Should Pols join the blackout on Jan 18?

17 Comments

by: DavidThi808

(What say ye? – promoted by Pita)

The SOPA/PIPA legislation is a horrible bill. It basically would seriously damage the Internet in a heavy handed, and ultimately ineffective attempt to reduce piracy of Hollywood content. It would spell the end of Pols because people do post links to copyrighted material here (usually inadvertently).

Congress:

Senator Bennet [D – WallSt/MPAA] – is a co-sponsor of PIPA

Senator Udall – opposed.

Congresswoman DeGette – silent.

Congressman Polis – rock star opposing it.

Congressman Gardner – silent.

Congressman Tipton – silent.

Congressman Lamborn – silent.

Congressman Coffman – silent.

Congressman Perlmutter – undecided.

Congressman Lamar Smith (the lead sponsor of SOPA) – violates SOPA

A special note about Representative Jared Polis. I always thought it would be good to have some representatives in Congress who understand the Internet because they would have the credibility to keep legislation sensible where it impacts the net.

Nope. Jared has tried to point out that some parts of the bill flat out won’t work. And that others are not an effective way to achieve the stated goal. And it’s all ignored because the contributors have given the reps their marching orders and logic & facts are irrelevant.

But through all this Jared has done a superb job fighting to kill this disaster. Win or lose we owe him a gigantic thank you for the effort he has made.

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17 thoughts on “Should Pols join the blackout on Jan 18?”

DavidThi808 says:

January 14, 2012 at 7:02 pm

Please ask him if he will vote to kill SOPA/PIPA.

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1. raymond1 says:
  
  January 15, 2012 at 7:25 pm
  
  I’m not techie enough to know the details of what to write, but I’m 100% against based on how much power it gives prosecutors and how much it threatens to chill speech — so I’d love to write a letter to Bennet, (and have my equally non-techie friends/family). I’m sure there’s a form “oppo” letter floating through the series of tubes; David or anyone, can you point me to one?
  
  Apologies for being late to the party on this one — you more tech-savvy folks have been doing god’s work while the rest of us were slow to catch on that this is a big deal.
  
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  1. DavidThi808 says:
    
    January 15, 2012 at 10:12 pm
    
    http://www.techdirt.com/articl…
    
    But to sum up, it does two things. First it puts most anything on the Internet at risk, including an business based around it. It would probably mean the end of Craigslist, YouTube, and Facebook. And for those that can survive (like mine), it significantly increases our costs.
    
    Second, it will severely impact freedom of speech on the net. Forget linking to supporting documentation, because that site might have a violation somewhere. Make sure your site has a unique DNS. Make sure you have clear rights to use anything on your site. And be prepared to be pulled into court anyways to prove you’re pure.
    
    Keep in mind that MPAA/RIAA is not trying to reduce piracy on the Internet, they’re happy if the Internet is destroyed. Because they want to go back to their old model.
    
    This will destroy a ton of business and jobs. So maybe the question for Senator Bennet in your letter is if an ineffective attempt to reduce piracy is worth the collateral destruction of Colorado business and jobs.
    
    And to put it in terms of Pols, the Denver Post could use this to shut down this site.
    
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    1. Sir Robin says:
      
      January 16, 2012 at 2:53 am
      
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  2. Gypsy Chief says:
    
    January 17, 2012 at 11:27 am
    
    Hi R1, you could go to govtrack.us and bring up H.R. 3261 which is SOPA you will get a link to PopVox which will write the letter for you. All you have to do is enter your zipcode. The corresponding Senate bill is S. 968 PIPA and you go through the same procedure. HTH
    
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Diogenesdemar says:

January 14, 2012 at 9:13 pm

It’s a message, but it’s not a message directed properly towards the cause of the problem.

Now if you want to scrub all the proponents advertising (including politicians), or boycott all supporting media — radio, television, music, movies — from this and every other site on the web . . . well, that I would like to see and could get behind as a supporter.

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1. DavidThi808 says:
  
  January 14, 2012 at 10:06 pm
  
  Because it gets across the message that if SOPA is passed, you’ll see Pols shut down (as soon as someone posts copyrighted material here).
  
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c rork says:

January 15, 2012 at 1:35 am

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DavidThi808 says:

January 15, 2012 at 8:36 am

Obama Administration Comes Out Against SOPA, PIPA

The Obama Administration on Saturday took a stance on two pieces of anti-online piracy legislation moving through Congress – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate — saying it would not support the bills as currently written, handing the biggest victory yet to a growing chorus of critics of the bills.

SOPA And PIPA Sponsors Caving In To Opposition

PIPA co-sponsor Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) on late Friday released a statement saying: “I would not vote for final passage of PIPA, as currently written, on the Senate floor.”

…

And in perhaps the best sign yet that the online protests started by Reddit are having their intended affect, SOPA sponsor Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and PIPA sponsor Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) both released statements on their official websites over the past 48 hours announcing that they would be at least delaying the implementation of one of the more reviled aspects shared by both SOPA and PIPA, the one that would force Internet Service Providers (companies including AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and Time Warner) to impose Domain Name Service (DNS) blocking on foreign webpages accused of hosting pirated content.

Right now the sponsors are still trying to pass as much as they can. But the tide has shifted and if the pressure continues, it should be possible to get these disasters killed.

The one thing that can trump campaign contributions is enough voters making it clear they will cast their votes based on a bill.

But there is still a lot that is very bad in the bills. They need to be killed, not amended.

“While we are pleased that some progress is being made, we are also firm in our opposition to both bills because some very bad provisions remain. The bills are still over-broad in their reach, for example (as in the Senate bill) allowing court orders against anyone a providing ‘directory, index, reference, pointer, or hypertext link.’ Both bills still include a private right of action with few protections from abuse, meaning that sites can be killed without ever being proven to violate copyright.”

Imagine the Post going after Pols back when Singleton was in charge, using this law to close down Pols without ever proving a violation.

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thiokuutoo says:

January 15, 2012 at 6:50 pm

Michael F. Bennett

If it is not Wall Street and big banks it is to further restrict free speech.

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1. MADCO says:
  
  January 17, 2012 at 6:17 am
  
  Bernie Sanders
  
  This is kind of fun.
  
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hamiltonsecurityguard says:

January 16, 2012 at 6:14 am

I agree with all the comments. Great sharing here of information.

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  January 16, 2012 at 8:55 am
  
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Leonard Smalls says:

January 16, 2012 at 1:00 pm

You know damn well that their staffs are reading this staff. The Reps. and Sens. are more likely to take note of a blackout here than on some of the tech sites planning them.

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Canines says:

January 16, 2012 at 11:07 pm

“A monopoly on the means of communication may define a ruling elite more precisely than the celebrated Marxian formula of monopoly in the means of production.”

— Robert Anton Wilson

http://boingboing.net/

Free template for the blackout:

http://boingboing.net/2012/01/…

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ProgressiveCowgirl says:

January 17, 2012 at 11:28 am

I can go without for a day for a good cause. And this is the best cause.

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1. Gray in Mountains says:
  
  January 17, 2012 at 8:51 pm
  
  I voted no but now I’d say shut the whole damn web down for a week
  
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