http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111220/04083317141/myth-that-sopa-pipa-will-stop-infringement-educating-public.shtml
"One of the key arguments we've heard about SOPA and PIPA in defending the fact that dedicated infringers will always find their way around the blocks to continue infringing, is that it's really intended as an "educational" mechanism, based on the assumption that people going to certain "rogue sites" don't know they're rogue -- but with a big DOJ banner, perhaps they'll be educated. This has never made much sense, frankly. The entertainment industry has been betting its legacy business model for quite some time on the myth that all it takes is a little "education" to fix things. Multiple studies have shown that nothing is further from the truth. People who infringe know they're infringing. And they still do it. Education won't make a lick of difference.
DNS expert Paul Vixie is debunking this myth even further, by separating people into two groups: intended infringers (those who know what they're doing breaks the law, but are still going to do it) and "unintented infringers" who don't realize they're breaking the law. As he notes, SOPA/PIPA are completely useless against the intended infringers, since they'll always find easy ways around the blocks. So what about the unintended infringers? Well, he points to a recentstudy of college students, about their views on following internet policies. And the short summary is that they all break the policies anyway, for a variety of reasons -- with a big reason being that, even if it's against "policy" they just don't believe they're really doing anything wrong.
As Vixie notes, "from a high level policy perspective... we really can put "unintended infringer" into the "myth" category." Kids aren't lacking in education or morals or anything like that. They just don't see what's so wrong about accessing what the technology allows access to. If the industry hadn't wasted so many years and so much money on legal tricks and lobbying for stricter copyright laws, and instead invested that money and effort into providing better legitimate and licensed services, those kids would have gladly jumped to those offerings. But the industry decided to go in the other direction..."
My stand is that these measures MUST be stopped, and any company or legislator supporting these measures, I am working against by boycotting / voting.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
SOPA denounced by newspaper journalists, too
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/sopa-heads-to-a-vote-even-journalists-want-to-stop-it/2011/12/14/gIQAjDAduO_blog.html
"First came the critiques of civil liberties and human rights groups. Then came the slams from Internet engineers and Web giants, including Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Wednesday, the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) piled on by sending Congress a letter to ask that it stop the bill. ASNE represents newspaper editors, editors of wire services and online-only news organizations, and other journalists.
"First came the critiques of civil liberties and human rights groups. Then came the slams from Internet engineers and Web giants, including Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Wednesday, the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) piled on by sending Congress a letter to ask that it stop the bill. ASNE represents newspaper editors, editors of wire services and online-only news organizations, and other journalists.
If passed, SOPA would expand the ability of law enforcement and copyright holders to shut down any site that hosts pirated content. But as the American Censorship group voiced on the blog Boing Boing on Wednesday, many believe “SOPA would not only hurt free speech, it will choke off the Internet workforce and its readers by taking down entire Web sites.”
Yesterday, the Post’s Maura Judkis reported that a group of people who work on the Internet launched a visual petition so Congress could see the faces of those who would be hurt by SOPA. Journalists are among their ranks.
Last month, Jennifer Martinez of Politico wrote that SOPA will be a “shootout at the digital corral,” between lobbyists in the entertainment industry and Internet giants. She can now add journalists to that list. From ASNE’s letter to Congress:
Our members use the Internet in ways that could be construed to violate SOPA, and that’s not acceptable. Whether utilizing content contributed by third parties, stepping outside the direct reporter-source interaction to acquire and use information from Web sites around the world, or augmenting our stories through the use of multimedia previously unavailable to print-only publications, ASNE members continue to change the way news is presented. We fear that SOPA will restrict our ability to engage in these activities and stifle our capacity to innovate when we most sorely need the freedom to do so.
ASNE is not specific about what it is worried SOPA would consider copyright infringement on a news site.
But BlogPost can take a guess. Bloggers at the Post every day use content from Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, among other third-party social Web sites. We often aggregate information from other news sites and augment it with our own. And how we report is changing every day. Would all of that work be threatened by SOPA? ASNE seems to think so.
Dan Gillmor, a professor of digital media entrepreneurship at Arizona State University, shared the ASNE letter on his Google+ page Wednesday, writing: “Finally, journalists see the threat from SOPA and . . . this runaway train.”"
Graphic Artists Guild Changes Mind: Withdraws SOPA Support
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111227/00454417194/graphic-artists-guild-changes-mind-withdraws-sopa-support.shtml
It seems that many of the supporters of SOPA blindly signed on thinking things like "gee, protecting copyrights sound good," but without looking at the details (or recognizing the implications). The latest to change their position is the Graphic Artists Guild (sent in by Ross Pruden), which has put out a statement saying that, after hearing from a number of concerned members, it no longer supports SOPA:
We have been closely following online anti-piracy legislation since we submitted a Comment Letter to the study conducted by Victoria Espinel, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Commissioner, in 2010. We supported the IPEC’s recommendations in her 2010 report. The “Stop Online Piracy Act” has different terms that we can no longer support.
WHO SUPPORTS SOPA and PIPA
http://www.americablog.com/2011/12/who-supports-sopa-pipa-kill-internet.html
And what about the unions (IBEW, Fraternal Order of Police)? Also, why do organizations like the Sheriff's Association care about IP law? A little something extra in the retirement-fund Christmas basket? Or maybe groups like these just haven't heard from the rest of us.
Given who's on this list, I'm kind of waiting for the Catholic Bishops to weigh in.
2. My personal favorite way to complain — call these so-called "progressive" Senators. They're not just supporters; they're co-sponsors:
SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) are bills before Congress and unattractive near-cousins. One is in the House (the more brutal of the pair) and the other is in the Senate. Both would end the Internet as we know it, in roughly the same way.
(For a backgrounder on why this is true, click here; there's a handy brief video for your perusal.)
The world of "greedy bastards" — Dylan Ratigan's elegant phrase for the Top 0.1% — loves these bills. The world of "increased state security" also loves them.
Geeks are generally opposed (thoughGoDaddy managed to step in it with their own support). Also on the opposition side are lots of Internet sites that feature user-content, everything from Reddit to Facebook to YouTube to DailyKos.
We'll let you make up your own mind — but don't wait too long; Big Money is racing to get these bills passed.
ACTION OPPORTUNITY — If you do decide to oppose these bills, here are a few things you can do.
1. You can contact companies and organizations that support these bills. The full list is here, along with contact info (h/tGizmodo). There are some obvious entries (ASCAP, Comcast/NBC) you'll never sway — though don't let that stop you if you're so inclined. But there are also some interesting vulnerables. Here are a few that caught my eye:
(For a backgrounder on why this is true, click here; there's a handy brief video for your perusal.)
The world of "greedy bastards" — Dylan Ratigan's elegant phrase for the Top 0.1% — loves these bills. The world of "increased state security" also loves them.
Geeks are generally opposed (thoughGoDaddy managed to step in it with their own support). Also on the opposition side are lots of Internet sites that feature user-content, everything from Reddit to Facebook to YouTube to DailyKos.
We'll let you make up your own mind — but don't wait too long; Big Money is racing to get these bills passed.
ACTION OPPORTUNITY — If you do decide to oppose these bills, here are a few things you can do.
1. You can contact companies and organizations that support these bills. The full list is here, along with contact info (h/tGizmodo). There are some obvious entries (ASCAP, Comcast/NBC) you'll never sway — though don't let that stop you if you're so inclined. But there are also some interesting vulnerables. Here are a few that caught my eye:
Estée Lauder Companies: (212) 572-4200A lot of these folks have IP "content" — the NFL, for example — but also fan vulnerability.
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
Go Daddy: (480) 505-8800
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW): (202) 833-7000
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
International Union of Police Associations
L'Oreal: (212) 818-1500
Major League Baseball
Marvel Entertainment: (212) 576-4000
MasterCard Worldwide: (800) 622-7747
Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
National Center for Victims of Crime
National Crime Justice Association
National District Attorneys Association: (703) 549-9222
National Domestic Preparedness Coalition
National Football League
National Governors Association, Economic Development and Commerce Committee
National League of Cities
National Narcotics Offers' Associations' Coalition
National Sheriffs' Association (NSA)
Revlon
The United States Conference of Mayors: info@usmayors.org
Tiffany & Co.
And what about the unions (IBEW, Fraternal Order of Police)? Also, why do organizations like the Sheriff's Association care about IP law? A little something extra in the retirement-fund Christmas basket? Or maybe groups like these just haven't heard from the rest of us.
Given who's on this list, I'm kind of waiting for the Catholic Bishops to weigh in.
2. My personal favorite way to complain — call these so-called "progressive" Senators. They're not just supporters; they're co-sponsors:
Sherrod Brown [OH] – (202) 224-2315We'll be watching this closely, along with a great many others. This law really matters.
Al Franken [D-MN] – (202) 224-5641
Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] – (202) 224-4451
Amy Klobuchar [D-MN] – (202) 224-3244
Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI] – (202) 224-2921
Rackspace Speaks Out Against SOPA
http://www.crn.com/news/cloud/232301060/rackspace-speaks-out-against-sopa.htm;jsessionid=EodIY6Cm5eLvUz7XoN3SxA**.ecappj03
Rackspace has publicly opposed the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), which is working its way through Congress, saying that the bill will do more harm than good in its current form.
In a post on the cloud and hosting provider's cloud blog, Rackspace CEO Lanham Napier spoke out against SOPA in its current form. Rackspace's coming out against the bill is a major move for the 13-year-old tech titan, as the bill was proposed by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), whose 21st Congressional District includes parts of Rackspace's hometown of San Antonio.
"Part of the professional code of physicians is that, when they're treating a patient's ailment, they should 'first, do no harm.' I wish more members of Congress would follow that rule. Instead, in the name of policing the online theft of intellectual property, key lawmakers are pushing a cure that's worse than the disease," Napier wrote.
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