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Draft Alternative To SOPA Released

Posted by samzenpus on from the try-this-flavor dept.

angry tapir writes "Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, have released a draft version of the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act and posted a copy at KeeptheWebOpen.com. The act is intended to be an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act."

9 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Don't want by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't want an alternative, to SOPA, or ProtectIP. I don't want any new legislation and regulations and useless laws to keep an outmoded business model alive.

    1. Re:Don't want by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't want a bill that goes off the concept of being extreme, then "compromise" on a "reasonable" bill. Our existing copyright, patent, and other IP laws have worked well for centuries before the DMCA and other rubbish.

      What worked for the framers of the Constitution should work for us now. End of story.

    2. Re:Don't want by The+Raven · · Score: 5, Insightful

      While I personally disagree with most of the changes to IP that have happened over the past couple decades, this is a shortsighted view. The constitution is good, but imperfect; we cannot hold it as some holy document, unchanging, the word of our holy fathers who art in heaven, blah blah.

      Most people, when they say 'Damnit, we should stop adding to the constitution!' really mean 'Damn, our government is huge and unwieldy, and I think it should be a lot smaller.' They just use 'follow the constitution' as a rallying cry to head toward what they really want (typically tighter fiscal policy and less government intrusion... ie, libertarianism). Please don't be 'most people'. The framers of the Constitution of the United States were unable to appreciate all the changes that progress has brought us, and there will be many changes that existing laws, even ones properly based on a constitutionally sound underpinning, do not handle well.

      'Follow the Constition' is not the end of the story; it was the beginning.

      --
      "I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
    3. Re:Don't want by Fned · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Our existing copyright, patent, and other IP laws have worked well for centuries before the DMCA and other rubbish.

      What worked for the framers of the Constitution should work for us now. End of story.

      To be fair, there's been a fundamental change in information technology of a sort never before seen in all of history since then.

      The old laws aren't good enough anymore. Copyright, in particular, is in need of a serious overhaul.

      What the authors of SOPA don't get, though, is that no law can make things go back to the way they were, unless that law breaks all the computers. New laws will have to accept the inarguable truth that, for many mediums, copies aren't worth anything anymore, that some other measure of worth is needed in order to encourage creative business models.

    4. Re:Don't want by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then, I hope that you've been writing to the White House, as well as the house and senate. I have been, for years now. Both George Bush and Barack Obama have heard from me, repeatedly on the subject of internet freedom. All of my representatives, as well as a number of representatives that aren't my own.

      This, and all similar acts, treaties, regulations, or whatever name it might go by, need to be shot down. I'm steaming over ACTA - a piece of shit born in secrecy, and jammed up all our orifices, despite any and all objections.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    5. Re:Don't want by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "have worked well for centuries before the DMCA and other rubbish."

      The beginnings of the current crisis predates the DMCA by about - ohhhh - 30 years, I'd say. Things started going out of kilter when the copyright laws started to be extended. And, let's blame Walt Disney and his company for much of that. In fact, I'll go further back, and say that things started to become unbalanced around 1950.

      Since you point to the DMCA specifically, I would say that things started to accelerate downhill around the time that Microsoft stated that "This software is licensed, not sold." Without googling, it seems that at one point in time, one could actually "buy" a copy of MS Windows. Then with the next update to Windows, you could no longer "buy" it, you could only rent it, so long as you agreed to that stupid EULA, and understood that Microsoft owns everything on your PC - if not the physical PC itself.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    6. Re:Don't want by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The authors of SOPA do very much get that. This is why their law is a first step towards breaking all the computers.

  2. Bait & Switch by uutf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Propose something terrible that'll never go through. If it succeeds LOL. If it fails, then propose something not quite as bad to try to get people to say "well, it's not as bad as what they proposed earlier.." Rinse and repeat until you get what you want - eventually you'll sneak one past the people fighting against it.

  3. Overton by woodsbury · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This springs to mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

    Do something everyone hates, then "compromise" with something slightly more attractive so that people think they're getting a good deal.