Search Results for: SOPA

By Nitasha Tiku 1/16/12 2:54pm

Congress Shelves SOPA After President Obama’s Involvement

Detractors of the the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) may have reason to celebrate, albeit momentarily. According to Rep. Darrell Issa (CA-Rep.), an opponent of the bills, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has assured him that SOPA will not move forward in Congress until “a consensus” has been reached.

Rep. Issa also said that a hearing regarding SOPA’s impact on cybersecurity scheduled for today has been postponed. On Friday, Rep. Lamar Smith (TX-Rep.), chief sponsor of SOPA, said he would take out a portion of the law that would allow the Justice Dept. to seek court orders requiring American ISPs to block subscriber access to foreign websites accused of infringing copyright, reports PC World.

Although Mr. Cantor’s camp has yet to issue a public statement, Rep. Issa, who is pushing for alternate legislation called the OPEN Act claims: Read More

By Steve Huff 1/15/12 1:11pm

SOPA Opera

Craigslist Comes Out Against SOPA

We can add Craigslist to the growing roster of popular websites that have come out against the Stop Online Piracy and Protect IP Acts. The online community/seedy Wal Mart of classified ads giant emphatically states "SOPA and PIPA are too dangerous to revise" and "must be killed entirely." Why? Read More

By Steve Huff 1/14/12 12:44pm

SOPA Opera

The White House Signals Opposition to SOPA

In a blog post published Friday the Obama Administration signaled measured opposition to both the House-sponsored Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its kissing cousin in the Senate, the Protect IP Act of 2011 (PIPA). With fairly clear language (for government officials), impossibly-titled administration officials Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra and Howard Schmidt authored the response to two petitions directed at the legislation, stating: Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 1/13/12 5:47pm

SOPA Opera

SOPA Falling Apart! DNS Provision Pulled Even Before DNS Hearing

Guess Alexis Ohanian and Brad Burnham won’t be going to Washington after all. Rep. Lamar Smith, one of the co-sponsors of the Stop Online Piracy Act, just announced that the bill “will no longer include a provision that would require ISPs to block access to overseas web sites accused of piracy,” according to CNET.

The announcement comes a week before Mr. Ohanian and Mr. Burnham were scheduled to appear before the committee to talk about the issues raised by the bill’s provisions for DNS and search engine blocking. Read More

By Foster Kamer 1/12/12 2:16pm

SOPA Opera

The Villain Behind SOPA, Rep. Lamar Smith: Copyright-Violating Hypocrite?

Texas congressman Rep. Lamar Smith has become a national household name, rare for obscure politician such as himself. It’s because he’s the author behind the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, better known as SOPA, which if passed, could give our government the power to shut down any website they find in violation of online piracy laws.

Including, it would seem, his own. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 1/11/12 12:47pm

SOPA Opera

The Internet Strikes Back: Reddit Going Full Blackout to Protest SOPA

Reddit is shaping up to be ground zero for the SOPA backlash! After forcing Paul Ryan to come out against SOPA, Reddit is forfeiting ad revenue and risking a massive user backlash with a bold pledge to black out the entire site on Wednesday, Jan. 18 and replace it with a “simple message about how the PIPA/SOPA legislation would shut down sites like reddit.” Tumblr pulled a similar move back in November. What will the world do without Reddit? ”This is Digg’s big chance for a comeback!” Silicon Valley veteran and Laughing Squid founder Scott Beale joshed over Skype.

By Adrianne Jeffries 1/06/12 10:30am

SOPA Opera

RSS Father Dave Winer: SOPA Is Great Because It Gets Techies Thinking Politics

Aside from the vitriolic /r/politics subreddit and the class of politically-minded startups, tech and politics often don’t meet. Entrepreneurs and developers are so focused on building and making that they can become isolated from the workings of government (which is perhaps why the Occupy Wall Street protests rubbed some New York techies the wrong way).

But that may be changing. The rise of hacktivists from Anonymous to Aaron Swartz, the Y Combinator alum facing prison for downloading a massive data dump of academic papers from the MIT library because information wants to be free, suggests that geeks may be waking up to the impact government has on their lives. Read More

By Foster Kamer 1/05/12 3:40pm

SOPA Opera

News Networks: Totally Ignoring That Whole SOPA Thing (Maybe Because Their Owners Are All For it?)

You know that whole Stop Online Privacy Act that threatens to give our government control to basically turn off whatever part of the internet they want? It’s really scary. And cable news networks don’t really care about it enough to cover it. Or they’re simply afraid to poke at their corporate overlords because of it. Or they’re part of a vast conspiracy theory to help it pass. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 1/05/12 2:41pm

SOPA Opera

Who Supports SOPA? This Hack Shows You How Congress Members Are Leaning

The most effective way to campaign against a particular piece of legislation in this country is to go after the elected officials behind it. There has been some confusion as to who in Congress supports and who opposes the increasingly unpopular Stop Online Piracy Act, but now local Manhattanite and ProPublica developer Dan Nguyen has created a website, SopaOpera.org, to clear things up. Read More

By Ben Popper 1/04/12 6:18pm

SOPA Opera

Reddit’s Alexis Ohanian Talks SOPA on Bloomberg TV [VIDEO]

“In creating this legislation about something that frankly they don’t understand, Congress is going to obliterate an entire tech industry in the United States as collateral damage.”

BetaBeat

Search Results for: SOPA

Congress Shelves SOPA After President Obama’s Involvement

Craigslist Comes Out Against SOPA

The White House Signals Opposition to SOPA

SOPA Falling Apart! DNS Provision Pulled Even Before DNS Hearing

The Villain Behind SOPA, Rep. Lamar Smith: Copyright-Violating Hypocrite?

The Internet Strikes Back: Reddit Going Full Blackout to Protest SOPA

RSS Father Dave Winer: SOPA Is Great Because It Gets Techies Thinking Politics

News Networks: Totally Ignoring That Whole SOPA Thing (Maybe Because Their Owners Are All For it?)

Who Supports SOPA? This Hack Shows You How Congress Members Are Leaning

Reddit’s Alexis Ohanian Talks SOPA on Bloomberg TV [VIDEO]

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