PIPA and SOPA: Not Dead Yet

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
From: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/quotes


Under controversial proposed IP laws in the Senate and House, linking to this clip from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" would not only get my blog taken down, it could get me jailed for five years. <sarcasm>What an auspicious start to a new blog </sarcasm>!
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On Wednesday, a number of websites participated in a protest of these proposed laws: PIPA (the Senate version) and SOPA (the House version).  Some sites blacked out their sites in part or in whole, others put up graphic links leading to more information and petitions about the topic, and still others put up popup windows bringing a site visitor's attention to the issue. I fully support efforts to stop these bills.

It appears that the blackouts made an impact. The public is now very aware of the two bills. Millions of people signed online positions opposing this legislation and many contacted their Senators/Congressmen. The major TV networks finally paid attention, reporting on this issue when there had been nary a peep from them on this topic before. The neglect to report on this issue could be because they themselves support the legislation or just simple inattention... most likely a combination of both. As a result, Senators and Congressmen are withdrawing their support for the ghastly bills, and next Tuesday's Senate vote on PIPA has been canceled.

While at this point I may be restating things, here are the problematic portions of the bills which have jumped out at me:

While supporters contend that the bills target only foreign websites, the bills are written so broadly that they give content providers leeway to take down whatever content they dislike, regardless of where it originated. They would also be able to do so "under reasonable suspicion" of infringement or with "good faith evidence". No further judicial review. No due process. This was a provision often overlooked in discussion of these bills before this week.

Even without that leeway, content providers have been known to abuse IP laws.  Multiple examples stick in my mind: The first was Lenz V. Universal: A case involving a video of a toddler dancing to Prince on YouTube and a wrongful copyright takedown notice. Righthaven's copyright trolling comes to mind as well as Universal more recently asserting it can take down content it doesn't own. They have also been known to sue each time a new innovation comes about, having sued the makers of the first VCRs, audio-cassettes, MP3 players, and DVRs.

Senator Leahy (D-CT) may contend that I and my peers are overreacting, but when you have content providers historically reacting the way they have combined with potential expansion of their power, I have a hard time believing that 1) good faith is really good faith and 2) the bill's provisions are not going to impact the way we create, communicate, and disseminate information.

Even though Wednesday's events have had an impact, the bills are 'not dead yet' (hence me still adding my voice post-blackout). We cannot rest on our laurels just yet; we need to continue pressing until these bills are stopped for good, not just simply delayed. While the PIPA vote was canceled, deliberation on SOPA continues next Wednesday. Call me skeptical, but I also would not put it past supporters to either 1) jam parts of the bills through via rider or 2) simply revive the bills after we haven't paid attention for a while.

If you're one of the rare people not yet familiar with these bills, this video gives the tl;dr version of what I just wrote as well as other aspects of PIPA (SOPA is very similar, only having felony provisions for streaming). The ALA Washington Office also provides a very good nutshell guide to PIPA and SOPA as well as OPEN, a competing bill. Ars Technica lets us know that even with the DNS provisions out of the equation the bills still contain many flaws .


Transferred to YouTube from http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa by kirby1

Once you are more familiar with this legislation, you can take action. The EFF provides a toolkit of actions that one can take to fight PIPA/SOPA. Jessamyn West provides a bevy of links to educational material as well as other resources (HT: Jessica Olin).

As billboards lining I-95 in the Carolinas say, "Keep yelling, kids!". Hopefully, there will be a stop to this.