SOPA Doesn't Censor Internet, Says Rep. Lamar Smith

[digitalzom-b]

"while some of America’s most profitable and productive industries are under attack."

Sounds like they're doing okay.

 

[lamorpa]

It doesn't censor the internet, to his knowledge (which is very little)...

 

[surfer1337dude]

My view is that the ones who are supporting this are buying multimillion dollar houses, and flying around in their private jets aren't really loosing anything from piracy. Lets face it, if something is pirated the person has a few paths, either they were unsure of it and downloaded it to see it. At which point if they didnt download it, they wouldnt have ever seen it. So this person would also never buy any kind of merchandise. Then then there is the person who just doesnt have the money to waste on 10 movies or 20 cds or w.e a year. Which then buys w.e merchandise they can. Then there are those who download it to see if they like it, then if they do they go out and buy a legit copy. Plus any merchandise they can/want. Then there are those who just pirate. The ones that download because they can and would rather just save the cash and dont care. These people though still buy merchandise if they liked the movie/cd. So what happens if no one pirates? Half of the people stop buying merchandise and never pays to see/buy them. So while you do loose some capital from the initial sale, you do gain from all of he merchandising and good publicity (if you liked the pirated first version, you will be more likely to pay to see the next version... unless your the last category, but they will always exist no matter what).

 

[techoi]

I want a law that blacklists all the bull$hit that is coming out of Washington D.C....please.

 

[surfer1337dude]

[citation][nom]psychotek71[/nom]the biggest pirates were the us military ... when you take young guys that like to dl movies and games at home then they get shiped off to war they are not going to purchase movies or such to take with them so they use torrent sites ala manning 10 years of war = 100 billion of your missing money thank you goodnight and goodluck[/citation]
Im not sure why you have a negative rating. Your correct. A guy in one of my college classes a couple years ago just got back and he had over 5 terabytes of illegally downloaded movies/music/tv shows and so on. Apparently he would go out for a 2 hour long patrol then he was done for the day. So everyone would download and copy files from each other. So this has to be a common thing, and be a good chunk the money.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]demonhorde665[/nom]"Contrary to critics’ claims, SOPA does not censor the Internet," he states. "It only targets activity that is already illegal, and only targets foreign websites that steal and sell America’s technology, inventions and products. And it is similar to laws that already govern websites based in the U.S."oh yeah you say this now a--hole , but how long before this bill get's misused to abuse power. as if all our american politicians are honest pure of heart folks . if i met this guy in person i'd slap him stupid[/citation]
It wouldn't be the first time, the Patriot Act was drafted to help prevent foreign terrorism and is now routinely used to police the US population with ever more fascist control.
...
This is another genie that if you let it out the bottle it won't EVER go back in, if the bill is put through with good intentions today it will be abused tomorrow.
...
What makes me think it will happen? Err, every other new law that has been passed ever

 

[Northwestern]

I have the solution! Abandon the bought Congress!

 

[dark_knight33]

Congress cannot stand by and do nothing while some of America’s most greedy and wealthy industries are under attack."

Fixed.

 

[cybneo]

SOPA is dead

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57362990-501465/sopa-is-dead-smith-pulls-bill/

 

[ronml]

Smith isn't evil or a liar. He is a legislator with little real understanding of the internet. I've worked in DC and a dirty not-so-secret is that relatively few people read entire bills, and these are generally staff. Staffers work for powerful congressmen or committees and then become lobbyists. Most legislators only read bill summaries and the summary from their staff. Smith may have read the bill, but he doesn't blog or personally use social media, youtube etc.

I don't want to be partisan about this, but no Republican with room temperature IQ and a basic understanding of how the sites work should support SOPA and PIPA. Putting aside the ideological issues, there is a tactical one. If political sites become censored by unscrupulous or real claims of ip infringement, then the network news and newspapers become more important again. That doesn't help Republicans. But GOP congressmen are not necessary intelligent or competent, and most understand the net about as well as Joe Biden does.
I am not suggesting that this is a Democrat ploy. Democrats and liberals tend to support open expression. However, everyone is corrupted by Hollywood $$$ and the scare word of "piracy" shuts down thought.

 

[peterson99]

Illegal piracy and counterfeiting cost the U.S. economy $100 billion and thousands of jobs every year

Perhaps I misunderstand this but, this bill will only prevent U.S citizens from accessing these websites (such as pirate bay). So as a Canadian I (along with the rest of the world) still has the ability to pirate american movies. Meaning that the only new money that's entering the U.S. economy is coming from within the United States. Not the best boost to the economy if you ask me, but then again what do I know.

 

[COLGeek]

[citation][nom]psychotek71[/nom]the biggest pirates were the us military ... when you take young guys that like to dl movies and games at home then they get shiped off to war they are not going to purchase movies or such to take with them so they use torrent sites ala manning 10 years of war = 100 billion of your missing money thank you goodnight and goodluck[/citation]
Seriously? Surely you jest and have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[genma saotome]

How about reducing copyright terms to 28 years, on registration, with the option for a one time renewal, with specific repeal of previously granted fiat extensions and renewals? 28 years was good enough for nearly 100 years and the change in '77 did nothing but make a whole lotta stuff that should be in the public domain locked up for no good reason.

Everything older than Jan. 1958 would be in the public domain and if past practice for requesting extensions is any guide, 96% of everything older than Jan. 1984 would also be public.

 

[ankaJ42]

If bills were shorter, say two pages max, and written in language that is not ambiguous that the average American can understand easily, then we would not have this "misinformation" floating around. Everyone who cared would know exactly what the bill said so it would be obvious who was telling us the truth.

 

[applefairyboy]

"I'm a bloody moron!" Says Rep. Lamar Smith