Six U.S. lawmakers dropped their support for SOPA/PIPA

[The Straight Story]

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Six U.S. lawmakers dropped their support for Hollywood-backed anti-piracy legislation as Google Inc., Wikipedia and other websites protest the measures.

Co-sponsors who say they can no longer support their own legislation include Senators Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, and Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat. Republican Representatives Ben Quayle of Arizona, Lee Terry of Nebraska, and Dennis Ross of Florida also said they would withdraw their backing of the House bill.

The Senate bill and the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House are backed by the movie and music industries as a means to crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods by non-U.S. websites. Hollywood studios want lawmakers to ensure that Internet companies such as Google share responsibility for curbing the distribution of pirated films and television shows.

Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, covered the “Google” icon on its home page today with a black box and linked to a website that says the bills may spur censorship and slow U.S. economic growth. Visitors to that website are urged to sign an online petition asking Congress to reject the legislation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/six-us-lawmakers-abandon-anti-piracy-bills-as-google-protests/2012/01/18/gIQAzBHz8P_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop

[Lifelong Protester]

1. Got me to send no less than four

emails/petition signings today. Good for these websites, including DU (I missed it something terribly!)

[47of74]

2. Rep. Braley has come to the light

Braley earlier told me that he supported SOPA. I wrote back and told him it was a bad bill. I also told him just because he has a D behind his name and I'd soon crawl naked on broken glass than vote for an R that he shouldn't take me for granted.

Based on this email that I received earlier today I take it Mr. Braley saw which way the wind was blowing and switched sides.

From: "Congressman Bruce Braley" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Reply from Congressman Bruce Braley
Date: January 18, 2012 11:54:02 AM CST
To: Me

January 18, 2012

Me
My Street Address
City, State, Zip Code

Dear Jesse,

As someone who's expressed concern over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), I thought you'd be interested to know my position on the bill.

I am strongly opposed to SOPA. Hundreds of Iowans have contacted me regarding this bill and I get it. SOPA is a flawed bill that would stifle innovation and has serious technical faults that would not effectively combat online piracy. America's great strength has always been innovation built on the open exchange of ideas, and I believe that limiting that free exchange will stifle technological progress and put our nation at a competitive disadvantage. While I am still committed to combating online piracy, SOPA is not the bill to do it. I appreciate your input on this issue, and I've heard you loud and clear. I will be voting no on SOPA if it comes to the House floor.

Thanks again for contacting me. I occasionally provide electronic updates on issues I think my constituents might be interested in. If you would like to receive my E-newsletter, please sign up at my website at http://braley.house.gov. On my website you can also view my voting record, and get information about issues important to the First District. If I can be of any further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Bruce Braley
Member of Congress

[ddeclue]

4. run Forrest run!

[NewJeffCT]

3. Republicans seem to be dropping their support

I don't see a lot of Democrats joining them - yet.

[AZ Progressive]

9. Chris Dodd is now the MPAA CEO

I wouldn't expect Democrats to not support it given Chris Dodd's potential influence with Democrats. Why else would he be paid $1.2 million a year by the MPAA?

[ChazII]

5. Quayle represents the district

I live in. Glad to see he did something right.

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. Lee Terry might have been influenced by PayPal and Yahoo's presence in Omaha

..or he might just see which way the wind is blowing here.

[xmas74]

7. I did my part with Blunt today.

I sent my emails and made a call. Last thing I ever expected was for him to drop it.

[The Wizard]

8. The powers that be

are evolving into the powers that were. Without any exposure on the corporate media legislators are backing off their attempts to seize the Internet.
As a sage said in the last century, "....the loser now will be later to win, for times they are a changin'."
We are the 99%.

[DirkGently]

11. This may be the event that establishes Wikipedia & Google as political superpowers.

But, yeah. Absolutely.

[AZ Progressive]

10. According to Norman Goldman....

This is basically Congress playing games with both industries, using this issue to basically force both the Tech Industry and the Entertainment Industry to pay lots of money to Congress (pretending to use the money to buy the votes) , and then they will eventually have them both to get together and compromise, and Congress will basically pass the compromise bill (not after doing a second round of milking.)

[AnnieBW]

12. Ben Cardin??? Srsly?

He's one of the good guys! He's usually very progressive! WTF?

[LynneSin]

17. Alot of Dem senators support the PIPA, it's not as harsh as SOPA

And remember, the people behind all of this is the entertainment industry which tends to be more liberal. I was shocked to read that Chris Coons also supported this but he only supports the Senate version (PIPA), which is less intrusive than the house version (SOPA).

I think there is a need for copyright infringement protection but we need to find a way to create the bill so it doesn't turn website owners into nanny states. I would rather have both bills tabled and perhaps the entertainment industry, the internet leaders and congress can work together to find a bill that solves everyone's problem.

[Liberalynn]

18. +1 nt

[Selatius]

25. You need money for your campaign, even if you run as a progressive.

You may reject money from the petroleum lobby or even money from defense lobbyists representing arms manufacturers, but you would make up for those losses by taking money from other big industry groups, like the RIAA or the MPAA or even big finance.

[AverageJoe90]

13. This made my day a lot better. Thanks dude. :)

[Tx4obama]

14. PIPA support collapses, with 13 new Senators opposed

See article and LIST of names here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/pipa-support-collapses-with-13-new-opponents-in-senate.ars

[vaberella]

15. 5 more opponents since the list was first drawn. All repubs. n/t

[begin_within]

16. They had better do something about piracy though.

I'm sick of it and I am totally in favor of punishing web sites that violate copyright laws.

[LynneSin]

19. I agree but neither of these bills in congress works

As I had mentioned above, both should be tabled. And then an open discussion between entertainment industry (who is pushing for this bill to be passed) and Internet Industry (those who don't want it) needs to happen where a bill can be formulated that solves the piracy issue without turning the internet into a nanny/police state.

[DireStrike]

20. You're sick of it?

Does it affect you personally?

[begin_within]

21. Yes.

I am the copyright owner of the things I have made and sell. I'm not some huge faceless corporation. I discovered some of my stuff had been uploaded to Youtube illegally and was sitting there for 3 years under different names. I have no way of knowing how much I lost in sales because of that. I have also had content on my web site, which I wrote and created, blatantly copied to other similar web sites without any changes and without even asking my permission. And using what I created to make money on their own. And contacting or getting through to people who do this is often difficult, time-consuming or even impossible. I'm really glad that the government is finally taking some serious action about this, and I'm disappointed in the outcry over it. I had thought that DU members, in particular, would be supportive of artists, musicians, writers, photographers, and any creative types who rely on copyright laws to protect their property. I'm disappointed and disheartened by their attitude. Yes, I am sick of it.

[qb]

22. I don't suppose being ridiculed as utterly clueless helped matters!

Jon Stewart showed clips of a few politicians joking about the need to ask the "nerds" when admitting they didn't know what the hell they were doing.

I think the bills' supporters got burned by industry goons who were the true authors.

[Quantess]

24. "Nerds? I believe the word you are looking for is EXPERTS".

That was a good clip. It's in the video forum right now, on page 1.

[T S Justly]

23. K&R (nt)