By marci on January 14, 2012

We just received the following press release issued by Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Darrell Issa. We can’t find the link up yet online, so given the interest in this bill by POPVOX users, we are posting here. See links below to weigh in on the bills mentioned in the release.

Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 01:16 AM

Subject: Press Release — SOPA Not Headed to House Floor, OGR hearing postponed
Issa: Flawed SOPA Bill Not Headed to House Floor
OGR hearing planned for Wednesday postponed following assurances, removal of DNS provisions

Washington, DC – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today announced that a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, which was to examine the impact of Domain Name Service (DNS) and search engine blocking on the Internet, has been postponed following assurances that anti-piracy legislation will not move to the House floor this Congress without a consensus.

“While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House. Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote,” said Chairman Issa. “The voice of the Internet community has been heard. Much more education for Members of Congress about the workings of the Internet is essential if anti-piracy legislation is to be workable and achieve broad appeal.”

“Earlier tonight, Chairman Smith announced that he will remove the DNS blocking provision from his legislation. Although SOPA, despite the removal of this provision, is still a fundamentally flawed bill, I have decided that postponing the scheduled hearing on DNS blocking with technical experts is the best course of action at this time. Right now, the focus of protecting the Internet needs to be on the Senate where Majority Leader Reid has announced his intention to try to move similar legislation in less than two weeks.”

Chairman Issa intends to continue to push for Congress to heed the advice of Internet experts on anti-piracy legislation and to push for the consideration and passage of the bipartisan OPEN Act, which provides an alternative means for protecting intellectual property rights without undermining the structure and entrepreneurialism of the Internet. Learn more about Rep. Issa and Sen. Ron Wyden’s alternative the OPEN Act at www.keepthewebopen.com

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Link to PIPA on PopVox: here

Related: Lamar Smith to SOPA Opponents – You Don’t Matter

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Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)

Rep. Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ (SOPA), has dismissed the opposition to SOPA as illegitimate and of minor importance.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chief sponsor of the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ (SOPA), says that criticisms of the controversial legislation are entirely unfounded, and that the online communities that oppose the bill are illegitimate.

“The criticism of this bill is completely hypothetical; none of it is based in reality. Not one of the critics was able to point to any language in the bill that would in any way harm the Internet. Their accusations are simply not supported by any facts,” said Smith in a statement, quoted by Roll Call.

When asked about the burgeoning opposition to the bill from online communities like Reddit.com, Smith added: “It’s a vocal minority. Because they’re strident doesn’t mean they’re either legitimate or large in number. One, they need to read the language. Show me the language. There’s nothing they can point to that does what they say it does do. I think their fears are unfounded.”

There are so many things just factually wrong about Rep. Smith’s statement that it’s hard to know where to begin. So let’s just take his asinine dismissal from the top, shall we?

First, Rep. Smith says that “not one of the critics” could point to specific language in the bill that would “in any way harm the Internet.” No? What about the 83 Internet pioneers — we’re talking people like Vint Cerf, co-designer of TCP/IP; Jim Gettys, editor of the HTTP/1.1 protocol standards; Leonard Kleinrock, a key developer of the ARPANET; in other words, the very people who built the Internet — who say that SOPA (and the Protect IP Act, PIPA), “will risk fragmenting the Internet’s global domain name system (DNS) and have other capricious technical consequences” because of the bills’ requirement that Internet service providers block domain names of infringing sites.

In their letter to Congress, this group of Internet founders also argues that SOPA “will create an environment of tremendous fear and uncertainty for technological innovation, and seriously harm the credibility of the United States in its role as a steward of key Internet infrastructure.” If that’s not damaging to the Internet, what is it? To Rep. Smith, it’s nothing, apparently. Hyperbole.

Rep. Smith’s own hyperbole goes against the opinion of former Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Stewart Baker, who agrees with the Internet founders when he says that SOPA will “do great damage to Internet security, mainly by putting obstacles in the way of DNSSEC, a protocol designed to limit certain kinds of Internet crime,” among other repercussions.

Now, in terms of Rep. Smith’s statement that the anti-SOPA crowd is neither “legitimate” nor “large in number,” well, that’s so obviously false, it would be laughable if it weren’t so infuriating.

As we have mentioned before, the list of vocal SOPA opponents includes more than 850 companies, organizations and individual experts who are adamantly against the legislation’s passage — far more than appear on the House Judiciary Committee’s list (pdf) of SOPA supporters. This includes the Internet’s largest companies: Google, AOL, Facebook, eBay, LinkedIn, Mozilla, PayPal, Wikipedia, Twitter, and Tumblr (to name only a few).

The list of SOPA opponents also includes 425 venture capitalists and entrepreneurs — i.e. job creators. The editorial boards of The New York Times and Los Angeles Times are on the list, as are 39 public advocacy groups, nonprofits and think tanks who believe that SOPA will stifle freedom of speech. These are joined by 61 international human rights groups, and 116 academics and law experts from the nation’s top law schools. In short: The list of SOPA critics could not be any more legitimate.

In addition to these industry, human rights, and law experts, the anti-SOPA faction includes countless individuals — voters, as they’re called in Washington, who have sent hundreds of thousands of letters to Congress, and made nearly 90,000 calls in one day to their representatives, as Tech Dirt’s Mike Masnick reports, urging them to denounce SOPA.

For the sake of brevity, we won’t go into detail about Reddit’s apparently successful GoDaddy boycott over the company’s SOPA support, or the countless other less-public actions concerned citizens are taking to fight this bill. But it’s important for those of you on the sidelines to know that when Rep. Smith questions the legitimacy of those who oppose SOPA, he’s questioning the legitimacy of the American people, and damaging the democratic principles upon which this country relies.

Related: Internet Giants Mull Nuclear Option

Related: Help Stop SOPA, PIPA

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Future of the Internet?

Story Here: Internet Giants Seriously Considering Nuclear Option to Stop SOPA, PIPA

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Credit: Wuerking Drawings from Politico

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Dramatization and political commentary, as citizens say farewell to the Bill of Rights, by Occupy Fort Collins, on Dec. 17 2011 in Fort Collins, CO. The demonstration and protest is in response to Congress passing the 2011, National Defense Authorization Act and loss of Civil Rights. The mock-funeral is a protest of NDAA.

The NDAA, allows Americans be subjected to life imprisonment without ever being charged, tried, or convicted of a crime, without ever having an opportunity to prove their innocence to a judge or jury of their peers.

Related: New Bill Allows Military to Detain You Indefinitely

Related: We Are a Police State

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Occupy Nashville will be holding a call to action on Wednesday, Dec. 21 in support of our country’s Bill of Rights, which is under direct assault by our elected representatives, attempting to pass the National Defense Authorization Act. An article in Business Insider put it aptly:

Annoy the government too much, or criticize Congress’ infinite wisdom and mercy, and you may find yourself in military prison for the remainder of your life, without access to a trial or attorney. Even if you’re an American citizen on US soil.

This is a brave new world. Watch what you say. Be mindful of who you associate with. You may criticize your government within the privacy of your own home, amongst close family or friends, but do not post negative comments online. Do not assemble. Do not protest. Do not agitate. Do not give “comfort” to the “enemy.”

This is a sad day for all of us. All of our military spending, all of our fortresses and moats, and it turns out democracy was attacked from within, the historians will write someday. We didn’t even see it coming

We strongly encourage all citizens to contact the White House before this disastrous bill is signed into law. The time to act is now.

Bill O.F. Rights, 1789-2011 Mr. Bill O.F. Rights, born Aug. 21, 1789, was brutally murdered Dec. 14, 2011, in the line of duty. While attempting to protect innocent citizens from the threat of oppression, Mr. Rights was approached by a large gang of men known to locals as the “senators.” The gang taunted and threatened Rights for weeks. When he attempted to defend himself a second and even larger gang known as “the house” joined in the melee. Mr. Rights was heard screaming and pleading for his life but his cries for help were ignored by the public at large. When he was taken to the hospital, bleeding out, he was left unattended by hospital staff. Dr. Obama, attending physician, failed to come to his aid. Mr. Rights lies in state at Legislative Plaza in Nashville for public viewing. Services for Mr. Rights will be held at the plaza on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 4 p.m. His funeral cortege will proceed to Riverfront park where he will be committed to the sea via the Cumberland River. Mr. Rights is survived by Occupy Nashville, Occupy Tennessee, Occupy Wall Street and Occupy the Globe.

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Results of Censorship Day Protest 11/16/2011

• Over 6,000 sites signed up
• Over 1,000,000 emails to Congress
• Over 3,000 handwritten letters

More Information: American Censorship Day Infographic

Corporations Own USA - We are the 99%

Related: Today is Censorship Day

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H.R. 3261, S. 968 would end free Internet

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is calling H.R.3261 [the legislation] “the end of the Internet” — and that’s barely an exaggeration. The sites we use and love the most are the ones most at risk, and the basic principle of open access is under attack.

Insiders say that HR 3261 or the “Stop Online Piracy Act”– which enjoys the support of both parties, the Chamber of Commerce, drug companies, Hollywood, and even several unions — is likely to pass barring an unprecedented uproar from the public and the tech community. The protest aims to create just that.

SOPA is hurtling through Congress because it aligns a number of narrow corporate interests. Hollywood wants the power to shut down entire file hosting sites and sue social media websites into submission. Media companies want the power to block streams of sporting events. Drug companies want the power to block Americans’ access to affordable drugs from Canadian pharmacies. The net result? America’s Internet could careen away from the principles of freedom and openness it embodies — and towards the likes of China’s, with the government and corporations blocking Americans’ access to large swaths of the web.

Its Senate cousin — the PROTECT IP Act — has already passed through committee and is awaiting a floor vote. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have asked Congress to kill the legislation, but the interests pushing for it — the Chamber of Commerce, Hollywood, Big Pharma — wield indescribable power in Washington.

Says Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, “This is a dangerous bill. It is an unwarranted expansion of government power to protect one special interest, the Big Media companies, would give Internet Service Providers a way to evade open Internet rules on the basis of ‘protecting’ copyright and allow advertisers and Internet registrars carte blanche to close down a site for the vaguest of reasons.”

Or, put more simply: “This bill gives Hollywood a chance to kick that pesky Internet off their lawn,” said Corynne McSherry, Intellectual Property Director at The Electronic Frontier Foundation.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, companies could successfully block a website over just one infringing link posted by any user. It could be a copyright claim, a trademark claim, a patent claim (technology patents are notoriously overbroad) or even or right of publicity claim, with celebrities suing site over the use of a name or photo. If the action is successful, the site is blacklisted: American ISPs can be sued to block users’ access, search engines and other sites can be sued to take down links to it, and advertisers and payment processors will be forced to cancel its accounts.

One result of the legislation will be a storm of lawsuits and an extremely hostile legal environment to small startups planning the next Youtube or Twitter.

More information: Savetheinternet.com

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Only for hospitals, drug companies, medical device makers and doctors

If H.R. 5 passes, the costs of medical mistakes would shift from negligent hospitals, drug companies, medical device manufacturers and doctors to injured patients, their families, and taxpayer-funded health and disability programs.

Is H.R. 5 Really Extreme?

You tell me. See this from the official bill summary prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service:

Authorizes the award of punitive damages only where: (1) it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that a person acted with malicious intent to injure the claimant or deliberately failed to avoid unnecessary injury the claimant was substantially certain to suffer; and (2) compensatory damages are awarded. Limits punitive damages to the greater of two times the amount of economic damages or $250,000. Denies punitive damages in the case of products approved, cleared, or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or otherwise considered in compliance with FDA standards.

Now folks, I’m not a lawyer, don’t even play one on the blogosphere but I can imagine the following scenario if this becomes law: They amputated the wrong leg? Going to sue? Asking for punitive damages? You have to prove they did it on purpose.

Stop Frivolous Lawsuits

It has long been an article of faith on the far right that things cost too much because of frivolous lawsuits. They love to beat up on the trial lawyers. Here is the bill subtitle:

To improve patient access to health care services and provide improved medical care by reducing the excessive burden the liability system places on the health care delivery system.

DC Arithmetic

Savings of $35 per American over the 2011 – 2016 period. Calculated by dividing $10,000,000,000 by the U. S. population. Folks, the arithmetic doesn’t add up. Cory Gardner should vote to protect his constituents; he should vote no on this extreme bill. Will he? The bill is being considered under a rule which requires a vote by Friday, May 13. We will know pretty soon.

Photo Credit: CogDogBlog

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