Big win for the common people.
From that article -
Oh, fuck off, Lamar Smith. That isn’t what this is about at all.
I noted that, too. No politician wants to suggest that any American is an online pirate and a thief.
Long live the sopa!
I wouldn’t start dancing on it’s grave yet. Really bad legislation backed by rich, powerful interests has a way of reappearing again and again, like a horror movie villain. They’ll try attaching provisions from this to every spending bill for the next decade. I’m ashamed of the support this thing got from folks who should have known better, like Patrick Leahy - who I presume was offered a really well-paid job as an industry lobbyist.
SOPA and PIPA are a worse version of the DMCA, memorably described by Frank Zappa as “the equivilant of treating dandruff by decapitation.”
Big win for common sense.
Piracy is a problem, but SOPA and PIPA are both wrongreaded abominations that wouldn’t just throw thew baby out with the bathwater - they would have thrown the baby out and kept the bathwater.
The problem is calling copyright violation “piracy” and “theft”, especially hearing it from representatives of an industry notorious for cheating the very artists they claim to champion.
That said, I do think I would have to defend the shutting down of MegaUpload.com by the Justice department. I used it myself, so I know the piracy that was going on there. (I take the fifth regarding my involvement in said piracy).
My point being: SOPA and PIPA are way too heavy handed. Neither of those bills would have stopped piracy, but they would have caused a shitload of collateral damage.
Clarification: The above post was an addendum to my earlier post and not a direct response to gaffa. However, I think it still holds to at least part of gaffa’s post. I don’t want to split hairs between “piracy” and “copyright violation”
But screw it. Let’s just all dance on the grave of SOPA. And PIPA, the bitch everybody seems to forget but still needs to die. Preferably with fire.
I suspect the next gambit will be to attach it to something the other congresscritters will be afraid to oppose, and that they can use to demonize everyone who stands up to them. Either some flag-waving piece of tripe, so they can call opponents “unAmerican”, or an alleged anti-porn bill that really has less to do with porn than with weaseling in SOPA-like provisions. It probably depends on which party the lapdog presenting it belongs to.
In the meantime, though, I take some satisfaction in the fact that we managed to scare the crap out of some politicians.
This was some very scary legislation and I’m quite happy to see that it’s defeated, at least for now. Essentially mutilating the internet beyond recognition is one thing, but the over-arching political and big-business censorship it would have enabled would have been the worst encroachment on personal freedoms of probably any bill in my lifetime, even worse than stuff like PATRIOT Act and the recent NDAA. I’m probably hoping against hope, but it would be great if the counter-movement doesn’t just end with having defeated these bills but can be a catalyst toward undoing some of the other obvious power grabs and encroachments on our freedoms.
Specifically on intellectual property though, I think we really need to reevaluate intellectual property in a modern world, not just legally, but from the standpoint of a publisher/promoter, a creator, and as consumers individually and as a society. In times past, there was some amount of time and risk and effort involved in profitting from the works of others, but in the internet age, ideas are shared instantly with virtually no cost or effort. Seeing the evolution of digital music in the last dozen years or so alone shows that we can adapt these concepts to the modern age in a way that, more or less, lets us make good use of the technology and still ensure that the artists receive a due benefit for their work. There’s still a long way to go, but this is exactly the sort of legislation that would have set the whole process back years or longer.
I don’t think delaying the vote “until a compromise is reached” = dead.
That’s what I expect - it’s been postponed, not killed, and they’ll sneak it back in when no one’s watching, like the incredibly stupid anti-online gambling legislation that got enacted a few years ago.
It’s hardly hair splitting when you slap the label “piracy” on copyright violation. There are real pirates in this world, and they kill people. Nobody has ever died of a copyright violation. And even “theft” is a stretch, as the only losses are theoretical ones, potential sales, and the “victim” still has the original item.
It is like describing an unwanted pat on the back as “assault” or “rape”.
Honestly, I doubt that. Some very big corporate players are against this, so it’s not just the little man. Fucking Google has come out against it. Google!
Money talks, and money will keep it away.
We will see other bills attempting to reign in copyright infringement, but that’s not necessarily bad. The authors of those future bills just have to get it better than SOPA and PIPPA.
On edit: gaffa, “piracy” is just a word. Don’t read to much into it.
I see, so you’re not familiar with the use of metaphor?
And I bet I could find instances of people dying from copyright violation – authors who had their work stolen and couldn’t afford food or medical care.
People who say that taking intellectual property isn’t theft are being self-serving – they’re generally just trying to salve their consciences while trying to save themselves $15.00 for a CD or $49.95 for a video game.
Meh, I agree theft is a misnomer. But using “piracy” to describe copyright violation is more then four hundred years old. Its as valid a use of the word “pirate” as using it to describe people that raid shipping.
Plus the anti-copyright parties in Europe call themselves the “pirate party”. Its not like use of the term is some RIAA conspiracy.
The best analogy I can think of regarding SOPA and PIPA is that it’s burning a forest down in order to kill some foxes that managed to get into the hen house.
I hope you’re right. I’m afraid I am. 
Oh puh-leased. Please tell me you were TRYING to be ridiculous.
Please?