FIGHT SOPA. SOPA / PIPA. SOPA Shelved – For Now. America’s contentious SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) bill has been shelved until “greaterconsensus” on its scope can be reached. Congress’ indefinitepostponementof SOPA comes hours after SOPA’s sponsor – Republican Lamar Smith – agreed todrop the controversial ‘internet blocking’ provision from the bill, and aday after the White House drew a line in the ground over its position on the bill.
The White House argued that it”would not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet”. Which pretty much sums SOPA up in one sentence. PIPA-d to the Post The bad news is that whilst this battle may have been ‘won’ by the valiant voices of the internet theindustrylobbyists ‘war’ on the issue is far from over.A remodelled version of the SOPA bill could yet beresurrected, although Washington analysts believe that this is unlikely to happen this year. BlackoutSOPA.org - Change your profile picture to protest SOPA! English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout. English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout From the Wikimedia Foundation Jump to: navigation, search To: English Wikipedia Readers and Community From: Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Date: January 16, 2012 Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here).
This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made. It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web. Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. But although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence is not. Make your voice heard! Views. Why The Movie Industry Can’t Innovate and the Result is SOPA. This year the movie industry made $30 billion (1/3 in the U.S.) from box-office revenue. But the total movie industry revenue was $87 billion. Where did the other $57 billion come from? From sources that the studios at one time claimed would put them out of business: Pay-per view TV, cable and satellite channels, video rentals, DVD sales, online subscriptions and digital downloads.
The Movie Industry and Technology ProgressThe music and movie business has been consistently wrong in its claims that new platforms and channels would be the end of its businesses. 1920’s – the record business complained about radio. Why was the movie industry consistently wrong? Technology InnovationThe movie industry was born with a single technical standard – 35mm film, and for decades had a single way to distribute its content – movie theaters (which until 1948 the studios owned.) Regulation/LegislationBut why does the movie business think their solution is in Washington and legislation? History and success. Censorship?