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Lawmakers Intent On Approving SOPA, PIPA
snydeq writes "U.S. Congress appears likely to move forward with SOPA and PIPA, despite widespread opposition, IDGNS reports. The U.S. Senate is expected to begin floor debate on PIPA shortly after senators return to D.C. on Jan. 23, and supporters appear to have the votes to override a threatened filibuster. Some opponents of the bills hold out hope: 'We're optimistic that if members really understood the Internet architecture and cybersecurity measures, they would not support SOPA as written. Instead, members who are really committed to combatting online piracy would look for effective ways to do that without compromising cybersecurity or the open architecture of the Internet,' said a CCIA spokesperson. Others remain doubtful that Congress will come to this understanding."
No, no, no. We won't buy. This legislation, which is so tilted against the interests of the vast majority of the populace, which imperils the functioning of the internet, will cause piracy to explode. Because this law will give pirates something they've never had until now. Moral sanction.
More people will feel it is right to steal from Hollywood, than to buy from them. And that will seal their fate.
It'll seal ours too, more's the pity, as our internet struggles to survive.
Yes yes, protests are all fine, but where were Google when SOPA was being drafted?
Getting slammed with anti-trust bullshit. Google is "the enemy" to a lot of people in Congress right now, because they're marching to the orders of the MAFIAA.
Besides, Google's testimony was pretty much completely dismissed by the committee right to their face. They more or less said "I don't understand how this is going to negatively effect the internet nor do I care." They never had any intention of listening to a fucking word anyone said in opposition.
Has anyone written a good article on why this is so bad that non-geeks could understand? Something you could link non-technical friends to?
Our founding fathers declared themselves an independent country and went to war over shit like this. No taxation without representation...are we truly represented in this government? The people? Of course not. It's time to stop trying to play their stupid game, the game is rigged against us from the start. It's time to start flipping boards...
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Revolution is our birthright. The Bill of Rights grants all U.S. citizens the right of revolution by guaranteeing the freedoms that facilitate it, freedoms that our government has been trying to rein in with every passing year. Every branch of this government is corrupt. We have no representation in congress anymore. History has come full circle...
Time to start looking to those 2nd Amendment solutions, boys and girls. Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry. I never in a million years thought I would see this in my lifetime, but it seems that it is inevitable at this point.
Opponents of the bill include Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, DynDNS, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay, Mozilla Corporation, the Wikimedia Foundation and human rights organizations such as Reporters Without Borders the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the ACLU, and Human Rights Watch.
Forget for a moment mozilla, wikipedia or the other non-profit organizations - with all those companies (amazon, yahoo, facebook, google) opposing SOPA, isn't it very weird that this proposed law hasn't been canceled already? Does the MPAA/RIAA block have more lobby-power than all those companies combined?