January 2012

Biggest Day Ever of Online Protest in English

[Commentary] Daily Headlines readers know we devoted lots of digital ink this week to the ongoing debates over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) [#SOPA and #PIPA, if you’re Tweeting at home]. Last week, we ended our weekly round-up saying, “The developments on these two bills are likely to be one of the most-watched issues as Congress returns to Washington.” We’re proud to announce we are an early nominee for “Understatement of the Year.”

5 Lessons From The SOPA/PIPA Fight

[Commentary] I think we can learn a few lessons here, many of which illustrate the main conclusions of Baumgartner et. al.'s excellent book Lobbying and Policy Change: Why Wins, Who Loses, and Why.

Lobbying isn't all about money: Hollywood badly outspent Silicon Valley on this issue and still lost. This is completely typical. There's no evidence that better-funded groups systematically win policy fights.
But money matters a lot: That said, it's extraordinarily difficult to get on the agenda if you don't have some money to spend. The fact that Silicon Valley firms like Google now have Washington offices and are clearly capable of offering both campaign contributions and the "legislative subsidy" of policy analysis to people who champion their causes was critical to getting opposition off the ground.
In America, always bet on change not happening: To pass something, you need to run the table -- committees, two different houses of congress, the president -- while to block something you only need one stopping point.
Polarization is an illusion of agenda-control: The parties are polarized in part because the leadership deliberately promotes a polarizing agenda. Leaders deliberately put issues that unite their caucuses on the agenda. When happenstance causes the agenda to be dominated by something outside the main structure of partisanship, the polarization dynamic breaks down.
Public engagement matters: Members of Congress, just like regular people, only have deep commitments to a few priorities. When they suddenly learn that they've misjudged how many of their constituents care about something and which side they're on, they're happy to change positions.

Why doesn’t Washington understand the Internet?

[Commentary] In late 2010, on the eve of the Arab Spring uprisings, a Tunisian blogger asked Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah what democratic nations should do to help cyberactivists in the Middle East. Abdel Fattah, who had spent time in jail under Hosni Mubarak’s regime, argued that if Western democracies wanted to support the region’s Internet activists, they should put their own houses in order. He called on the world’s democracies to “fight the troubling trends emerging in your own backyards” that “give our own regimes great excuses for their own actions.” The ominous developments that Abdel Fattah warned about are on display in Washington today in the battle over two anti-piracy bills.

This fight is just the latest example of how difficult it is for even an established democracy to protect both intellectual property and intellectual freedom on the Internet — all while keeping people safe, too. It is a challenge that Congress has historically failed to meet. But Washington is waking up to the new reality: Politics as usual is not compatible with the Internet age, especially when it comes to laws and regulations governing the Web. And the Internet’s key players — along with millions of passionate users who have tended to view Washington as disconnected from their lives — are realizing that they can’t ignore what happens on Capitol Hill.

Both sides must now face the long-simmering culture clash between Washington and the Internet, with implications that go far beyond a temporary Wikipedia blackout.

Washington targets isolated, static problems. On the Web, everything is connected and changing quickly.
Lobbyists exert huge influence in Washington. Major Internet players were late to the game.
To stay safe in real life, we give up some liberty. Online, we’re not ready to sacrifice freedoms.
Washington is driven by geography. The Internet is global.

US website blackout draws praise in China

Chinese Internet users are applauding the U.S. tech industry's Web "strike" this week to protest federal anti-piracy bills that would give Uncle Sam greater control of cyberspace.

As websites including Wikipedia shut down and millions of Americans complained to lawmakers about the potential for government censorship, Chinese netizens spoke admiringly of the public rebellion. Such a display in China would be nearly impossible right now, given Beijing's tight grip on citizens' online activities. "Only an American company could protest the way Wikipedia or Google has to the government," said Zhao Jing, a closely followed blogger in Beijing who uses the pen name Michael Anti. "A Chinese company would never get away with that." China's communist regime has long exercised control over the Web, forcing Internet firms to censor content that authorities deem offensive or critical of their legitimacy.

Hollywood regroups after losing battle over anti-piracy bills

After a week in which their anti-piracy legislation got derailed by the full force of the Internet lobby, the mood in Hollywood was one of anger, frustration and a growing resignation that the entertainment industry will be forced to accept a much weaker law than originally envisioned. The developments were a setback for former Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT), who has made fighting online piracy his No. 1 priority since becoming head of the Motion Picture Association of America last March.

He was selected in part for his political savvy and 30-year experience in Congress. Dodd said that the industry would now seek a compromise version of the legislation. He acknowledged that Hollywood lost the public relations battle and blamed his Silicon Valley counterparts. "You've got an opponent who has the capacity to reach millions of people with a click of a mouse and there's no fact-checker. They can say whatever they want," he said. "We need to engage in a far better education process. People need to know … that 98% of people who work in the entertainment industry make $55,000 a year. They're not moguls and they're not walking red carpets." That message, however, has so far failed to resonate with the American public, which has shown more sympathy for the tech companies promoting the idea that the bills would hurt legitimate websites and stifle freedom of speech on the Web. Hollywood now must conduct PR damage control and convince tech-savvy Americans that it isn't the bad guy.

MPAA chief still wants action on piracy

Motion Picture of America Association CEO Chris Dodd reacted to the shelving of controversial online anti-piracy legislation by renewing his call for Congress to pass stronger laws to protect American creators from copyright violations by foreign websites.

Dodd's statement came shortly after both House and Senate leadership indicated they would be delaying the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, respectively, a significant blow to Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment industry, which lobbied heavily in favor of the bill. "With today’s announcement, we hope the dynamics of the conversation can change and become a sincere discussion about how best to protect the millions of American jobs affected by the theft of American intellectual property," Dodd said. "The threat posed by these criminal operations has been widely acknowledged by even the most ardent critics. It is incumbent that they now sincerely work with all of us to achieve a meaningful solution to this critically important goal.”

Consumer group accuses Hollywood of 'threatening politicians'

Consumer group Public Knowledge accused the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its head, former Sen. Chris Dodd, of trying to intimidate lawmakers into supporting a pair of controversial anti-piracy bills.

In recent days, Dodd and other top Hollywood figures have threatened to cut off campaign donations to politicians who do not support their effort to crackdown on online copyright infringement. "Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake," Dodd said on Fox News.

"Threats like that are no way to conduct the serious, sober discussions needed to figure out exactly what ails the movie industry and to come up with solutions," Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge, said in a statement. "It was Hollywood’s arrogance in pushing bills through Congress without proper vetting that caused them to be withdrawn; these threats also are not helpful to figuring out what ails the industry and how to solve their issues. As the Blackout Day showed, that type of thinking is how the old politics works."

White House declines MPAA's call to hold piracy summit

The White House appeared to brush back a suggestion from the Motion Picture Association of America that President Barack Obama step in on negotiations over controversial online piracy legislation.

Sen Wyden: Piracy debate shows Web is catalyst for change

The leading opponent of the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate said the decision to shelve the bill shows the Internet has the ability to affect change in Washington.

"The events of the last week demonstrate clearly that the Internet is the catalyst for the important changes Americans want in government," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), referencing the week of online protests against PIPA and its House counterpart the Stop Online Piracy Act. “Senator Reid’s decision to pull PIPA from the floor is the right one. Legislation impacting the future of the Internet is simply too important to get wrong," he said. "The problem with the approach taken by PIPA and the House, Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is that it treats the Internet as if its only purpose was to promote infringement," Sen Wyden added. "That approach not only resulted in remedies that would have done irreparable harm to online innovation, openness and free speech, it neglects the considerable opportunities presented by today’s digital economy." Sen Wyden said proponents of PIPA and SOPA were correct in that online piracy is a problem, they just chose the wrong method to tackle that problem. He said his OPEN Act is a good place to restart the conversation on the issue, but he wants to ensure all sides are able to weigh in with their views. Sen Wyden noted OPEN employs a "follow the money" approach by cutting off revenue streams to bad actors, a tactic approved by Google and other Web firms. He said his bill would not support a private right of action, censorship or do any damage to the architecture of the Internet. "There is no question PIPA was a censorship bill," Sen Wyden said. "I think Congress ought to focus on doing no harm."

Winners and losers in online piracy battle

The debate over online piracy isn’t over, but some clear winners and losers emerged from this week's dramatic showdown.

Winners include Google, which has helped rewrite the rules on political advocacy. Google used traditional lobbying tactics, such as meeting with lawmakers, to make its case. But it was the company's dramatic participation in Wednesday's Web protest that helped beat back the piracy bills. Other winners: Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR), the two main opponents to the bills; and Reddit – the quirky discussion board and news aggregator caught the attention of Washington. It was the first major site to announce that it would blackout in protest of the piracy bills before other big names, such as Wikipedia, joined in.
Losers include bill sponsors Rep Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the respective chairs of the Judiciary Committees, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Chamber of Commerce.
The outcome is more mixed for President Barack Obama. He pleased Internet activists and tech companies when his Administration released a statement expressing concerns with the piracy bills. But he also disappointed Hollywood, which has also been one of his party’s most important allies. Movie studio chiefs said they were disappointed, and one executive told Deadline.com he will not "give a dime anymore" to President Obama. Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch, who has never been much of an Obama fan, accused the president of throwing in his "lot with Silicon Valley paymasters.”

Benton

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