Article

2011-12-30 Science & Technology

[C|NET] The Internet's most popular destinations, including eBay, Google, Facebook, and Twitter seem to view Hollywood-backed copyright legislation as an existential threat.
... which it is...
It was Google co-founder Sergey Brin who warned that the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act "would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world." Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman argue that the bills give the Feds unacceptable "power to censor the Web."
The internet is too big and too important to life in the 21st century for the politicians to be able to refrain from trying to wet their beaks, whether it be taxing or throttling or harnessing or -- their preference -- all three...
But these companies have yet to roll out the heavy artillery.
"Ayn Rand to the white courtesy phone!"
When the home pages of Google.com, Amazon.com, Facebook.com, and their Internet allies simultaneously turn black with anti-censorship warnings that ask users to contact politicians about a vote in the U.S. Congress the next day on SOPA, you'll know they're finally serious.

True, it would be the political equivalent of a nuclear option--possibly drawing retributions from the the influential politicos backing SOPA and Protect IP--but one that could nevertheless be launched in 2012.

"There have been some serious discussions about that," says Markham Erickson, who heads the NetCoalition trade association that counts Google, Amazon.com, eBay, and Yahoo as members. "It has never happened before." (See CNET's SOPA FAQ.)

Web firms may be outspent tenfold on lobbyists, but they enjoy one tremendous advantage over the SOPA-backing Hollywood studios and record labels: direct relationships with users.

How many Americans feel a personal connection with an amalgamation named Viacom -- compared with voters who have found places to live on Craigslist and jobs (or spouses) on Facebook and Twitter? How would, say, Sony Music Entertainment, one of the Recording Industry Association of America's board members, cheaply and easily reach out to hundreds of millions of people?

Protect IP and SOPA, of course, represent the latest effort from the Motion Picture Association of America, the RIAA, and their allies to counter what they view as rampant piracy on the Internet, especially offshore sites such as ThePirateBay.org. It would allow the Justice Department to obtain an order to be served on search engines, Internet providers, and other companies forcing them to make a suspected piratical Web site effectively vanish, a kind of Internet death penalty.

There are early signs that the nuclear option is being contemplated. Wikimedia (as in Wikipedia) called SOPA an "Internet Blacklist Bill." Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has proposed an article page blackout as a way to put "maximum pressure on the U.S. government" in response to SOPA.

The Tumblr microblogging site generated 87,834 calls to Congress over SOPA. Over at GoDaddyBoycott.org, a move-your-domain-name protest is scheduled to begin today over the registrar's previous--and still not repudiated--enthusiasm for SOPA. Popular image hosting site Imgur said yesterday it would join the exodus too.

Posted by Fred 2011-12-30 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 If Google really wanted to hit hard they could just prevent their search engines from coming up with hits for searches for a few key politicians' and special interest groups' web pages. How many politicians use their web pages as a vehicle to obtain donations? Or to get their message out?

Posted by Chemist 2011-12-30 01:17|| 2011-12-30 01:17|| Front Page Top

#2 This is the kind of crap legalization that makes me want to wish Washington DC away in it's totality.

I AM sick and tired of these punks on capitol hill putting out sh!t like this every other day.

They think we bow to them.
I think they are counterproductive for our country entirely and the country would be far better off without this federal government anymore. This type of serfdom is almost worse than the original definition.

STFU DC and leave us alone.

Posted by newc 2011-12-30 09:29|| 2011-12-30 09:29|| Front Page Top

#3 You would think they were afraid of free speech or something.

Actually, if you control communications and control ownership of guns, you can turn the US into an oligarchy ruled by the One and his czars. I personally think that is the end game to all of this, they are in a race to the finish with the 2012 elections and I hope the elections come first.
Hopefully a Republican will spike this gun.

Posted by Bill Clinton 2011-12-30 09:55|| 2011-12-30 09:55|| Front Page Top

#4 There are a lot of parallels between what happened in Germany in the 30's and what is happening here, in the USA, now.

Brownshirts (SEUI, OWS, etc...), Identification of scapegoats (the so called 1%), etc...

Posted by CrazyFool 2011-12-30 10:31|| 2011-12-30 10:31|| Front Page Top

#5 It's a pattern with a very long and destructive history, and yes - it's more than worrisome.

Posted by lotp 2011-12-30 16:35|| 2011-12-30 16:35|| Front Page Top

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