SOPA

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Reddit Users Team Up to Defeat SOPA Lawmaker Lamar Smith

A group of Reddit users think that Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX.), author of the Stop Online Piracy Act ( SOPA ), has got to go — and they've formed a Political Action Committee, or PAC, to give him the boot. TestPAC was first formed in January in the aftermath of the Internet community's widespread backlash against SOPA.

http://mashable.com/2012/04/05/reddit-pac-lamar-smith/

http://mashable.com/2012/04/06/sopa-lawrence-lessig/

SOPA 2.0: Why the Fight for Internet Freedom Is Far From Over

Is the fight over the Stop Online Piracy Act ( SOPA ) over? Not even close, according to Internet law expert Lawrence Lessig. Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School and director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. A world-renowned expert on Internet, copyright and trademark law, Lessig is an outspoken advocate for Internet freedom and net neutrality.

Hey Hollywood, Online Piracy Doesn't Hurt Your U.S. Box Office Returns [STUDY]

Remember SOPA ? Remember the urgency with which the bill's backers were trying to convince us that its intended target, online piracy, was a clear and present danger? Remember how those dastardly BitTorrenters were going to deprive us of a functioning, creative movie industry?

http://mashable.com/2012/02/13/online-piracy-box-office/

Second Lamar Smith ISP-Oriented Bill Draws New Protests

The Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act, sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Darrell Issa, offers a straightforward and transparent approach to the problem. Content owners could ask the International Trade Commission to investigate whether a foreign Web site was dedicated to piracy. The Web site would be able to rebut the claim. If the commission ruled for the copyright holder, it could direct payment firms like Visa and PayPal and advertising networks like Google’s to stop doing business with the Web site.

Beyond SOPA

The federal government, and thus US taxpayers, provide more money for scientific research than any other single entity. In order to provide access to these paper to scientists and the public alike, the National Institutes of Health adopted a policy in which research it funded would be made open access one year after its publication in journals, even those that are normally subscription only. Many publishers were not amused, and have pushed Congress to reverse the policy . So far, those efforts have failed, but that hasn't stopped this year's Congress from trying again.

Here we go again: Congress considers blocking government's open access policy

On SOPA

Several readers have asked me my opinion of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. I fear that in this case, the devil is in the details, so I find it hard to reach a strong view. But I have been disturbed by the relatively knee-jerk reaction of the anti-SOPA crowd.

Blogger argues for SOPA on the account stealing another's intellectual property.

From my understand SOPA is about much more than pirating. Or rather, it could easily end up affecting more than just piracy. by pattychanman Jan 22

Could SOPA Rise From the Dead?

The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act may have been the two most hated bills in recent legislative history and now they’re dead . Or are they? Congressman Lamar Smith “postponed consideration” of SOPA after the Senate postponed the similar PIPA legalization.

Still, legislating a global entity like the Internet is no simple task. Piracy can start far outside U.S. jurisdiction and, Koch told us, “U.S. law can only reach so far.”

Professor Koch offered no opinion on the contents of the bills — but agreed that they were hard to read, and needed a simplified version. by pattychanman Jan 22

“There are bills that do come back,” he said. In fact, “Many bills that do become laws were introduced in many previous Congresses.” He cites health care as an example: Congress has been wrangling over health care legislation for almost a century. And as we all know, a health care bill did finally pass both chambers; President Obama signed it into law in 2010.

It’s simply not unusual for bills on certain issues to get “introduced again and again and again over time,” Koch told Mashable. by pattychanman Jan 22

Web Darkness, The Day After: Why The SOPA Protests Matter

Might be worth reading. Might now be. by pattychanman Jan 22

www.sopa.bg/request.php?1457

Сдружение за оптимизиране на правосъдието и администрацията, СОПА: Дейност

Добре дошли в уеб-страницата на Референдум за Морската градина и крайбрежната зона на Варна Време е гражданите да вземат думата! [ Прочети още ... ]

What You Need to Know About SOPA in 2012

The Internet is in an uproar over the Stop Online Piracy Act. The battles lines are drawn. Big Media (the record labels, movie studios and TV networks) support the bill while Big Tech (search engines, open source platforms, social networks) oppose it. The bill, introduced to Congress by Representative Lamar Smith, is ostensibly supposed to give the Attorney General the ability to eliminate Internet piracy and to "protect U.S. customers and prevent U.S. support of infringing sites." There is a lot that may be wrong with SOPA, but putting the power to censor the Internet into the hands of the government is chief among citizens' concerns. The law would force Internet Service Providers and search engines to cut off access to infringing sites as well as give the government the ability to stop payment to those sites.

Yeah, the effects of SOPA are far too widespread to be decided by the United State gov. But, I highly doubt that it will be passed in it's current form given all of the signatures of the people against it. And, if signatures fail, there's always the power of Google's lobby army :) by pattychanman Jan 20

How To Get Around SOPA (If It Ever Becomes Law)

The what-if scenario few in the tech world want to consider - What happens if the Stop Online Piracy Act passes into law? - may be fixed by something as simple as a browser extension. Forbes and the Atlantic Monthly are both reporting that coders are already developing work-arounds. A developer calling himself Tamer Rizk launched DeSopa , a Firefox add-on that would allow users to visit sites blocked by the proposed copyright protection measures proposed under SOPA. "I feel that the general public is not aware of the gravity of SOPA and Congress seems like they are about to cater to the special interests involved, to the detriment of Internet, for which I and many others live and breathe," Tamer Rizk told the site TorrentFreak .

"SOPA would block access to sites accused of violating U.S. copyright laws. The measure has been called Draconian by opponents who say it would fundamentally change the free-flow of information across the Internet. Proponents, ranging from the NBA to Universal, say the measure is needed to block sites like The Pirate Bay, which flagrantly flaunt copyright laws and make content available for free without paying copyright owners.

DeSopa is the first fix, but it's easy to speculate that similar add-ons will soon be available in Chrome and other popular browsers. The add-on reverts Web addresses to the bare Internet Protocol address, allowing Firefox to navigate around blocks. The simplicity of the add-on is in and of itself a statement: if Tamer Rizk can make a work-around before debate on SOPA has even concluded, thousands more will follow, which will ultimately render the legislation ineffective." by pattychanman Dec 24

"Forbes and the Atlantic Monthly are both reporting that coders are already developing work-arounds. A developer calling himself Tamer Rizk launched DeSopa, a Firefox add-on that would allow users to visit sites blocked by the proposed copyright protection measures proposed under SOPA." by pattychanman Dec 24

GoDaddy's SOPA Support Sparks Calls for Boycotts and Domain Transfers

After outraging the Internet yesterday by declaring support for the Stop Online Piracy Act , Go Daddy has reversed its position in a smarmy press release. It tweeted the link to Ben Huh , CEO of the Cheezburger Network, who threatened to move his company's thousands of domains yesterday in protest. In the statement published on its website, Go Daddy maintains that "fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance," reminding us that the company has been working on the legislation. But it admits, in the face of massive boycotts, that "we can clearly do better."

The Internet Wins: Go Daddy Flip-Flops On SOPA

"After outraging the Internet yesterday by declaring support for the Stop Online Piracy Act, Go Daddy has reversed its position in a smarmy press release. It tweeted the link to Ben Huh, CEO of the Cheezburger Network, who threatened to move his company's thousands of domains yesterday in protest.

In the statement published on its website, Go Daddy maintains that "fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance," reminding us that the company has been working on the legislation. But it admits, in the face of massive boycotts, that "we can clearly do better." by pattychanman Dec 24

In an interview with Mashable shortly after GoDaddy announced its withdrawal of support for the Stop Online Piracy Act, new company CEO Warren Adelman said that the web hosting and domain registration service was acting purely in the best interest of its customers and would now "let others carry the ball forward" as the fiercely contested piece of legislation continues to make its way through Congress. "After digesting what was being said online and looking at how we got involved in the process, we came to the conclusion that it wasn't ready in its current state and that we'd step back and let others provide leadership," Adelman said. Adelman indicated that the vociferous public outcry this week against the House Judicial Committee's list of supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) — and against GoDaddy in particular — was the main factor in the company's reversal.

GoDaddy CEO: 'We're Not Cynical Folks'

Competitor Accuses GoDaddy of Delaying Domain Transfers

One of the competitors to domain registrar GoDaddy is accusing the service of purposefully delaying domain name transfer requests. Namecheap, which stands to gain a lot of accounts from businesses and consumers switching away from GoDaddy, accuses GoDaddy of withholding WHOIS information to Namscheap, delaying the transfer process. Update: GoDaddy has responded to Namecheap's accusations. See the statement below. Here is what Namecheap has to say about GoDaddy as written on the company blog :

Rep. Lamar Smith, whose congressional district in Texas encompasses the cropland and grazing land stretching between Austin and San Antonio, might seem an unlikely ally for Hollywood on Internet piracy. Smith, a Republican member of the Tea Party Caucus, is from an old South Texas ranching family and proudly subscribed to Field and Stream magazine as a college freshman. He earned a perfect "A+" rating from the National Rifle Association and, in a move not calculated to endear him to coastal elites, tried to increase fines for "indecent" broadcasts. Rep.

Meet SOPA author Lamar Smith, Hollywood's favorite Republican | Privacy Inc.

SOPA Sponsor Withdraws Bill From House

Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA , said on Friday that he is pulling the bill "until there is wider agreement on a solution." "I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy," Smith (R-Texas) said. "It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products." Smith also released the following statement on Friday: "We need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.