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Today's Poll: Do you think owners of copyrighted material need new legal protections?

By Howard B. Owens
Bea McManis

http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/sopa-is-dead-smith-pulls-bill/
SOPA Is Dead: Smith Pulls Bill
“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

Smith also released the following statement on Friday:

“We need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products. “The problem of online piracy is too big to ignore. American intellectual property industries provide 19 million high-paying jobs and account for more than 60% of U.S. exports. The theft of America’s intellectual property costs the U.S. economy more than $100 billion annually and results in the loss of thousands of American jobs. Congress cannot stand by and do nothing while American innovators and job creators are under attack.”

Jan 20, 2012, 3:40pm Permalink
Cj Gorski

It's not a waiting game, it's a game of poker. Lamar Smith has a royal flush and few people know it.
SOPA not pass. He doesn't care, and it doesn't matter. The MPAA and RIAA started working on their legislative strategy to pass a new anti-piracy bill in late 2010. SOPA was designed to raise the noise. Everyone is playing right into the entertainment industries hand. The lobbyists are laughing manically at the ignorance of the mob. Even Wikipedia and reddit have played into it.
What people don't know about is the ace: H.R.1981, the Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 which is lying in wait. It's not complete. You see, PCIP is not contestable because it's about protecting children. They can, and very well might, copy and paste the full text of SOPA to the end of PCIP. That's the backup. That's the deal that was struck with entertainment industry lobbyists. We will try to push this anti-piracy bill. It probably won't work. Don't worry, we can pass it under an anti-child pornography bill.
There are two things which no Congressman will risk supporting: terrorism and child pornography. There can be no opposition, no discussion. Any anti-piracy law can ALWAYS be reframed as an anti-child pornography bill and it will pass, without even discussion. It will have the full support of the House (minus Ron Paul), the full support of the Senate, and most importantly the full support of the American people. NO ONE wants to risk being called a pedophile.
The entertainment industry has finally caught up with technology. They understand how it works. It took them 15 years, but they know what DNS is. They are going to exploit a fundamental problem with the way DNS is centralized and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. They have found an error in the very architecture of the Internet. The solution, from a free speech standpoint is not to fight it politically. The solution is the fix the error.
We must move to a decentralized system of DNS. It is not impossible. It requires some new thinking and a re-architecture of some web services, but it must be done if we want the Internet, as we know it today, to exist in 5 or 10 years.

Jan 20, 2012, 7:25pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

The dropping of the bill was a great testament to the power of the American citizen voicing their opinion loudly. Online petitions with links to contact your Reps were everywhere. The bill was flawed and a government overreach. One interesting aspect has been the media surprise that all four remaining Rep. candidates opposed SOPA when asked in the debate the other night. Lamar Smith (R) sponsored the bill but what does not get any media traction is that the 28 Co-sponsors went 17 Rep. and 15 Dem including DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz supporting SOPA. I find it interesting when Wasserman Shultz rarely gives up an opportunity to go on camera and deride Republicans for supporting overreaching legislation, She and lead lobbyist Chris Dodd are silent, or at least the media is giving them a pass on this one.

Jan 21, 2012, 7:39am Permalink
Bea McManis

Jeff, it was no surprise, to anyone following this, that the bill was bi-partisan. Taking this opportunity to swipe at one or the other isn't the point.
Smith, was the voice that explained why they withdrew the bill.
I don't see a problem with one person speaking for all.

Jan 21, 2012, 8:27am Permalink
Jeff Allen

Oh Bea it is a great opportunity to take a swipe at Wasserman Shultz. She NEVER misses an opportunity to deride the Republicans and usually on bloated facts so I will take pleasure in pointing out her silence on being the lead co-sponsor on a bill that had such overwhelming public disdain. And I stand by the lack of mainstream media covergage of the real players behind SOPA. I am growing really tired of the left not owning their mistakes.

Jan 21, 2012, 8:42am Permalink
Bea McManis

Whatever, Jeff.
Make it political. Get on your soapbox.
The truth that it was bi-partisan and, if there were mistakes, there is a shared responsibility.
You are the only one with your panties in a wad and making it more than what it is.
ooops, you and the Fox talking heads, that is.

Jan 21, 2012, 10:31am Permalink
Jeff Allen

This is not a "whatever" Bea, just a couple of days ago when we were debating high speed rail, you couldn't resist taking a cheap shot at Steve Hawley who has nothing to do with it. In fact you rarely pass up the chance to take a swipe at Hawley in posts that have nothing to do with him and then want to accuse me of making something political that is completely political. In this case we are talking about the DNC chair . Wasserman Shultz spends the preponderance of her time on TV berating Republicans on legislation she often has nothing to do with or rehashing the Tea Party caused the Gabby Giffords shooting meme. Then when she signs on as LEAD Co-sponsor of a bill that had about as much public support as a fart in the wind, she is nowhere to be seen or heard from. She is the defacto leader of the Democratic party and that is not leadership. She is easily the most divisive elected official in Washington today and I will revel in her running from this without a word to explain her support of it. She along with the rest of the adminstration refuse to take ownership of bad choices and yet are the first to call out everyone else out with the aid of the mainstream media.
And blaming Fox is really getting old too, you've got to come up with something new there as well.

Jan 21, 2012, 11:45am Permalink
Cj Gorski

@Jeff

no! I didn't see it on Reddit, my friend from Texas messaged me on it facebook while discussing it probably should of put a little "not by me" in there. I didn't see the thread that is was posted in!

Jan 21, 2012, 6:07pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

CJ, I saw the post and nobody seems to know who the original author is, I thought maybe we had the author right here, good forward though and interesting thoughts

Jan 21, 2012, 6:50pm Permalink

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