http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act

This is pretty hot in the news right now, but has been roiling for the last several weeks in most Internet circles.

Basically, it's a bill that would give the US DOJ the power to shut down any website accused of distributing copyrighted or pirated content...as in they control whether you can connect to BCP at all via DNS at the ICANN level. The spirit of the bill was originally to help protect Hollywood based studios whose products are being pirated on foreign based servers, but the end result will be simple censorship, enforced at a federal level. It would be a very, very bad precedent for free speech on the Internet.

Please visit americancensorship.org, or simply Google "SOPA" and you'll get all the information you need. Contact your congresspeople to make sure they know that voting YES on this bill will spell the end of their office.

The hosting/DNS registrar company GoDaddy was an original supporter of the bill, and suffered some devastating publicity because of it.

I've put off posting anything about this until now, and I considered joining other higher profile websites in a Jan 18 "blackout" to raise awareness of what this law could mean. But I don't want to deprive you guys of BCP, either, so do you part to spread awareness and oppose these 2 bills.

Also, please avoid taking this to Hot Air. The message is simple, not much to debate. Even the White House Opposes it.

+1

A true example of the tail wagging with the dog.

I'm not one to normally post about anything political... unless it directly affects my website. Looks like this one is on its way to hell though.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/white-house-blasts-internet-blacklisting-bills/

Let's not stop monitoring the issue, though--it sounds like it may not be dead, just under general anasthetic while being given a face-lift. According to http://m.zdnet.com/blog/networking/sopa-derailed/1897 : "U.S. House Judiciary Committee Member Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA)...said, 'Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote.'”

Here is the message I submitted to my local rep's vis their online contact forms. I know Senator Boxer is a favorite of the BCP community and the mere mention of her name will cause a visceral reaction to some, but this issue transcends political preference and affects all of us equally. She gets to vote on this, and we need her vote as much as anyone else's. Everyone is free to use any or all of this in your own communications to your rep's. I believe that a very strong showing now among the internet public on this issue will insure that they think twice before trying this again in a year, camouflaged within some other bill.

Senator Boxer,

Please do not support the SOPA and PIPA bills, or any future measures along those lines. The internet is the one and only thing that the government hasn't managed to screw up, or tax, or regulate and it must be kept that way. I'm afraid we're very serious about this, and there is a very large movement among internet users to hold you, and/or any other representatives accountable if ANY current or future legislation is put forward in an attempt to exert any control, taxation, or censorship on the internet. The internet is one of the greatest examples of American ingenuity, achievement, and American constitutional freedom from government meddling. Don't screw it up! The internet community will publicize your votes for or against the SOPA and PIPA bills AND any future bills seeking to reduce the freedom or nature of the internet. I would and will vote against you and any other representative who supports ANY bill or rider or legislation of any type that infringes in this area. Thank you for strongly coming out against SOPA, PIPA, and any similar future legislation.

William Berle
Canoga Park, CA

Your 1st amendment rights don't allow you to infringe on somebody else's copyright. At face value I think the proposal makes perfect sense. I certainly don't feel threatened or suppressed by it.

stewartb wrote:Your 1st amendment rights don't allow you to infringe on somebody else's copyright. At face value I think the proposal makes perfect sense. I certainly don't feel threatened or suppressed by it.

So if I copy and use Bill's letter to Boxer he can sue me for plagiarism

EZFlap wrote:The internet community will publicize your votes for or against the SOPA and PIPA bills AND any future bills seeking to reduce the freedom or nature of the internet

...until they get censored, anyway

stewartb wrote:Your 1st amendment rights don't allow you to infringe on somebody else's copyright. At face value I think the proposal makes perfect sense. I certainly don't feel threatened or suppressed by it.

No, but the First Amendment allows me to continue publishing. The point is that these bills are so horribly flawed that they do barely anything to stop actual piracy, and everything to crush legitimate websites.

If you, Stewartb, post copyrighted material on my website, backcountrypilot.org, this bill will allow the federal government the power to shut down my website at the ICANN level (top level DNS,) such that you can no longer even connect. Of course copyright infringement is against the law, but this bill is too heavy handed and sets a very negative precedent for whimsical censorship. Did you watch the video????

Let me help put this in perspective:

AM/PM mini marts are getting held up frequently by scumbags brandishing Smith and Wesson .40 cal pistols, so the Convenience Store Association of America lobbies congress with a nice 94 million dollar campaign to pass a law that allows the federal government to confiscate all Smith and Wesson pistols from their rightful owners across the country without appeal or due process. Does that seem right? You're an Alaskan for crying out loud, you really want more federal power to squelch us?

You won't feel threatened by it until it's too late and your favorite sites become inaccessible. If that happened here, I'd throw in the towel. Watch the video.

Even Google and Wikipedia agree.
http://www.google.com/landing/takeaction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

stewartb wrote:Your 1st amendment rights don't allow you to infringe on somebody else's copyright. At face value I think the proposal makes perfect sense. I certainly don't feel threatened or suppressed by it.

Both bills bypass due process as we currently know it in a single, narrow area of the law that is guaranteed to get broader and broader the day it becomes law.

If you have a problem with piracy, that's fine. But if you feel that due process is too pesky and inconvenient for you, I know where you stand on American jurisprudence in general. If you think you can live without traditional due process, there are folks who would love to take away something you hold near and dear for their personal or corporate gain.

I just sent courteous but to-the-point e-mails to my representative and both senators, especially the one who supports S. 968. All three say they listen to their constituents, so I provided some "listening" material.

"I refuse to not make my voice heard" Stuart

I hope we don't see more of these pictures

SOPA has been pretty much abandoned, but apparently two more bills have already popped up with similar language. This fight is far from over. Those corporations with enough money to buy representatives and senators want to shape the landscape of the Internet for their own gain. "Fighting piracy" is no reason to suspend due process and stifle free speech... <insert Benjamin Franklin quote>

Keep the Internet free (from oppression and government censorship.)

Also of relevance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Count ... _Agreement

The internet as we know it is doomed. I expect it will be as manipulative and stupid as network television in 10 years.