S968 & HR3261

[DolfanBob]

Yesterday, because of the blackout to this site. I contacted every representative from our State.
I heard back from one. John Sullivan. I was very polite in asking how they were going to vote and expressed my concerns as a citizen and internet user. As per a elected official, I received the standard sub standard answer. I am still trying to decipher the political code in which it was written.
Getting these people to say yes or no or I like or dislike is absolutely impossible.

[custosnox]

I sent emails to the Senators, no response, of course, but within an hour Inhofe came out against it.  I wasn't completely polite, but I was professional.

[AquaMan]

I went with the pre-written, boilerplate e-mails through one of the anti websites. Just gave them my name. I love that it seemed to work. Being without Google, Craigslist, TNF et al was just as inconvenient for legislators as it was for me I'm sure.

[DolfanBob]

Remember Remember
the Fifth of November.

[Conan71]

I figured those with more time on their hands than I had would send in enough emails.

[DolfanBob]

I figured those with more time on their hands than I had would send in enough emails.

With only five reps to send them to. It took about 10 minutes. Sullivan is still the only one to respond.

[nathanm]

Given the Megaupload thing, I think it's fair to say that we don't need any more copyright enforcement powers bestowed on either the government or private companies.

[Townsend]

Reid postpones Senate vote on PIPA anti-piracy bill

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-usa-congress-internet-idUKTRE80J10X20120120

(Reuters) - Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Friday postponed a showdown vote in his chamber on the PIPA online anti-piracy bill that pits Hollywood against Silicon Valley.

In a brief statement, Reid said there was no reason why concerns about the legislation cannot be resolved. He offered no new date for the vote, which had been scheduled for Tuesday.

Reid's action comes a day after a senior Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the measure lacked the votes to clear a procedural hurdle and it was unclear if it could muster needed support.

The measure - known as the Protect Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA for short - is aimed at curbing access to overseas websites that traffic in pirated content and counterfeit products, such as movies and music.

Support for the Senate bill, and a similar one in the House known as SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act, has eroded in recent days because of fears that legitimate websites could end up in legal jeopardy.

Reid, in his statement, said, "In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote" on whether to begin consideration of the measure.

Despite his decision to postpone action, Reid said, "There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved.

"Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs," Reid said. "We must take action to stop these illegal practices."

Reid expressed hope that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, who has sought to help shepherd the bill through Congress, could help resolve differences in the legislation.

"I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks," Reid said.

On Thursday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell urged Reid to postpone action on the bill.

Some senators who had co-sponsored the legislation dropped their support on Wednesday as protests blanketed the Internet, turning Wikipedia and other popular websites dark. Google, Facebook, Twitter and others protested the proposed legislation but did not shut down.

The entertainment industry wants legislation to protect its movies and music from counterfeiters but technology companies are concerned the laws would undermine Internet freedoms, be difficult to enforce and encourage frivolous lawsuits.

[Conan71]

Let the movie industry figure out some sort of encryption that would end piracy instead of coming up with a draconian law that would inhibit free speech.  I have no problem with people wanting to protect their copyrights, but when the measures they dream up has the effect of inhibiting other's liberties, it's a bad deal.

[custosnox]

Let the movie industry figure out some sort of encryption that would end piracy instead of coming up with a draconian law that would inhibit free speech.  I have no problem with people wanting to protect their copyrights, but when the measures they dream up has the effect of inhibiting other's liberties, it's a bad deal.

They have tried that, but the hackers keep finding ways to decode em. I do wonder what the real damages to the entertainment industry are (I imagine more to the music than the movie) due to piracy. They obviously still have tons of money to shove at legislation to make sure they keep making money.  I mean, come on, you can get sued for singing happy birthday in public despite the fact that the person who came up with the tune with different words died something like 80 years ago.

[Conan71]

They have tried that, but the hackers keep finding ways to decode em. I do wonder what the real damages to the entertainment industry are (I imagine more to the music than the movie) due to piracy. They obviously still have tons of money to shove at legislation to make sure they keep making money.  I mean, come on, you can get sued for singing happy birthday in public despite the fact that the person who came up with the tune with different words died something like 80 years ago.

I wasn't particularly aware the entertainment industry was in any sort of disarray or that 2.2 million jobs are in danger.  There's been piracy and copyright infringement ever since portable recording devices became available and somehow the industry has survived all these years.

More hyperbole on Harry the Turd's part?

If they aren't making enough money in spite of piracy, they should sell more product placement in their movies. 

[Townsend]

Megaupload Is Back in High Tech Whack-a-Mole

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/megaupload-back-high-tech-whack-mole/story?id=15405292

It's like a high tech game of whack-a-mole.

In less than 24 hours the file sharing site Megaupload.com is attempting to stay alive on the Internet despite indictments from the Justice Department and court orders to seize the site and computer servers hosting the service and assets.

The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Thursday charging Megaupload's founder Kim Dotcom, a.k.a. Kim Schmitz, and six of his associates with participating in a conspiracy that involved racketeering, money laundering and copyright infringement.

Megaupload is now on a server that has no domain name but has the address http://109.236.83.66. According to the website www.urlquery.net, the Megaupload's new server is based in the Netherlands.

Overnight supporters for the site hosted the remnants of Megaupload at www.Megavideo.bz indicating that content was being hosted in Belize.

Some members linked with Anonymous were planning today to target democratic members of Congress websites that were supporting the two bills in what they were calling OpDonkeyPunch.

[Hoss]

Megaupload Is Back in High Tech Whack-a-Mole

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/megaupload-back-high-tech-whack-mole/story?id=15405292

...websites that were supporting the two bills in what they were calling OpDonkeyPunch

I literally snorted Coke Zero from out of my nose reading this...thanks alot.  But it was amusing.

[Townsend]

I literally snorted Coke Zero from out of my nose reading this...thanks alot.  But it was amusing.

I had to make sure that was on there.

I have no trust for anyone but that name is pretty sweet.

[nathanm]

They have tried that, but the hackers keep finding ways to decode em.

Perhaps they should hire security experts rather than having their 13 year old nephew who is "good with computers" design the security. Or perhaps they should do what they did in the music biz which knocked illicit copying down to more manageable levels: Lower the effing prices and make it more convenient to buy the stuff than it is to copy it for free. You'll note that today I can log on to Amazon or iTunes or any number of other legitimate music stores and buy the vast majority of music made in the last 30-40 years for 99c a track or less, and it comes with no DRM, so if I want to put it on a portable player, no problem. If I want to use a sample in my home video (perfectly legal fair use) I can do that.

The movie studios haven't learned their lesson, though. They just keep making it more and more inconvenient to use their product. Adding more and more layers of encryption and BS and continually raising the price.

They all seem to forget that copyright is an artificial construction and is for a limited time. Once they started using the term "intellectual property" it was clear they had lost sight of how things are supposed to work. Unfortunately successive scum sucking Congresses have been feeding us to the wolves. Copyright protection is now over 120 years in some cases. A hundred and freakin' twenty years! It was originally nineteen. That number was controversial, by the way. Because it was considered too long by many.