January 19, 2012 (The #sopa #pipa Edition)
"Going dark is cute, but the only way SOPA dies is if the tech industry starts lobbying just as hard as the entertainment industry."
- Mat Honan, Gizmodo
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012
You might say that by going dark, the Internet came alive yesterday. In a salute to the online activism, here’s #SOPA #PIPA developments and links to the rest of the day’s developments
PIRACY
Lawmakers begin to retreat from piracy bills in face of Web blackout
PIPA support collapses, with 13 new Senators opposed
Sen. Blunt withdraws support of piracy bill
Speaker Boehner: Piracy bill lacks consensus
Chamber Warns Senate It Will Be Recording Votes on PIPA
Unions Tell PIPA Backers to Keep the Faith
Piracy Bills' Supporters Move To Counter Backlash
A Political Coming of Age for the Tech Industry
SOPA protest gets intended effect
Rep Eshoo: More Than 10,000 Sites Join SOPA Protest
MPAA says Internet blackout ‘fails to enlist big sites’
When a petition isn't enough: SOPA protestors raise money to hire lobbyist firm
A history of IP violence: how SOPA's and PIPA's sponsors have waged war on the Internet
SOPA, Internet regulation, and the economics of piracy - analysis
For Online Protests, Throwing Spaghetti Against the Internet
DNC chief is backer of online piracy bill
Rep Issa pushes alternative anti-piracy bill
Anti-piracy bills pose tough choice for vulnerable incumbents in House, Senate
"Least restrictive means"? One way that SOPA could die in court - analysis
Why SOPA and PIPA Must Be Stopped - op-ed
Why I’m fighting SOPA: It’s hypocritical, onerous and dumb
What does SOPA mean for us foreigners? - analysis
Sen Ron Wyden’s Letter to the Internet
By the Numbers: 103,785
The SOPA Blackout Created a Big Problem - analysis
Web Sites Aim to Join Protests While Keeping Their Mojo
Online Piracy and Political Overreach - editorial
The False Ideals of the Web - op-ed
Wikipedia Absence Is Noted, but as a Brief Inconvenience
Bloggers in China sound off on SOPA blackout
Halt the Silicon Valley histrionics - editorial
Web protests over piracy bills while China slaps Internet curbs - editorial
Sen. Grassley pulls support for piracy bill
Google Protest of Anti-Piracy Upends Lobbying
Hollywood fights Internet protests with... TV ad, billboard, radio spot
SOPA: Obama could pay for decision in lost Hollywood cash
SOPASTRIKE The Day After - editorial
SOPA and PIPA: Room for compromise?
Post-SOPA: the path forward for addressing piracy
MORE ON CONTENT
No More New Penguin Digital Audiobooks For Libraries, Either [links to web]
Supreme Court: ‘Peter and the Wolf’ Can Be Removed From Public Domain [links to web]
Why Amazon’s Plagiarism Problem Is More Than A Public Relations Issue [links to web]
Songkick Strikes A Chord With Music Lovers [links to web]
Why most online communities are failures - op-ed [links to web]
Whose Life Is It, Anyway? [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
AT&T Raises Fees On Smartphone Data, But Adds More Data To Monthly Plans [links to web]
LightSquared accuses GPS industry of rigging the evidence [links to web]
More US Consumers Choosing Smartphones as Apple Closes the Gap on Android - research [links to web]
Department of Defense: Phones can’t outsmart troops [links to web]
TELECOM/BROADBAND
Next battle over Net ramps up worldwide [links to web]
From the Benton Blog: FCC’s Low-Income Phone Reform Needs to Connect and Tie Eligibility to People, Not Housing - op-ed [links to web]
Despite Budget Cuts USDA Committed to Expanding Broadband [links to web]
Google Fiber work in KCK is delayed by dispute over how its wires are hung [links to web]
Rebecca MacKinnon On Internet Censorship And How To Resist It [links to web]
Deputy cyber coordinator leaving the White House [links to web]
Why Broadband Adoption Matters - speech [links to web]
RADIO/TELEVISION
BBG Calls for Agency Restructuring - press release [links to web]
Third Circuit Won't Reconsider Super Bowl Decision [links to web]
National Public Rodeo [links to web]
News anchors' monster truck TV ad puts Channel 10 in ethical jam [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Pols' South Carolina Spending Blowing Away Expectations [links to web]
Ron Paul Campaign Sues To Stop Unauthorized Web Videos [links to web]
Why Newspapers Often Don't Call Out Politicians for Lying [links to web]
Obama 2012 Campaign Begins Buying Ad Time In Swing States [links to web]
Obama 2012 Campaign Seeks Ad Rates In States [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
EU moves early on Google antitrust probe [links to web]
Why Google's new search might be illegal [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
China Expands Program Requiring Real-Name Registration Online [links to web]
Web Takes Star Turn in China [links to web]
China Unicom Adds Record 3G Customers Undercutting IPhone: Tech [links to web]
A Second Here a Second There May Just Be a Waste of Time [links to web]
PIRACY
LAWMAKERS BEGIN TO RETRAT FROM PIRACY BILLS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso, Gautham Nagesh]
Lawmakers are beginning to retreat from online piracy legislation in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Thousands of websites went dark on Wednesday to protest the two Internet piracy bills, the House's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA).
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) became the latest lawmaker to public oppose SOPA and PIPA, calling them "misguided bills that will cause more harm than good." Sen DeMint was joined by Republican rising star Marco Rubio (R-FL), who dropped his support of the bill and said Congress should take its time in crafting new legislation that addresses the concerns raised by both the technology and content industries. PIPA sponsors Sens John Boozman (R-AR) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) also pulled their support. Sen Hatch is a major defection, as the senator is the co-chairman of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus.
Opposition is also building in the House. Two of the original Republican co-sponsors of SOPA, Reps Ben Quayle (R-AZ) and Lee Terry (R-NE), withdrew their support before the protests began, and scores of other lawmakers took to Twitter Jan 18 to affirm their opposition.
benton.org/node/110810 | Hill, The | Politico | The Hill – Rubio | The Hill – list of sponsors | Politico | Bloomberg
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PIPA SUPPORT COLLAPSES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
Members of the Senate are rushing for the exits in the wake of the Internet's unprecedented protest of the Protect IP Act (PIPA). At least 13 members of the upper chamber announced their opposition on Jan 18. In a particularly severe blow from Hollywood, at least five of the newly-opposed Senators were previously sponsors of the Protect IP Act. The newly-opposed Senators are skewed strongly to the Republican side of the aisle. An Ars Technica survey of Senators' positions on PIPA turned up only two Democrats, Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who announced their opposition on Wednesday. The other 11 Senators who announced their opposition on Wednesday were all Republicans. These 13 join a handful of others, including Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), who have already announced their opposition.
Here is the full list of new opponents. An * indicates a former sponsor.
Roy Blunt (R-MO) *
John Boozman (R-AR) *
Scott Brown (R-MA)
Ben Cardin (D-MD) *
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) *
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Marco Rubio (R-FL) *
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
benton.org/node/110809 | Ars Technica
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BLUNT WITHDRAWS SUPPORT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) became the latest lawmaker to reverse support for a controversial anti-piracy bill amid a massive Web protest against the measure. “While I believed the bill still needed much work, I cosponsored the Senate version of the Protect IP Act because I support the original intent of this bill — to protect against the piracy of lawful content," Rep Blunt said. He claimed that Senate Republicans voiced concerns about the bill that he assumed would be addressed. "But unfortunately, Senate Leader Harry Reid [(D-NV)] is pushing forward with legislation that is deeply flawed and still needs much work," he said. “I continue to believe that we can come to a solution that will cut off the revenue sources for foreign websites dedicated to counterfeiting and piracy that steal American jobs, hurt the economy, and harm consumers," Sen Blunt said. "But the Protect IP Act is flawed as it stands today, and I cannot support it moving forward.”
benton.org/node/110808 | Hill, The
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SOPA LACKS CONSENSUS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) lacks consensus and needs more work before it reaches the House floor for a vote. "Listen, this bill is in committee," Speaker Boehner said. "It’s had a number of hearings. It went through a markup, and it’s pretty clear to many of us that there’s a lack of consensus at this point. And I would expect the committee to continue its work to try to build a consensus before this bill moves."
benton.org/node/110806 | Hill, The
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CHAMBER WARNS SENATORS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Antipiracy bill critics were not the only ones reminding Congress that they would be keeping track of how they voted on the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). While newly-launched VoteForNet.com was getting voters to sign a pledge to support legislators who vote against the bills, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was reminding those same lawmakers in a letter that it could include their votes in its annual accounting of how they fared on key votes for chamber members, which includes PIPA.
"The Chamber urges the full Senate to fully debate and pass this important measure," it said in the letter. "Recent announcements by sponsors of the legislation have made clear that important issues of internet operation, security, and freedom will be addressed by a manager's amendment, which will modify provisions of S. 968 dealing with blocking of rogue sites. The amended legislation is a more narrowly tailored approach designed to target the worst offenders."
benton.org/node/110805 | Broadcasting&Cable
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UNION BACKS PIPA SUPPORTERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Television and film unions sent a letter of support to Sens Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) praising their support of the PROTECT IP antipiracy bill and asking them to keep the faith. "We know the pressure that you are getting to renege on your commitment," they wrote. "We are the voice of thousands of individuals who thank you for standing steadfast against this barrage and in support of the jobs of our members," they wrote. "They" constituted the American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Directors Guild of America, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, its Territories and Canada (IATSE), the Teamsters, and the Screen Actors Guild. The unions argue the bill "does nothing more than make it possible for the U.S. government to handle illegal foreign websites in the same manner it can already do -- and has been doing -- with illegal U.S. sites."
benton.org/node/110804 | Broadcasting&Cable
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COUNTERING BACKLASH
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Facing an online protest that appears to have gone viral, supporters of legislation that would crack down on piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites are trying to fight back by launching a new advertising campaign. Creative America, a coalition of movie studios, television networks and entertainment industry unions, launched a new campaign Jan 18 in support of the Senate's Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, in the House. The move came on the same day that thousands of websites went dark to protest both bills, which critics say will stifle innovation and free speech on the Internet. Creative America has launched banner ads on some websites and a huge billboard in New York's Time Square advising Internet users to read a book, listen to music or go to a movie during the 24-hour blackout of sites like Wikipedia, Craigslist and Reddit. The coalition also is launching television, radio and print ads in select markets in support of the two anti-piracy bills.
benton.org/node/110802 | National Journal
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A POLITICAL COMING OF AGE FOR THE TECH INDUSTRY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jenna Wortham]
With a Web-wide protest on Jan 18 that includes a 24-hour shutdown of the English-language Wikipedia, the legislative battle over two Internet piracy bills has reached an extraordinary moment — a political coming of age for a relatively young and disorganized industry that has largely steered clear of lobbying and other political games in Washington. The legislation has jolted technology leaders, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, who are not accustomed to having their free-wheeling online world come under attack. One response is Wednesday’s protest, which directs anyone visiting Google and many other Web sites to pages detailing the tech industry’s opposition to the bills. Wikipedia, run by a nonprofit organization, is going further than most sites by actually taking material offline — no doubt causing panic among countless students who have a paper due. It said the move was meant to spark greater public opposition to the bills, which could restrict its freedom to publish.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/technology/web-wide-protest-over-two-a...
SOPABlackout And the “Internet Spring” (Harold Feld)
benton.org/node/110800 | New York Times | Harold Feld
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PROTEST GETS INTENDED EFFECT
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Roger Yu]
The Internet community's rally cry against anti-piracy legislation is triggering its intended effect, though the final outcome remains far from settled. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill were flooded with calls Jan 18 in response to an online blackout by technology companies, including Wikipedia, Moveon.org, Reddit and thousands of other small sites protesting two related bills that would crack down on websites that use copyrighted materials and sell counterfeit goods. Some key lawmakers who've supported or co-sponsored the legislation are also backing off. Many of the sites that went dark Wednesday explained the legislation and entreated users to call their representatives by listing their phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
benton.org/node/110799 | USAToday
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10K SITES JOIN PROTEST
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA), whose district is home to many Silicon Valley critics of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), more than 10,000 Web sites have joined the protest of the bill. "History is being made by the more than 10,000 websites that have chosen to boycott SOPA by participating in today's blackout," said Rep Eshoo, who is a vocal opponent of the bill. "Members of Congress need to hear about the consequences of SOPA, and when they do, they'll learn of the serious consequences to the Internet the bill poses. It's time to pull up the emergency brake on this legislation."
benton.org/node/110797 | Broadcasting&Cable
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MPAA CRITICISM
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jonathan Easley, Gauham Nagesh, Brendan Sasso]
The Motion Picture Association of America, a leading supporter of the House’s controversial online piracy legislation, tweeted that the coordinated online protest against the legislation failed “to enlist big sites.” “Internet blackout against U.S. law fails to enlist big sites,” the tweet said. The tweet linked to a Reuters article reporting that although thousands of websites have gone dark to protest the legislation, some “big tech names including Facebook and Twitter declined to participate despite their opposition.” The MPAA tweet sought to draw a distinction between some of the smaller websites that are participating in the blackout, such as reddit, Mozilla and Raw Story, and the bigger sites that chose to forgo the blackout but protested in other ways. MPAA released a letter blasting the protests as an "abuse of power" aimed at turning Web users into “corporate pawns.”
benton.org/node/110796 | Hill, The
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SOPA PROTESTORS TO HIRE LOBBYIST
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
An enterprising group of techies who oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is taking a page from corporate America with a fundraising campaign to hire its own lobbyist firm. With millions of dollars being thrown at members of Congress on behalf of corporations that want the power to shut down websites suspected of intellectual property infringement, an eight-person team calling itself "We The Lobby" is trying to give ordinary people a similar way of influencing votes in Congress. Since getting the site online on Jan 16, the group has raised more than $1,300 toward its goal of $10,000, which will be used to lobby against both SOPA and PIPA (the Protect IP Act). "99% of the time this type of lobby representation is only available to corporate interests. It's never really available to the common person," said We The Lobby's legal advisor Adam Dunn, who has a law degree and said he used to work for a law and lobbying firm in Washington, DC. The rest of the New York City-based We The Lobby team is mostly made up of Web developers, designers, and software engineers.
benton.org/node/110793 | GigaOm
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SOPA/PIPA SPONSORS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Sean Gallagher]
Three members of Congress have played an outsized role in the advancement of copyright protection legislation over the past few years: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI). And while the tech industry has certainly attempted to sway them with campaign support, the media industry has been even more generous in response to their efforts on behalf of big content. The two chief sponsors of the Stop Online Piracy Act, Reps Smith and John Conyers Jr., are long-time fixtures on the House Judiciary Committee. Smith is chairman of that committee, and Conyers (the committee's ranking Democrat) held the chairmanship from 2006 until Smith assumed it in 2011. Sen Leahy, the author of the "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011" (PROTECT IP Act, or PIPA), serves as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and is the second-most senior member of the Senate. Among them, the three have played a role in every piece of major intellectual property legislation for the past decade. While they've hardly been alone in their efforts on behalf of content creators, they've certainly been on point for them.
benton.org/node/110791 | GigaOm
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ECONOMICS OF PIRACY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Julian Sanchez]
[Commentary] The purported economic harms of piracy offered by supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA) ought to be treated with much more skepticism than they generally get from journalists and policymakers. My own view is that this ought to be rather secondary to the policy discussion: SOPA and PIPA would be ineffective mechanisms for addressing the problem, and a terrible idea for many other reasons, even if the numbers were exactly right. No matter how bad last season's crops were, witch burnings are a poor policy response. Fortunately, legislators finally seem to be cottoning on to this: SOPA now appears to be on ice for the time being, and PIPA's own sponsors are having second thoughts about mucking with the Internet's Domain Name System.
That said, I remain a bit amazed that it's become an indisputable premise in Washington that there's an enormous piracy problem, that it's having a devastating impact on US content industries, and that some kind of aggressive new legislation is needed tout suite to stanch the bleeding. Despite the fact that the Government Accountability Office recently concluded that it is "difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the net effect of counterfeiting and piracy on the economy as a whole," our legislative class has somehow determined that—among all the dire challenges now facing the United States—this is an urgent priority. Obviously, there's quite a lot of copyrighted material circulating on the Internet without authorization, and other things equal, one would like to see less of it. But does the best available evidence show that this is inflicting such catastrophic economic harm—that it is depressing so much output, and destroying so many jobs—that Congress has no option but to Do Something immediately? Bearing the GAO's warning in mind, the data we do have doesn't remotely seem to justify the DEFCON One rhetoric that now appears to be obligatory on the Hill.
benton.org/node/110790 | GigaOm
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ONLINE PROTESTS COME OF AGE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nick Bilton]
The World Wide Web is still learning how to stage protests online, with people and companies trying different tactics, throwing spaghetti against the Internet and trying to see what sticks. The reaction from the Web on Jan 18 to two separate bills in Congress, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act, seems to have pushed the online protesting experiment a little further. Some of the reactions were borrowed from revolutions in the Middle East last year, when people changed their Twitter avatars to the color green to show support for the cause. This visual gesture seems to be borrowed from the physical badges people used to pin to a jacket or bag to protest wars and support causes in the past. Hunter Walk, an early employee at Google, acting on his own accord, set up a Web site called #BlackoutSOPA, which allowed people to easily change their Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus avatars, adding banners to the bottom of their photos that proclaim: “STOP SOPA.” Since the site was introduced earlier this month, more than 73,000 people had chosen to change their avatars. As a result, based on the number of followers these people have, more than 53 million people on Twitter and more than nine million Facebook users will potentially see these virtual protest badges.
benton.org/node/110788 | New York Times
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WASSERMAN SCHULTZ BACKS SOPA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is among the most prominent supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Rep Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) is the highest-ranking Democrat among the bill's original sponsors in the House; the bill's supporters have been targeted by the growing grassroots backlash against the legislation from the technology community. Rep. John Larson (D-CT), a member of the House Democratic leadership, is also a co-sponsor. Wasserman Schultz's support of the bill highlights daylight between her and President Obama.
The Congresswoman recognizes that we need to have legislation that balances a strong, open, and free internet, while at the same time protecting Americans from companies that profit by stealing and repackaging other people’s work,” said Mara Sloan, Wasserman Schultz's press secretary. “She has heard from constituents both for and against the legislation and she feels strongly that we need to find a balanced compromise.”
benton.org/node/110787 | Hill, The
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ISSA INTRODUCES OPEN ACT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Capitalizing on the publicity surrounding an unprecedented Web protest of two controversial anti-piracy bills, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) introduced his alternative legislation, which is much friendlier to tech companies. Issa's Online Protection & Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN) has eight Republican and 16 Democratic co-sponsors. Issa's alternative bill would empower the U.S. International Trade Commission, rather than the Justice Department, to go after the foreign infringing websites. The bill focuses only on a "follow the money" approach, requiring ad networks and payment processors to cut off business with the sites, instead of requiring other sites to delete links. The bill also does not include a private action for copyright holders to target sites pirating their material.
benton.org/node/110785 | Hill, The | B&C
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TOUGH CHOICE FOR VULNERABLE INCUMBENTS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Josh Lederman]
House and Senate members staring down difficult reelection races less than one year away face a tough decision as opposition to two Internet anti-piracy bills continues to mount. The two bills — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate — were championed by the entertainment industry as measures to prevent foreign websites from promoting copyright infringement with impunity. Both bills have roughly an even number of Republicans and Democrats signed on as co-sponsors, making it difficult for members to apply to this hot-button issue their usual calculus about where they want to position themselves on the ideological spectrum. In each of the two chambers, there are about a dozen members who are still on board with the bills but whose less-than-certain reelection prospects have raised the possibility that they could retreat from the legislation before further damage is done.
benton.org/node/110784 | Hill, The
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LEAST RESTRICTIVE MEANS?
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
[Commentary] How might the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) hold up to a court challenge? That means reviewing earlier efforts to regulate content on the Internet, among them the thankfully extinct Child Online Protection Act (COPA). Like SOPA, with its vague prescriptions against sites "dedicated to theft of US property" or that confirm "a high probability" of copyright infringement, the courts took a look at COPA and saw an overbroad legal mess that needed to be stopped, and fast. Here's how that decade-long legal debacle went, and why it is relevant to this controversy.
benton.org/node/110783 | Ars Technica
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WHY SOPA MUST BE STOPPED
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Brad Feld]
[Commentary] In the last 30 days, there has been a loud and clear backlash against two bills – SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act). SOPA is the House version of the bill; PIPA is the Senate version of the bill. For starters, I must emphasize that I agree that online piracy is a real problem — and, as an author, I deal with it all of the time — and that it is important to look for appropriate solutions. Unfortunately, these bills, both in their substance and, significantly, the process by which they have moved along, fail this test. As such, they reveal a disturbing picture about the policy process in Washington, D.C. and threaten to create significant and unintended consequences if they are passed. And their passage was a real possibility before the tech and entrepreneurial communities spoke up.
We are now in an untenable situation. Both SOPA and PIPA are toxic. My view is that anyone who supports these bills either doesn’t understand what they are supporting or is simply no friend of innovation. And, if you are no friend of innovation, I can’t support you in any way, as innovation is the lifeblood of our economy, our country, and what I’ve dedicated my life to. So, let’s call on our Congressmen to stop this nonsense, hit reset, and, if this issue is one that they really want to address, do so in a balanced, thoughtful way. It’s time to bury both SOPA and PIPA, and try again.
[Feld is the founding partner of The Foundry Group]
benton.org/node/110781 | GigaOm
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WHY I’M FIGHTING SOPA
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Barb Darrow]
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) may have been shelved by Congress, but the Senate’s PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA) still looms and Jason Hoffman can’t stop wondering how we got to this place. “It’s all just so dumb,” said Hoffman, CTO and founder of Joyent, a hosting provider that also offers IaaS and PaaS services. “The Senate bill is just as bad, if not worse than SOPA. These are both dumb bills and [are] a classic example of industry-specific lobbyists creating stupid laws.” Does that mean that the motion picture and recording industry has better lobbyists than SOPA opponents like Facebook, Twitter et al? Not really, it just shows that it’s easier to lobby when someone is supposedly a thief or a suspected terrorist, he said. “How do you lobby for freedom? That’s harder.” What really grates on Hoffman, is that the industries seeking protection — movie studios, record companies, publishing houses, broadcast networks — brought this mess on themselves. “Look at the list of companies supporting these bills. It could be a list of railroad companies a hundred years ago fighting the auto industry,” he said.
benton.org/node/110779 | GigaOm
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WHAT DOES SOPA MEAN FOR FOREIGNERS?
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Peter Bright]
The Stop Online Piracy Act is an American piece of legislation, and as a general rule, American legislation has only limited influence outside US borders. My fellow Europeans might, for example, marvel at the almost proud dysfunction that led to the creation of some American legislation, but ultimately it was irrelevant to us; a sideshow to be watched with bemusement. SOPA is a little different from most legislation, however, in that it has an explicit focus on websites that are, in some sense, "foreign." SOPA regulates the dealings between American service providers—most notably search engines, advertising networks, and payment processors (such as PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard)—and foreign sites. Search engines will have to remove listings of offending foreign sites; advertising networks will have to stop selling ads to offending sites; payment processors will have to stop processing payments from Americans for offending sites.
The delineation between foreign and domestic that SOPA makes is arbitrary and inaccurate. Canadians, whose IP address allocations are governed by the US-based ARIN, probably qualify as "domestic," and so may evade SOPA's regulations. So too might the Hong Kong-based MegaUpload, thanks to its dot-com domain name, and similarly the Switzerland-based RapidShare. The Pirate Bay might also escape SOPA's reach, thanks to a dot-org domain name. There's plenty of scope for interference with these sites' operations, through measures such as ICE takedowns. Just not necessarily using SOPA as the justification.
benton.org/node/110778 | Ars Technica
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WYDEN’S LETTER TO THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR)]
[Commentary] Protect IP (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are a step towards a different kind of Internet. They are a step towards an Internet in which those with money and lawyers and access to power have a greater voice than those who don't. They are a step towards an Internet in which online innovators need lawyers as much or more than they need good ideas. And they are a step towards a world in which Americans have less of a voice to argue for a free and open Internet around the world. Proponents of these bills say these arguments are overblown, but I say any step towards an Internet in which one person's voice counts more than another is a step in the wrong direction. These are bills that should give us pause. These are bills that should be studied and debated. Congress should consult experts and consider alternatives and make 100% sure that any step it takes to police the Internet doesn't change the Internet as we know it. This is why I put a hold on the Protect IP Act and its predecessor over a year ago and introduced a bipartisan alternative last month. The Senate, however, has scheduled a vote for Tuesday, January 24 at 2:15 PM to override my hold and move the Protect IP Act towards passage. This will be the deciding vote that determines whether PIPA and SOPA move through the Congress or are turned back for more sober discussion. We are up against a group of the biggest, most powerful, well-funded and well-organized interest groups in Washington. No one thought millions of Internet users would speak up or that those voices could overcome the power of these interests. Today you showed that the Internet is not just a platform for ideas, commerce, and expression, but also for political action that will defend those principles. Your voices must continue to be heard.
benton.org/node/110776 | Huffington Post, The
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103,795 SIGNED WE THE PEOPLE ANTI-SOPA PETITIONS
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Megan Slack]
A total of 103,785 people signed We the People petitions asking the Obama Administration to protect an open and innovative internet. A petition asking President Obama to veto the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) got 51,689 signatures, while 52,096 people signed the “Stop the E-PARSITE Act” petition.
benton.org/node/110775 | White House, The
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SOPA BLACKOUT CREATES A PROBLEM
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Alexis Madrigal]
[Commentary] "Going dark is cute, but, the only way SOPA dies is if the tech industry starts lobbying just as hard as the entertainment industry," Gizmodo's Mat Honan wrote. And Gawker Media's Joel Johnson tweeted, "Is it possible to appreciate protest blackouts and also think that they're mostly preaching to the choir?" Combined, the two tweets suggest support for anti-SOPA ideas, but a fear that the protests are basically useless because the target audience (Congress) won't be swayed by the blackouts. It's a sentiment that I've seen (re)tweeted in various guises over the last few days. In thinking about this critique, I recalled talking to a long-time organizer during the heat of the Occupy protests late last year. "Protests don't solve things," she told me. "Protests create problems that policymakers then have to solve." To be clear, by "create a problem," I mean to frame some set of facts and events in the world in such a way that they become a coherent bad, separate from the general messiness of the world. For web nerds, it's like dropping a shadow on text: suddenly, something is foregrounded. Much of that foregrounding isn't accomplished by the protests themselves, but by the media that spins out of such protests.
benton.org/node/110773 | Atlantic, The
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WEB SITES AIM TO KEEP THEIR MOJO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
In joining the protests against antipiracy legislation by blacking out some content or popping up political messages, some commercial Web sites were putting advertising revenue at risk. But they had to worry about another possible consequence too: hurting their ranks in search results. If search engines like Google scanned the sites and found pages missing or moved, it could take a while for them to re-establish their presence in search rankings. So the sites needed to use some tricks to protect their standings. Pierre Far, a Google employee who advises site owners, recently published a post on Google Plus offering tips on how to handle the situation.
benton.org/node/110772 | New York Times
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ONLINE PIRACY AND POLITICAL OVERREACH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] For months, it seemed as if Congress would pass an online antipiracy bill, even though its main weapons — cutting off the financing of pirate Web sites and making them harder to find — risk censoring legitimate speech and undermining the security of the Internet. But the unmovable corporations behind those bills have run into an unstoppable force: an outcry by Internet companies led by Google and Wikipedia that culminated in an extraordinary online protest. We are happy that the drive to pass antipiracy legislation has slowed enough that Congress might actually consider all its implications carefully. Lawmakers can now act wisely to create tools that can help combat the scourge of online piracy without excessive collateral damage.
benton.org/node/110865 | New York Times
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THE FALSE IDEALS OF THE WEB
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jaron Lanier]
[Commentary] The proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, has indeed included draconian remedies in various drafts, so I join my colleagues in criticizing the bills. But our opposition has become so extreme that we are doing more harm than good to our own cause. Those rare tech companies that have come out in support of SOPA are not merely criticized but barred from industry events and subject to boycotts. We, the keepers of the flame of free speech, are banishing people for their speech. The result is a chilling atmosphere, with people afraid to speak their minds. Our melodrama is driven by a vision of an open Internet that has already been distorted, though not by the old industries that fear piracy. It is not Facebook’s fault! We, the idealists, insisted that information be able to flow freely online, which meant that services relating to information, instead of the information itself, would be the main profit centers. Some businesses do sell content, but that doesn’t address the business side of everyday user-generated content.
To my friends in the “open” Internet movement, I have to ask: what did you think would happen? We in Silicon Valley undermined copyright to make commerce become more about services instead of content — more about our code instead of their files. The inevitable endgame was always that we would lose control of our own personal content, our own files. We haven’t just weakened Hollywood and old-fashioned publishers. We’ve weakened ourselves. [Lanier is the author of “You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto” and a researcher at Microsoft Research]
benton.org/node/110863 | New York Times
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WIKIPEDIA’S ABSENCE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Noam Cohen]
The day of protest at English Wikipedia brought measurable results, the site’s administrators reported: four million people used the tool Wikipedia had provided to find their member of Congress by entering their ZIP code; 90 million came to the site and learned about the antipiracy legislation that Wikipedia and other Web sites are protesting. But a visit to the fourth floor of the Mid-Manhattan Library, where dozens of people were at computers or using the free Wi-Fi, was to witness the hurdle Wikipedia faces in trying to urge offline action. Most people using the Internet there said they had not given much thought to Wikipedia or Internet regulation. Instead, they were writing e-mail, watching YouTube clips, poring over sports statistics.
benton.org/node/110862 | New York Times
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BLOGGERS IN CHINA
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Pierson]
Watching from China, where web censorship is practically a national hallmark, some can’t help but smirk and crack jokes about the controversy raging over Internet freedom in the US. “Now the U.S. government is copying us and starting to build their own firewall,” wrote one micro-blogger, relating China’s chief censorship tool to the U.S. plan to block sites that trade in pirated material. The Relevant Organs, an anonymous Twitter account (presumably) pretending to be the voice of the Chinese communist leadership, quipped: “Don't understand the hoopla over Wikipedia blackout in the U.S. today. We blacked it out here years ago. Where are OUR hugs?” Humor aside, the brouhaha has generated some strong opinions in the country Google fled, not the least because opponents of the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills are conjuring Chinese web censorship to promote their case. The consensus here, however, appears to be this: Americans should try a minute in our shoes before invoking online Armageddon.
benton.org/node/110860 | Los Angeles Times
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SILICON VALLEY HISTRIONICS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: John Gapper]
[Commentary] The internet industry scored a tactical victory this week with Wednesday’s blackout of sites such as Wikipedia and Reddit, and the White House’s decision to oppose parts of two bills intended to curb the file-sharing of films and copyrighted material. “Piracy rules,” tweeted Rupert Murdoch angrily. I hope not, because Silicon Valley damages itself with its persistent scaremongering over efforts to crack down on piracy. By refusing to engage in a serious effort to prevent it – instead of equating copyright enforcement with censorship, or with “breaking the internet” – it undermines its credibility. The blackouts were a dramatic gesture but curbing piracy does not “destroy the internet as we know it”. It would be wiser for Silicon Valley to cut the histrionics and help to fashion a decent law.
benton.org/node/110859 | Financial Times
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US AND CHINA
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The Internet is not only one of humanity’s greatest inventions but is itself a tool for creativity. Yet in the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, government is trying to curb its use. In Congress, two bills due for a vote soon aim to block Internet piracy of cultural goods such as movies. The legislation serves the interests of the entertainment industry, which loses income in the theft of copyrighted material. But the bills have ignited a Web-wide protest by Google, Wikipedia, and others that fear the effect of weeding out stolen content on their sites.
In China, the Communist Party has tightened its control over the Web even further in hopes of heading off a Chinese Arab Spring. It now requires microbloggers to register their names.
While actions in both countries differ in their motives and goals, they raise a common issue: Can a nation spur innovation and stay competitive if it stifles freedom on the Internet?
benton.org/node/110858 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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GRASSLEY PULLS SUPPORT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he no longer supports the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in its current form, dealing perhaps the largest blow to supporters of the controversial online piracy legislation to date. “It’s critical we protect the intellectual property rights of our businesses and fight online infringement, but at the same time, we can’t do harm to the internet, the Constitution, or the ability of businesses to grow and innovate," Sen Grassley said. "Internet piracy is illegal, and we need to find a way that works for all sides. The current Protect IP Act needs more due diligence, analysis, and substantial changes. As it stands right now, I can’t support the bill moving forward next week.”
Grassley's statement indicates he is open to changes to address concerns the bill would lead to censorship and stifle innovation online. His office clarified that he is not withdrawing his formal sponsorship of the bill, which is heavily supported by the entertainment industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and organized labor.
benton.org/node/110856 | Hill, The
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UPENDING LOBBYING
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Eric Engleman]
An online protest led by Google and Facebook Inc. against U.S. anti-piracy bills illustrates how Internet companies are changing legislative debate in Washington. “It’s unprecedented,” Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard University professor of law and computer science who serves on the boards of bill opponents Electronic Frontier Foundation and Internet Society, said. “You could see some members of Congress saying there’s no percentage in it for me to stick out my neck on something like this.” “These organizations have reinvented a lot of the ways we live, how we connect, how we absorb media,” said Rogan Kersh, an associate dean at New York University’s Wagner School who conducts research on lobbying. “They’re now trying to reinvent how we carry out democratic politics.”
Google and Facebook are boosting spending and their Washington presence to cope with a growing list of issues, including online piracy as well as consumer privacy and antitrust. Google hired 19 outside lobbying firms last year, and Facebook has two new outside firms, Senate records show.
benton.org/node/110855 | Bloomberg | GigaOm
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AD CAMPAIGN
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Creative America is fighting back. The group, which represents NBC Universal, Viacom, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Disney, and others in the TV and movie business, launched a new TV commercial today supporting SOPA and PIPA. A national print and radio campaign will follow. But the highlight is a black animated banner ad that reads "What to do during an Internet blackout; it suggests reading books, listening to music, or watching a movie. The banner will be shown "on a huge billboard in New York's Times Square throughout the day on January 18th as an answer to those opponents of the bills who are blacking out their websites," writes Creative America.
benton.org/node/110853 | Ars Technica
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SOPA AND HOLLYWOOD CASH
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Robin Bravender, Kenneth Vogel]
President Barack Obama regularly graces glitzy Hollywood fundraisers, studio execs have given big to his campaign, and big-name musicians and movie stars have stumped for him. But when it came time for Obama to have Hollywood’s back, his administration slighted the longtime Democratic force in favor of a powerful new ally — the tech industry. On Jan 14, the White House put out a statement that read like it was trying to split the difference on two anti-piracy bills pushed by Hollywood. But by making clear that it wasn’t enamored with the bills, the White House helped slow down momentum, sparking grumbling among entertainment industry insiders. That Hollywood can be taken for granted on one of its top priorities reveals a seismic shift in Democratic politics that could have a lasting impact in party fundraising in 2012 and beyond. Leo Hindery, a major Democratic donor whose New York media private equity firm owns cable channels, said Obama might have reason to worry about his entertainment industry fundraising base.
benton.org/node/110852 | Politico
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THE DAY AFTER
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] Yesterday was absolutely one of those days that reminds me why I stay in public advocacy. I’m a democracy junkie. Yes, I admit it. The site of literally millions of people remembering that they are citizens and not just consumers gets me juiced. The good news is that by every possible metric, SOPAStrike was an enormous success. We absolutely scared the poop out of members of Congress and broke through the infamous “Washington bubble” that separates our elected officials from what is actually going on in the real world. As a result, we forced more than 20 Senators to come out publicly against PIPA/SOPA, including a number of co-sponsors withdrawing support. Fantastic!
benton.org/node/110850 | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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ROOM FOR COMPROMISE?
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez, Kim Hart]
House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) this week tapped his loyal lieutenant, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), to bring the warring factions together and salvage his Stop Online Piracy Act. But this saga might not have a Hollywood ending. There are three big hurdles for the Senate and House bills that caused websites to go dark Jan 18 in protest. On paper, it boils down to these issues:
Should search engines like Google be included in the bill?
Can content owners like Walt Disney ask a court to force Internet companies to stop doing business with suspected pirate sites?
Who should enforce the law against international pirate sites — the Justice Department or the International Trade Commission?
After the success of the Internet blackout, however, not everyone is in a compromising frame of mind. Many lawmakers up for reelection in the fall would like to dodge the issue now that the voting masses have been riled up because it’s better to say on the campaign trail that you killed SOPA than it is to say you made it work.
benton.org/node/110849 | Politico
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A PATH FORWARD
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
[Commentary] Can we do anything meaningful about piracy without resorting to new private rights of action or to DNS blocking and search engine blackouts? We can. Though we certainly don't speak for anyone beyond ourselves, we believe that legislation drafted along the general lines sketched below could work—and could generate (some) agreement on an emotional issue.
Involve all stakeholders: By "involve all stakeholders," we don't mean what Washington usually means: put multiple behemoth corporations in a room to work out a deal. The public has a serious stake in Internet issues and needs meaningful participation.
Open drafting: We need to work on principles in public, then move towards legislation, not introduce maximalist legislation and make small concessions.
Hold real hearings: Piracy issues have been present for years, and legislative solutions will affect us for years. Let's hear from thoughtful people for a while and work to get it right.
Separate the key issues: Too often, the issues driving SOPA and PIPA are conflated. When backers want to scare people economically, they talk copyright infringement and use industry numbers. When they want to scare people on health and safety, they tout online pharmaceuticals that can turn your foot orange and counterfeit parts that could make your airplane crash in a fiery death spiral. These are not the same thing. Let's deal with them separately so that we accurately match penalties to threats.
Adversarial process: We'd like to see non-adversarial hearings reduced to an absolute minimum, especially in cases where the resulting penalties may be severe. Once judges have heard everyone and ruled after some deliberation, we have no problem with targeted action being taken against site operators who are truly violating the law.
Better definitions of "rogue" and "foreign"
Limited non-judicial remedies
Keep strong intermediary immunity
Follow the money: As for those enforcement measures, let's follow the money. Cutting off the funding to sites, by going after customer payments and ad network money, should force most bad actors to wither on the vine.
Escalation
International buy-in
benton.org/node/110847 | Ars Technica
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