DNS provision pulled from SOPA, victory for opponents | Hacker News Reader

DNS provision pulled from SOPA, victory for opponents

news.cnet.com

121 pointsphreeza30 comments

That's how the game is played. First, you make ludicrous demands, then when you later change your demands to be merely ridiculous, your opponents think they've scored a win.

That's right - I remember when the DMCA got passed and there was just as much opposition. Now the DMCA is the new "sanity". Something tells me we're losing the war.

I find myself accepting that some of the things I would like to do are just going to have to be done underground.

With the DMCA, the pro-copyright people have to play a game of whack a mole. It allows entire site like online manga readers to exist in the first place.

Better to play whack-a-mole than play Manhattan Project.

And nobody has to play whack-a-mole. iTunes is a perfect example of "getting with the times".

The only reason manga readers exist at all is because a reasonable alternative does not exist.

If you could download, legally, that sort of thing for a token fee, not like the $0.99 download that finally made online music scales work, the demand would drop quickly.

Why spend hours trying to torrent something when for a nominal fee you can get a legitimate copy in seconds?

Why spend hours trying to torrent something when for a nominal fee you can get a legitimate copy in seconds?

Actually, web manga readers are some of the most convenient way to read manga online.

I know things like that are mired in a mixture of indifferent publishers, Japan tending to be quite insular, and licensing restrictions.

It's not a technical problem you can solve with copyright enforcement. It's a supply problem caused by vendors not being in the right channels.

That there's a web reader that works should prove there's demand.

The parts that are outrageous about the DMCA are still outrageous. Like that you can get in jail for "circumventing" DRM mechanisms. There just happens to be one part about it that works out great for websites with user generated content.

Then you just reinsert the provisions in another bill next year.

A "win" would be a law that materially increased internet freedom.

Yes, it's called the "Overton Window".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

A new idea fills the window of what the public regards as unthinkable, causing the desired idea to shift into the window of what the public views as sensible, without its proponents necessarily having explained any benefits of the desired idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

Correct: Maslow's Window

You get them to settle for something they would not have even considered if the first demands were not so ludicrous.

Effective Technique.

So we will no longer break DNSSEC, but we'll still have guilty until proven innocent, massively increased legal costs, and government/corporate censorship without oversight?

Yeah, sorry, no thanks. Washington's offering us a pile of steaming turds. Taking one of the turds away does not make us more likely to accept the pile.

The DNS provision was NOT pulled.

Smith has simply chosen to delay its implementation. It's still in there, it just won't come into effect until "after a study has been done on its effects."

   "I feel we should remove DNS-blocking from the Stop 
   Online Piracy Act so that the [U.S. House Judiciary] 
   Committee can further examine the issues surrounding 
   this provision.

   "We will continue to look for ways," Smith continued, 
   "to ensure that foreign Web sites cannot sell and 
   distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers."

While I don't doubt they may to try to introduce something similar in another bill, it looks like they are pulling it out. What have you seen/heard that says differently?

I guess finding these sites, then prosecuting the owners through existing legal channels is just too damned hard.

I don't think there are existing legal channels for foreign sites.

This still doesn't fix the problems with selective enforcement or give accused infringers the opportunity to face their accusers in court. These are much bigger problems than any of the DNS provisions.

CNET, supporter of SOPA, is trying to manipulate public opinion. It was not pulled and there's no victory.

CNET is a supporter of SOPA? Citation please.

CNET supports SOPA in the sense their owner does [0].

CNET <- CBS Interactive [1]. CBS Interactive <- CBS [2].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organizations_that_sup...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNET

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_Interactive

this should not be treated as a victory, because the entire piece of "legislation," if we can even call it that, might as well read in lobby-dollars from the old media titans to the cogs of Washington's political machine

Calling this small concession a victory implies that we acknowledging some form of legitimacy in the bill.

(I do think some of the issues SOPA deals with are ones that need to be addressed, but SOPA, in its current form, does all but adequately address these problems)

It's never been the DNS part I've had a problem with. It's the process by which things are deemed illegal and the appeal process.

Love it or hate it, the DMCA has clearly defined rules that protect both the host and the copyright holder. SOPA dictates removal of entire sites -- not just content -- first and foremost, with an appeals process after the fact. Literally shooting first and asking questions later.

Frankly, after that, the DNS process by which they sought to remove content was a trivial concern. It's the process itself that has problems, not how they planned to do it.

Couldn't have said it better. It's their entire approach to the process is wrong.

The DMCA wasn't bad because of safe harbor. It is bad because of its onerous anti-circumvention provisions. I actually think DMCA safe harbor is reasonably well-balanced, and is the reason why SOPA is entirely unnecessary. DMCA safe harbor is adequate. SOPA is a petulant fit by the media industry, not good law.

"We will continue to look for ways," Smith continued, "to ensure that foreign Web sites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers."

LOL. Those big, bad foreign websites. Won't someone think of the children?

How the hell do people like this get into office?

What's worst is that some senators believes they have a right to regulate foreign countries with USA laws.

Probably because they recently got an UK court to allow USA to extradite a webmaster for linking to infringing content.

Keep up the heat. Don't back down, guys!

This is no victory. Victory is when the bill gets thrown away, gets burned, and then we never have to hear about something like this again. Until that happens, we need to pressure on, and stay vigilant.

Just goes to point out the true weakness of the current internet. The DNS, one central authority, and a million rabid politicians worldwide. This so called victory is shortlived. The DNS will give in -- guaranteed.

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