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Are SOPA Sponsors Violating SOPA Rules? Not So Fast, Says Ars Technica

Posted by timothy on from the wash-your-mouth-out-with-sopa dept.

TheNextCorner writes "Remember how the Stop Online Piracy Act would make streaming of copyrighted material a felony? Many of these lawmakers actually stream copyrighted videos on their websites." However, that's not the whole story. according to a followup at Ars Technica to the tweeted claims about streaming and SOPA. From which: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation tweeted the post, and it was re-tweeted more than 100 times. So are the sponsors of SOPA hypocrites? We're not fans of SOPA, so we'd love to have this story check out. But we're also a news site, so we contacted James Grimmelmann, a copyright scholar at New York Law School, (and judging from his tweets, not a SOPA supporter) to get his expert opinion."

11 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Not really the point by Weezul · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The core issue is how SOPA changes the liability structure to permit endless copyright troll lawsuits. It doesn't matter if your users are or aren't infringing if copyright holders can sue you endlessly regardless.

    --
    The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
    1. Re:Not really the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The same people who sued to stop the Camp Fire Girls from singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in the woods around a fire as a "public performance" will be making accusations and shutting down web sites en mass. Because all it takes is for a site to be a suspected offender.

    2. Re:Not really the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      http://copyrightcommerceandculture.com/2011/05/10/birds-sing-but-campers-can%E2%80%99t-unless-they-pay-up/

    3. Re:Not really the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The same people who sued to stop the Camp Fire Girls from singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in the woods around a fire as a "public performance" will be making accusations and shutting down web sites en mass. Because all it takes is for a site to be a suspected offender.

      Citation please. That song was written in it's modern form in 1881.

      In reference to the Girl Scouts, a source is here: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/communications/ASCAP.html

      They cite ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) as the perpetrators. A different source describes the particulars of how they decide who and what infringes: http://woodpecker.com/writing/essays/royalty-politics.html, which specifically says ASCAP has more than 80 arrangements of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" under copyright. So the song is public domain, but if you infringe upon their arrangement, they are going to get you.

      Note on sources: more reliable sources may be available, this is all I had time to find.

    4. Re:Not really the point by JoeMerchant · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ever notice that major restaurant chains don't sing the traditional "Happy Birthday to You!"?

      AOL Time Warner currently collects about $2M per year in royalties on "Happy Birthday to You", originally popularized more than 80 years ago.

      and, won't the world be such a better place when these rights are more vigorously protected? cough, gag

    5. Re:Not really the point by Culture20 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Did you never wonder why restaurant staff sing their own made up birthday songs?

    6. Re:Not really the point by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bimbo Newton Crosby, what this does is gives the big boys a really nice weapon to shut down the indies. If you'll remember one of the big corps (I think it was Sony, not sure as its early here) finally admitted all the stinks they've been throwing wasn't over IP but over control and as more and more people spend more and more time on the net they are feeling their grip on what the masses see and hear slipping away.

      For the first time in history we are seeing artists bypass the gatekeepers completely, going from 'viral sensation' to nationally known artist and this scares the living fuck out of them. They know in the age of YouTube and Twitter and a bazillion other non controlled communication circuits their ability to force artists into assraping contracts where they are basically nothing but cogs and "all your IP belong to us" is becoming a thing of the past.

      So all this will do is exactly what you have surmised and allow them to bury anyone who doesn't "play ball" to be crushed by endless trolling. While the big boys have their own law firms the little guys simply won't be able to survive endless lawsuits and will either cave in or go under.

      Sadly the only way we have to fight back anymore is massive piracy, there simply is nothing else. Any drops in their revenue they will blame on piracy anyway so boycotts do nothing, as the petitions which have gotten to the point there is actually a petition that says "Please quit ignoring us" prove if you don't have the money to bribe your congressman he sure as fuck isn't going to listen to you, so all that is left is the geeks.

      So please geeks, please keep working on anonymous distributed P2P and continue to work to make it so damned simple that Limewire looks like compiling your own kernel. The ONLY way we are gonna get rid of these bastards is to bleed them to death, there is simply no other choices left now. If all your IP laws are unjust and the people no longer have a say at the table the only just thing to do is completely ignore those unjust laws. Does anyone truly believe that if We, The People had any say anymore we would have crap like SOPA or "forever minus a single day" copyright laws?

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    7. Re:Not really the point by jd2112 · · Score: 5, Funny

      So we are safe if we sing it like Shatner?

      Not until he's been dead for 70 years...

      Not until i've been dead for 70 years.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  2. USA is going nuts for Hollywood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Go on america; keep on going, keep listening to the 1 % to try to get the rest of the world to do your bidding..

    This is one of many steps that have been taken to make the USA look silly & this will only be one more step towards the downfall of the usa..

    I used to be a big fan of the country; but i'm getting more & more convinced that the usa is nuts... & getting more & more so :)

    in 10 years the usa will be disconnected from the internet.. at least; the free internet the rest of the world will enjoy.

  3. Those who oppose this in congress.. by skr95062 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have been so opposed to SOPA due to the shift in who has to scan and check.
    The content companies got what they wanted with the DMCA.
    They then found out it was to much of a problem for them to check.
    Bad enough they did not know what others inside the same content holder were doing. (VIACOM v GOOGLE)
    Now they want to shift the responsibility over to the internet operators, eliminate safe harbor.
    In addition this gives the government even broader powers to shut down "infringing" internet sites, remove or change DNS.
    Some of these are legal in the country that the sites operate in.
    The US/Content companies are yet again trying impose there will on the rest of the world.
    Now several prominent members of congress have come out against it.
    This includes the former speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi.
    Hopefully enough of them will realize this is bullshit and come to there senses.

    I doubt it, but there is always hope.

  4. Re:I don't has list by Bratmon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here ya go:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act#Supporters