STOP SOPA

Litbrit and Jim Johnson have blacked out their blogs in protest of SOPA. The English edition of Wikipedia is taking part in the black out. Johnson talked about the black out with Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times.

All five people who hit my website in a day probably won't be disappointed enough to call their Congressman," admitted Johnson, a software consultant for a Tampa firm. "But Wikipedia has enough clout that they can get everyone involved."

SOPA and PIPA is an government overreach of the internet supported by people like Ruport Murdoch. Media moguls such as Murdoch would benefit from the government. An internet provider could decide to take any web site off its search engine under the claim that site is hosting pirated content. No proof is needed on the part of Google. Fortunately, Google is against the current forms of the SOPA and PIPA bills.

The legislation is unenforcibly. I cannot image Twitter and Facebook going through millions of updates looking for pirated content to delete. It is not possible. This is legislation created by members of Congress who have no understanding of just how vast and complex the internet is.

The protest is working: Sen. Marco Rubio has pulled his support of PIPA.

I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor. Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the internet.

Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) have dropped their support for SOPA.

When the going gets tough politicians fold. Rubio, Terry and Quayle have not suddenly become fans of free speech. They are scared of voter backlash against the bills. Politicians want campaign donations from movie and music corporations. Campaign dollars don't mean a thing if they cannot get re-elected.

Side note: Rubio, Terry and Quayle are suppose to be less government conservatives. Internet piracy is already illegal. How is it conservative to make unenforcable laws that could have a financially negative impact on Google, Pay Pal and MSN conservative? The answer is it isn't. The wise thing to do is hire more federal government employees to enforce the anti-piracy laws that are already in place.

Update: There was a SOPA protest outside the offices of Sen. Charles Schumer or Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Andrew Rasiej, chairman of the New York Tech Meetup, told the New York Daily News that not only would SOPA and PIPA open the door to censorship of the Internet, but the laws would also have negative effects on the ability of the U.S. to remain a leader in the global tech industry.

"Because a new innovation by a start-up could be interpreted by a judge unfamiliar with how the technology works as infringing on copyright, investors and entrepreneurs would be discouraged from moving forward with a start-up due to a significantly increased risk of legal entanglement," Rasiej told the New York Daily News. "This in turn would dampen job creation and future opportunities for New Yorkers and Americans as a whole."

Schumer and Gillibrand are the co-sponsors of PIPA.

The Young Turks on Ruport Murdoch's support of SOPA.



Update: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted why he is against SOPA and PIPA.

The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can't let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet's development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet. The world today needs political leaders who are pro-internet. We have been working with many of these folks for months on better alternatives to these current proposals. I encourage you to learn more about these issues and tell your congressmen that you want them to be pro-internet. You can read more about our views here: https://www.facebook.com/FacebookDC?sk=app_329139750453932.

There are some people angry that Zuckerberg didn't shut down Facebook for the day like Wikipedia. However, that is an inside the internet story.

Update: Matt Yglesias tweeted this.

Obama campaign just sent out an anti-SOPA fundraising email. #bandwagoning

President Obama wouldn't send out that email unless it was safe to oppose SOPA. It's official. People hate SOPA and PIPA. Politicians are running away from this legislation.

Update: Elizabeth Warren released a statement pertaining to SOPA and PIPA.

Illegal piracy should be punished, but I have serious concerns with SOPA and PIPA. We need to deal with piracy without chilling the innovation, diversity, and free exchange of ideas that define the Internet and have shaped our increasingly interconnected world.

Update: Daily Kos has a SOPA petition you can send to your Senator.

Update: President Barack Obama has come out against SOPA.

On Saturday, the White House announced that the Obama administration will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet.

As Congress works to address the very real issue of online piracy, we must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity—and we must not inhibit innovation by businesses large and small.

Online piracy hurts our economy, threatens middle-class jobs, and undermines the work of some of our most creative companies and entrepreneurs. The President has called on all parties to work together to find solutions that address the problem of online piracy while remaining true to our values.

Update Video of State of Sunshine blogger Jom Johnson being interviewed on Action News.

Occupying Reservations

I visited #occupyboston tonight. I saw some rays of hope — at the encampment’s nightly General Assembly, the representative from the AFL-CIO announced protest marches coming up this and next week that he wanted the Occupy community to participate in. His announcements took up about 5 minutes time during the meeting.

By comparison, a motion to ban the use of disposable plates and utensils took… Well, it took forever because their assembly meetings insist upon using a “Direct Democracy” format, where anyone in the assembly is allowed to speak. This makes the process of “democracy” incredibly long and arduous — even among a group of people who generally agree with each other. It would only take 15 trolls shouting to stop one of these meetings cold.

The usual suspects were present at Occupy Boston, just like at any other protest: crusty socialists. They are a large part of the crowd at the encampment, and their anti-capitalist sentiment pervades the community.

Looking over literature at the table for the International Socialists Organization, I saw magazines exulting the Egyptian revolution and how it’s not finished yet. What the Egyptian citizens did in Midan Tahrir to bring down the government was amazing, and their actions make me proud to have lived in their country for a short time. I felt a deep connection to the al-sha3b al-masri when they overthrew their dictator.

I also know what it’s like to live in a dictatorship. America isn’t there… I dare place an addendum of “yet” at the end of that sentence, but in truth we’re not even close.

Also, Egyptians (I would dare to add the addendum of “my people” following that, but some Egyptians would disagree) want capitalism. They would kill to enjoy the opportunities that a capitalist-based economy, with little corruption, would bring them. Essentially, there's no difference in feeling on this between people in oppressed societies, like Egypt, and people in America.

Corruption is pervasive to varying degrees in all societies, and the Occupy movements are a reaction to the perversion of capitalism in America — the overreach by Wall Street and corporate executives to grab as many bonuses as possible, no matter the cost. Even if that cost is the greed which is eroding America’s middle class.

But does this mean society needs to (or would) revert to socialism? No.

The “American Dream” is really a method devised to keep the middle class happy and not thinking about starting a revolution. What is the “American Dream”, really? I’ll tell you: here’s a job, a house, a truck, a way to support your family, cable and broadband internet to pipe entertainment into your home and shut you the fuck up; and if you do really well you can buy a boat. Kick back, watch “Dexter”, be entertained by that show’s twisting of the American Dream, grab a beer and feel happy. Work may be stressful, but life is good.

The American Dream is societal control. And, you know what? I’m hooked. I want that — all of it. I went to college to try and earn all of that. My parents didn’t goto college and they got the dream, but I’m quickly approaching my mid-30’s and struggling. I can’t even get a credit card right now, nevermind a house. I could only afford to give my local NPR station a $10 donation this pledge drive, and I donated at a time when they need X amount of money to get another $32,000 — not when they were giving away a trip to Italy. I didn’t give a fuck about that, I just felt guilty that I couldn’t give my local station more money so I wanted to maximize its potential.

So what happened? I’m not alone in this feeling that my grasp on the American Dream is slipping, that explains the more radical political movements we see today: the Tea Party and Occupy. And believe me, both of these movements are polar opposites of each other — but they are reactions to the same symptoms. Where’s the American Dream?

The American Dream requires a capitalist society. The Occupy movement has good intentions in mind, but if they really expect to model themselves after the Arab Spring, then they’re going to run into a particularly troubling irony: The Arabs want the capitalist dream. They want their version of the American Dream, and so do I. Socialism isn’t going to fix this, nor will it ever be accepted.