:08:08 PM »
Oh, and FUCK RUPERT MURDOCH. Two times!

vimeo: "PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet"
« Last Edit: January 16, 2012, 09:13:02 PM by TheZookie007 »
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

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pedonbio

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #20 on: January 17, 2012, 03:41:51 AM »
I'm not declaring victory until all three bills (SOPA, PIPA and e-Parasite) die, and die a death. No "shelving", no "we're going back to the drawing board", no "we're waiting for a consensus of the Internet community", none of that shit.

I agree, Zookie. It is damn near impossible to see what is going on, not being in congress. But it looks like the votes aren't there for SOPA; apparently there are enough votes in the senate for PIPA, but Reid won't bring it up if President Obama opposes it.
Someday, chi1dren, this entire fuck-up will be yours.

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SamV

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2012, 06:37:48 PM »
I have no problem with protection of the intellectual property rights of media content creators, but I wonder if the huge drop in US ticket sales this past year is one reason the MPAA is pushing so hard for passing of this legislation due to the belief that piracy is the reason for this drop in their business among the movie going public?

Of course given the fact that almost every major motion picture churned out this past year by the studios was shown in 3D (and rather crappy 3D at that) along with an associated jacked up price for a ticket (not wise in these tough economic times) for said 3D movie might have had more to do with it. :-\

Perhaps the studios should go back to making regular (read that as non 3D) movies and lower the ticket prices to get more people back in the theaters. After all, not every movie can be an Avatar; nor should they. ::) 
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gonZo

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #22 on: January 18, 2012, 07:15:42 AM »
.

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pedonbio

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #23 on: January 18, 2012, 08:55:04 AM »
I have no problem with protection of the intellectual property rights of media content creators, 

Nobody does. This is yet another example of Disney throwing its weight around. What Disney wants, Disney tries to buy.
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rtpoe

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #24 on: January 18, 2012, 10:12:40 PM »
And you'd think Disney would be burying Julius Zimmerman in C&D letters for his pornographic drawings of their characters....
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TheZookie007

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #25 on: January 19, 2012, 12:57:39 AM »
You ask the likes of the MPAA and the RIAA and they say "We're doing this for our artists". Meanwhile, here's those same artists saying, in effect, "Nuh-uh, you don't represent us. Step off."

Ars Technica: "The Lonely Island gets off its boat to oppose SOPA"

The Lonely Island, the three-man comedy troupe behind such hit songs as "I'm on a boat," has joined a group of artists opposed to SOPA.

"As creative professionals, we experience copyright infringement on a very personal level," they wrote in a letter today. "Commercial piracy is deeply unfair and pervasive leaks of unreleased films and music regularly interfere with the integrity of our creations."

But they add that they, "along with the rest of society, have benefited immensely from a free and open Internet. It allows us to connect with our fans and reach new audiences. Using social media services like **24**, Twitter and YouTube, we can communicate directly with millions of fans and interact with them in ways that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. We fear that the broad new enforcement powers provided under SOPA and PIPA could be easily abused against legitimate services like those upon which we depend."

As for effectiveness, the artists are concerned that it would be "negligible compared to the potential damage that would be caused to legitimate Internet services. Online piracy is harmful and it needs to be addressed, but not at the expense of censoring creativity, stifling innovation or preventing the creation of new, lawful digital distribution methods."

The letter was signed by comic Aziz Ansari, author Neil Gaiman, musicians Trent Reznor and MGMT, MythBusters host Adam Savage, and others.

Separately, a host of small performers' organization have come out in opposition to SOPA, including Chorus America, Dance/USA, Fractured Atlas, National Alliance for Media Art and Culture, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, National Performance Network, and OPERA America.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2012, 01:16:07 AM by TheZookie007 »
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pedonbio

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2012, 09:07:26 PM »
 ::)
Someday, chi1dren, this entire fuck-up will be yours.

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Bad Kitty

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #27 on: January 22, 2012, 08:01:00 AM »
even as it looks as though sopa may be reeling from the public backlash, let us not forget about PIPA...

and let us not forget that fundamentally, our government leaders have proven themselves far more interested in bribes by media corporations than in doing what is right. perhaps that's not surprising, but the scale and degree of it, means that we cannot even for a moment assume they will vote with good intentions or the best interests of the people at heart.

'the system' is broken to the point of needing continuous monitoring, and massive public participation, just to function correctly.

the people who wrote SOPA for congress, will continue to try to take control over the internet. Making charts labeled "piracy losses" that mainly depict the recession, and the fact that many artists now self-promote using the internet (instead of signing with them), both of which are responsible for the vast bulk of lost revenues, as an excuse to leverage lawmakers into granting them ridiculous powers over the only media market which is not yet completely controlled by this handful of monopolies.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2012, 08:04:57 AM by Bad Kitty »
gnothi seauton / fortes fortuna adiuvat
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solvegas

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #28 on: January 22, 2012, 08:08:46 AM »
Maybe now many of you can understand what we gun owners have to continiously fight when anti-gunners want to regulate us out of existance. The misuse by a few should be no excuse to deny all their civil rights, especially those emnumerated on the Constitution.

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Bad Kitty

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Re: SOPA aka Internet Censorship: Who's For It, Who's Against It...
« Reply #29 on: January 22, 2012, 09:09:00 AM »
Honestly with large well funded watchdog groups like the NRA, keeping track of gun legislation is much easier.
plus there are politicians who side with gun owner's rights, as a platform principal to get votes. with things like SOPA, it had almost unilateral support in congress, because almost all of them took bribes to railroad the bill through. the first amendment is unfortunately in more dire danger than the second. ideally neither should be in danger though.
gnothi seauton / fortes fortuna adiuvat
I'm into both Real Life and Fantasy BE, and Sexual Exaggeration in general (among many other things).
I have somewhat exotic body modding plans for myself for RL ;)
I do the 'Bad Kitty' morphs, here and elsewhere.
(I'm not a huge "morph-request" person, I spend a loooong time on them, and I do them primarily for my own enjoyment. Its hard enough to find time to do all the morphs i want to do)