Live video of House SOPA hearing
judiciary.house.gov
judiciary.house.gov
The entire speech, too, was full of equivocation and mass confusion: sawdust breaks have exactly NOTHING to do with SOPA. Equivocating on physical goods and digital goods, when it comes to safety, is asinine.
Edit: HOLY HELL. Melvin Watt (D-NC) just said almost exactly: "A free and open internet is not unduly compromised by these changes to stop theft and piracy online." . . . "Trusting private rights-holders against foreign infringing sites will allow us to stop the compromise of US citizens and the influx of compromised goods." . . . "We need to be just as aggressive on the internet as we are with brick-and-mortar stores." . . . "This bill allows us to get into the internet." . . . "My perspective, as an old country boy, we need parallels on the virtual world to what we have in the real world." YOU ALREADY HAVE THEM!!!
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is up: please save us. YAY! "The integrity of the Internet is very much at risk." . . . "Especially disturbing given that today is the anniversary of the First Amendment." "The internet is not lawless. Breaking the law can already be punished, just like the physical world. But we have shut down illegal conduct at the source. The government has never tried to use the network itself to prevent illegal conduct . . . This will be historic, and not in a good way. Once the government has a taste of this power...expanding it will be irresistible. The US Government has never tried to monitor mail to prevent some sort of illegal content from being sent." Support this congresswoman!
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) reminding us all that NOBODY was qualified to comment on DNSSEC issues. Good scenarios, including phishing-style attacks mimicking SOPA-takedown-esque redirects.
Howard Berman (D-CA) argues that "we can't stop the foreigners from stealing" argument. But that's always been the case, whether physical or otherwise. We can't stop a foreign company from making, say, fake Nike clothes and selling them in South Africa. You can work with foreign governments to shut them down according to their own laws. And once again, Zoe Lofgren nails it in her response: "This is the beginning of the balkanization of the internet."
Chaffetz (R-UT) says, "Let's get some nerds in the room." "How can you support a bill that will dramatically change how the internet works without understanding what it does?"
Alright, back to work. But this doesn't seem like SOPA's being fixed in ways that are important.
Now that's a disruptive thought. :-(
Was that a direct quote? I'm Canadian, which means that I have no impact on this legislation whatsoever. I can't email my congress(wo)man, threaten to vote for the other guy, throw money behind a better candidate, etc. All I can do is sit back and hope that somehow you yanks'll take care of it, so therefore I try not to pay too close attention to this since it depresses the hell out of me. As such, I wasn't watching the proceedings today and don't know if that's a direct quote or not.
If it is, then I find that comment extremely disturbing. The reason being that Congress, being made up mostly of old people largely out of touch with technology (senate.gov lists the average age of members to be 56.7 years in the House and 62.2 years in the Senate[1]), they should be looking to the younger generation in general, and experts in technology specifically, to help them make informed decisions. Calling these people "nerds" seems incredibly derisive and shows a general lack of respect for the very people that can best help them.
It's appalling.
[1] https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/R41647.pdf
1. Why do you need to avoid due process? The lack of oversight (by the courts) is what makes this like censorship in China, Iran, etc. With SOPA, all anyone need do is claim copyright infringement against some web site and it gets shut down and blacklisted-- correct or not, the targeted site owner is censored off the internet and cut off from their income simply because someone pointed a finger. That's bullying, plain and simple, and it's unacceptable.
2. What punishment is included for abuse of this lack of process? Without punishment, corporations can censor competitors, politicians can censor opponents, governments can censor citizens simply by alleging infringement against them.
In fact, the only thing I've seen was an ad (presumably by the MPAA or RIAA) saying that piracy costs jobs, concluding with the phrase "Stop Online Piracy." How is it possible that neither of these stations even mentioned SOPA? Is there really that little public interest in the topic? They're talking about apple cider recipes right now.
I rage-quit watching the video after about 2 minutes.
1) Understand what this girl is saying,
2) Understand what they are about to vote on,
3) Deserve to vote at all
God bless America!
Ridiculous.
On an unrelated note, today I discovered I definitely do not have the patience for congress.
Even if we get technocrats in there, they might not vote in our long term interest.
Truer words...
They did their homework beforehand, otherwise the chamber would be empty, like always.
As for doing their homework, from the events surrounding SOPA which have taken place to date and in reading the list of amendments to be discussed, I don't believe these JC members - save for a few like Lofgren, Polis, Sensenbrenner, Chaffetz - have done their homework.
Two of the most important amendments over the next two days: * performing a study on the impact of any bill prior to its enactment (why this isn't a part of judiciary procedure escapes me) * an expiry on the provision of the bill after 5 years, which I think is a wonderful idea.
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylan...
They're broadcasting it in Flash at the top of the page.
Also big thumbs up for Polis, Lofgren, Chaffetz.
Our internet is turning into fox news, with talking points, narratives, brainwashing and censorship. Not on my watch!
Do a google search for fox news sopa. Guess how many articles reporting on some of the most important legislation on the Earth today? I saw zero. corruption meter reading 100.
Who is up for rioting if this passes?
(Think about all the other things that are illegal, like growing certain plants and crossing the street when the light is red. The laws are just there to oppress people that the government wants to oppress, and we'll never change that. One more thought crime on my rap sheet isn't going to make a difference.)