Who in Congress Supports SOPA and PIPA/PROTECT-IP? | SOPA Opera. Dodd's fall: Former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd's fall to shill - Courant.com. January 22, 2012|Colin McEnroe, To Wit We plain people of Connecticut would be well advised to limit the activities of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, simply because we cannot afford to have another current or former senator join the ranks of the intensely disliked. The Lieberman Problem has been lavishly chronicled in this space. Dodd now pulls down $1.2 million as the front man for the lobbying arm of the movie industry. As most people know, Dodd has devoted his recent hours — when not swanning around at the Golden Globes — to seeking the passage of the Stop Online Piracy Act, legislation that inspires such widespread revulsion that a whole bunch of major and minor websites went dark Wednesday in protest. Dodd called the blackout a "dangerous" tactic and an "an abuse of power. " What's more, Wikipedia is offered to all without charge, mostly though volunteer efforts.
SOPA shuddered to a stop late Wednesday as key senators pulled out their support, despite having been co-sponsors. PIPA Senate vote to be delayed, Reid announces. Posted at 11:16 AM ET, 01/20/2012 Jan 20, 2012 04:16 PM EST TheWashingtonPost Update, 11:16 a.m.: Rep. “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith said in a statement. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. In a statement, Reid said he would delay the vote scheduled for Tuesday to begin consideration until the Senate Judiciary Committee could make more progress. The announcement by Reid comes two days after Wikipedia, Reddit and other prominent Web sites protested the planned vote by blacking out their sites -- a move that drew widespread attention and spurred a swift reaction from many lawmakers who had previously been supportive of or ambivalent toward the anti-piracy measures.
Among the lawmakers who reversed their positions on the measures was Sen. Reid’s full statement is below: “In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. The Fix: S.C.
26 New Senators Oppose PIPA After Yesterday's Protests. PIPA support collapses, with 13 new Senators opposed. 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 Wednesday. In a particularly severe blow for Hollywood, at least five of the newly-opposed Senators were previously co-sponsors of the Protect IP Act. (Update: since we ran this story, the tally is up to 19 Senators, of which seven are former co-sponsors. See below.) The newly-opposed Senators are skewed strongly to the Republican side of the aisle. Marco Rubio, a freshman Republican Senator from Florida who some consider to be a rising star, withdrew his co-sponsorship of the bill, citing "legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government's power to impact the Internet.
" Another co-sponsor, Sen. Sen. Neither side is close to having a majority. Here is the full list of new opponents. Are There Any Politicians Who Know What PROTECT IP Is About? Senator Hutchison Thinks It's About Net Neutrality. Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. Last week, we wrote about Mark Lemley sending a letter to Rep. Anna Eshoo about the problems of PROTECT IP, and rather responding about that, Eshoo wrote him back about immigration.
Then, we had another story about Senator Kristen Gillibrand receiving a similar letter complaining about PROTECT IP... and she sent back a letter talking about the unrelated "internet kill switch" legislation. And, in the comments to that post, Paul told us about his own letter protesting PROTECT IP, which was sent to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison... and she wrote back about net neutrality: Dear Friend: Thank you for contacting me regarding the Federal Communications Commission's actions relating to the openness of the Internet. Is it really that hard to expect that, when we write our elected officials, they at least take the time to hear what we're saying? These 61 Senators are refusing to meet with their constituents before the critical Jan 24 vote on PIPA/SOPA. Oh Reddit, can you call them? : politics. PDM Editorial: Why We're Against PIPA/SOPA And For the Internet.
A Personal Democracy Media Editorial Last year, when Senator Patrick Leahy introduced the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and when House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Lamar Smith introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), they probably had no idea that they, along with a bipartisan group of cosponsors, would awaken a sleeping tiger. After all, the proposed legislation was fairly technical in nature and would cost the government little to implement. But in the days and weeks that followed, it has become exceedingly clear that Leahy and Smith and their allies in the entertainment industry misread the political landscape. Instead of a slam dunk designed to crack down on so-called "online piracy," the bills have backfired on Hollywood, fostering the emergence of a significant new force: a civic-business alliance to defend the freedom of online speech and sharing and to protect the basic values and structure of the open Internet. Now lots of folks are joining in. This is exhilarating.
Under voter pressure, members of Congress backpedal (hard) on SOPA. The public outcry over the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act seems to have gotten so loud that even members of Congress can hear it. On Thursday we covered the news that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was expressing second thoughts about SOPA's DNS provisions. He said he changed his mind after he "heard from a number of Vermonters" on the issue.
On Friday, several Republicans started backpedaling as well. SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith (R-TX) announced that he would be pulling the DNS-blocking provisions from his own bill. Meanwhile, six GOP senators who served on the Senate Judiciary Committee (which unanimously approved the legislation last year) wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking him to postpone a vote on PIPA to give them more time to study the legislation. "We strongly believe that the theft of American intellectual property is a significant problem that must be addressed," they wrote. Another member of Congress that has been feeling the heat from voters is Rep.
How to Recall US Senators and Congressmen. Below is a list of the senators and congressmen who voted to sell us and our American rights down the river as if we had never been born with them. The right to recall federal officials is firmly established by the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as a power "not prohibited" by the Constitution and therefore "reserved to the states" and "to the people. " As proponents of limited government, the Constitution was to be viewed as a straitjacket on the government, outlining limited powers, not a straitjacket on the people, whose rights only ended where they began to infringe on the rights of others.
The Tenth Amendment states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. " The Treasonous 383SENATE: YEAs ---86HOUSE: AYES 283 -- Do not let any state legislator tell you that you cannot recall senators or congressmen. The Supreme Court declared in 1897: A Longer View.
Rep. Smith Waters Down SOPA, DNS Redirects Out | Threat Level. Rep. Lamar Smith, front, and Sen. Patrick Leahy. Both lawmakers have offered major concessions to online anti-piracy proposals Rep. The announcement from the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee came a day after Sen. Both Leahy and Smith left open the possibility that redirecting could be brought back in at a later time. “After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision. It was not immediately clear whether Smith would also remove the requirement that, if an ISP decided not to redirect, it must employ other censoring methods as outlined in the bill such as IP address filtering to prevent American citizens from visiting sites the attorney general maintains are dedicated to infringing activities.
On Jan. 24, the Senate is expected to vote on whether to unwind Wyden’s hold, which would take 60 votes. Photo: AP. Anti-Piracy Bill SOPA, by Lamar Smith, Gets Texas Pushback.
Who in Congress Supports SOPA and PIPA/PROTECT-IP? | SOPA Opera. These 61 Senators are refusing to meet with their constituents before the critical Jan 24 vote on PIPA/SOPA. Oh Reddit, can you call them? : politics. ‘Rogue’ Attorney General Spreads MPAA-Fed SOPA Propaganda. Last weekend Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wrote a column in the Salt Lake City Tribune supporting the pending SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills. In his article Shurtleff argues that the bills are a necessity if the US is to "stop Internet thieves and profiteers. " An interesting take, but not very credible, as the Attorney Generally who may soon have the power to seize domains, simply passed off MPAA-penned propaganda as his own words.
It is no secret that the MPAA and other pro-copyright groups lobby politicians and law enforcers, but when a column by a prominent Attorney General appears to be written directly by the entertainment industries something is horribly wrong. A few days ago Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wrote an article in the Salt Lake City Tribune. The Attorney General’s statements do indeed bolster what the MPAA and other pro-copyright groups have said all along. Could it be that the column was partly written by the MPAA? We say yes. But there’s more. SOPA Opera Tells You Which Politicians Support Or Oppose SOPA--And Who's Paying Them. Who Will Be The First Politician To Be GoDaddy'd? Having GoDaddy back off its support for SOPA/PIPA is one thing, but it hardly kills off these bills. Politicians are still very much in support of the bills, and both bills are poised to move forward in Congress when it comes back into session in late January.
Of course, 2012 is an election year, which means that all of the members of the House who are supporting SOPA are up for re-election, and 1/3 of the Senate is up for re-election. If I were a candidate looking to challenge the incumbents, I'd be paying close, close attention to what happened to GoDaddy, and seeing how the "netroots" community was willing to band together quickly to make things happen. I'd be especially focused on this if I were running against one of the key supporters of SOPA, like Lamar Smith, John Conyers, Bob Goodlatte or Mel Watt (whose opponent should just play that video of him saying he doesn't understand technology, but believes the experts are wrong anyway, over and over and over again).
Are There Any Politicians Who Know What PROTECT IP Is About? Senator Hutchison Thinks It's About Net Neutrality. Shockingly Unshocking: Two Congressional Staffers Who Helped Write SOPA/PIPA Become Entertainment Industry Lobbyists. Two high level Congressional staffers who have been instrumental in creating or moving forward both PROTECT IP (PIPA) and SOPA have left their jobs on Capitol Hill and taken jobs with two of the biggest entertainment industry lobbyists, who are working very hard to convince Congress to pass the legislation they just helped write.
And people wonder why the American public looks on DC as being corrupt. Allison Halataei, former deputy chief of staff and parliamentarian to House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and Lauren Pastarnack, a Republican who has served as a senior aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee, worked on online piracy bills that would push Internet companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook to shut down websites that offer illegal copies of blockbuster films and chart-topping songs. Also, as the Politico article notes, a year from now, you can bet there will still be fights about either this or similar legislation. American politics is a disaster.