SOPA threatens social media and other tech industries

Yes, it could threaten TUG.

Time to start calling our representatives.

more at link
House bill threatens new technology innovation and American jobs

By Markham Erickson, Executive Director of Net Coalition - 11/14/11

There’s a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives this week that could determine the future of how we use the Internet. On November 16, the House Judiciary Committee will meet to discuss the Stop Online Piracy Act, referred to as SOPA. SOPA and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP ACT (PIPA), sound innocuous enough and their goal is a good one—stopping offshore, online piracy and copyright infringement.

Unfortunately, this legislation severely threatens lawful, U.S. technology industries by overturning the existing laws that have helped fuel the tech boom of the last decade and instituting new regulations which would stifle innovation and job creation. Both bills gut the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which for over a decade has helped Internet companies grow and flourish. The DMCA is one of the big reasons companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter weren’t crushed in their early days by harassing lawsuits.

 

I've signed more petitions about this I've lost count. (Oops -- I forgot -- I'm not allowed to sign petitions! Hosting music shows means I've given up my 1st Amendment rights! Silly me, when will I ever learn?)

 

I know. It's all a nightmare.

 

$%$@#$@#$$%#$%&%&*%&%$ - The DMCA & Copyright law is how i have stopped people from ripping off my photos and art, sounds like im going to loose lots of my protection for all the hard work and money that went into my images and art.

Its quite effective when people get a certified letter with a DMCA / Copyright violation and a hefty invoice for ripping off my work. Typically gets them calling my lawyer in a hurry to settle before a case is filed against them because then that invoice they got will look like chump change compared legal bills and judgements against them (thank goodness only have had to talk <5% of the violators to court, but have a 100% win rate when i have)

I know congress doesn't listen but they will when it affects there campaign money. I have a feeling more then a few photo industry groups are going to be headed to the hill shortly.

 

More info -- also petitions.

Now that SOPA is starting to get on the radar

Excellent post by Kos - short too. Good graphics
Congress is close to destroying the internet (no hyperbole)

The Petition to Stop Internet Censorship and the Great Firewall of America

 

Despite this being a serious subject (yes in Canada too) these video ads made me smile..

Video from you tube

 

Feds produce over-the-top anti-piracy films

 

When all else fails - lie.

 

The mark-up for the bill is scheduled for tomorrow (Thurs.) There's still time to call your congress people and tell them you don't support the bill.

Techdirt has a form you can use. Here's the article (with form): Call Congress Today And Let Them Know (Again) That You Are Against SOPA

 

If this passes, it'll be one more nail in the coffin of this country. FISA, the Patriot Act, NDAA, SOPA -- we're circling the drain. (Sorry for the mixed metaphors.)

 

Yeah, that's why I keep coming back to it. It's a horrible bill for so many reasons, but because it makes a web site owner responsible for the content that people post, I see it as a death sentence for social networks, especially the smaller ones.

 

I can only pray that, if it passes, Anonymous figures out a way around it.

 

If it passes, watch the lawsuits begin to pile up. SOPA violates the First Amendment in so many ways that I don't believe it will withstand constitutional scrutiny.

But even if it looks like a slam dunk case (which in a sane world it would be), the costs to litigate it are huge. Cases like this tie up resources in time, money, and staff time, so best to kill it before it becomes law.

(just remembering the Communications Decency Act litigation.....)

 

Exactly. As I always say, the courts are cold comfort.

 

The SOPA hearings are going badly. I canNOT believe how incredibly ignorant most of these congress people are.

 

I can. Look at all the other (expletive deleted) they've passed.

 

Oh, I know, it's just that it's painfully obvious when they start discussing technology they don't understand. And then one of them (Steve King) had the nerve to tweet that he was bored. He's talking about ending the Internet as we know it, and he's bored. ((&&%##& should be impeached for that alone.

 

He's also the one who wants to detain every Tom, Dick, and Harry without cause, who wants to expand police powers, who thinks Muslims Are Scary, and who wants to bomb I-forget-which-country for good measure.

Oh, yeah, and he passed a law making English the official language in Iowa. Ya know, because Iowans apparently didn't already know they were speaking English.

 

The SOPA markup has been temporarily halted!!!!

SOPA Markup Halted; Opponents Get a Little More Time

Yes!

 

HURRAY!!!

Maybe, with the passage of the NDAA, they got tired of screwing us and are just stopping for a break.