In case you missed it: Chris Hayes’ roundtable on SOPA is a must-watch, as it directly tackles the major issues around the legislation and explains them in a very effective way, including honestly dealing with the issues his employer, NBC Universal, has with the legislation. (Richard Cotton, one of the major figures representing NBC Universal in the SOPA fight, is part of the debate.) This 18-minute clip is totally worth a watch.
So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.Rupert Murdoch • Posting on Twitter yesterday afternoon about the Obama administration’s stance on SOPA, which discouraged the bill in its current form. CNET’s Greg Sandoval says that Murdoch’s reaction is a strong sign that the entertainment industry is starting to lose the battle, with a key provision of PIPA and SOPA — which involved the DNS system — getting removed from both acts. Murdoch, meanwhile, was quick to rip Google for what he perceived as their strong influence on the White House statement: “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying,” he said on Twitter. On the plus side, at least Rupe isn’t making gambling jokes that could be misinterpreted. source (via • follow)
While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.The White House • In an official response to the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT-IP, written by three officials with key views on the law: Intellectual property czar Victoria Espinel, US Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and Special Assistant to the President Howard Schmidt. Another key line: “We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet.” It sounds like Obama wouldn’t sign either law in its current form, though he’d be open to changes. The official response was written in reaction to an online petition in the White House’s “We the People” section. Read the whole thing over this-a-way.
Regarding the last post, good, smart coverage of SOPA can be done by large news outlets. Example: Here’s Bloomberg interviewing Alexis Ohanian, one of the co-founders of Reddit, on the topic. Alexis even wore a suit!
You don’t say.
Personal feeling: It’s probably not even for corporate reasons. It’s probably a matter of it being a difficult topic to describe properly in three minutes. And as the story’s never crept up to the top of the news cycle, they’ve likely had no reason to describe it at any major depth. Not that it’s an excuse, just a reason for it to get ignored. However, one thing to keep in mind is that it’s entirely possibile that the stories got played during the day — Media Matters used Lexis-Nexis reports, which don’t cover daytime cable.
EDIT: In case you want to see an example of a media outlet doing it right, see this Bloomberg interview with a Reddit co-founder.
We have observed a spike in domain name transfers, which are running above normal rates and which we attribute to GoDaddy’s prior support for SOPA, which was reversed. GoDaddy opposes SOPA because the legislation has not fulfilled its basic requirement to build a consensus among stake-holders in the technology and Internet communities. Our company regrets the loss of any of our customers, who remain our highest priority, and we hope to repair those relationships and win back their business over time.GoDaddy CEO Warren Adelman • In a statement sent to the press on Domain Transfer Day, an anti-SOPA protest organized after it became clear that GoDaddy was a major supporter of the legislation. Note the phrasing — they don’t just not support SOPA, but oppose it. Think they’ve apologized enough?
In the last few days, we have seen countless comments on various forms of social media and received many email messages, both pro and con on this issue. While the D’Addario family is committed to protecting its trademarks and family name, that commitment does not take priority over our respect for the U.S. Constitution and our right to free speech under the First Amendment.D’Addario & Company, Inc. founder Jim D’Addario • Discussing his company’s perceived support of SOPA, as a result of having been placed on an alleged list of supporters of the act. D’Addario (which makes great guitar strings that sound really good with Cm7 chords) has dealt with numerous counterfeiting issues in the past (“7 out of 10 sets of D’Addario strings sold in Chinese music stores are fakes!”), and when his company signed onto a list asking for further help in fighting against counterfeiting, his company did not assume the result would be SOPA. We spotted his letter because he cited our defense of the companies on a list distributed by the Chamber of Commerce, but we think — again — it’s worth pointing out that when D’Addario and other companies signed onto the list, they were asking for something far different than SOPA. Protest with care. source (via • follow)
Anyone else move their service away from GoDaddy today?
The list is above. But note this TechDirt article, where multiple companies (including Gibson Guitar, D’Addario and Petzl America) disputed their spot on said list, with Petzl America writing a lengthy blog post noting how an association with the Chamber of Commerce got them on the list. Many of these companies fought for stronger counterfeiting laws involving rogue Web sites, not something like SOPA, which is a whole ‘nother ball of wax altogether. When they signed onto this list, they had no clue the legislation being proposed was anything like SOPA. Stop spreading this list. It’s unfair to the companies associated with it.
(Source: saboma)
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Activist site of the night: Defendtheinter.net does a great job of using visuals to tell the story of how damaging SOPA could be to the Web. Great site. You gain much more from this one visual than you might from any long screed.
From a Mediaite article:
One of the biggest legislative battles heading into next year is undeniably going to be the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill backed by Hollywood that takes a rather strong stance on policing the internet for copyrighted material. Hundreds of companies from 3M to American Apparel are throwing their support behind the bill, including the domain registration service GoDaddy.com. GoDaddy initially published an op-ed heartily supporting the anti-pirating legislation after it was first announced. The site evenissued a statement to the House committee taking up the legislation to proudly show its support.
Now, let’s step back a second here. Why would American Apparel support SOPA? Their customers are likely way more tech-savvy than the average clothing company’s, and they’d have a lot to lose. But … wait a second, let’s take a look at the list of companies that support SOPA that’s been floating around the internet:
… Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
Alliance of Visual Artists (AVA)
Altria Client Services
American Apparel and Footwear Association
American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)
American Board of Internal Medicine
American Federation of Musicians …
Now, here’s the Web site for the American Apparel and Footwear Association, better known as the AAFA. A quick search shows that American Apparel is in fact a member of this organization … along with thousands of other companies. (If the Chamber of Commerce is of any guide, not every member of an industry group supports what the industry group does.) But either way it’s not by any means as direct as the citation would make it seem. American Apparel has made no direct statement for or against SOPA. To put it simply, be careful with allegations, all.
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