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News & ArtsTuesday, January 17, 2012
Teh Internets SOPA Isn't Dead—So You Should Still Try to Kill It
Posted by Dominic Holden on Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 2:52 PM
As Paul mentioned, SOPA is just on hold. Activists all over the country are trying to stop the revival next month of SOPA and its evil senate sibling, PIPA. Go to the Seattle Against SOPA website to find out more and call Senator Patty Murray, who is still undecided. Murray's DC phone is (202) 224-2621 and her district office phone is (206) 553-5545.
Here's a suggested script from Slog tipper Zachary:
Hello, my name is _________ and I live in ________ (say your ZIP CODE, they need this for their “reports”). I am calling to voice my concern for S.968, the Protect-IP Act which apparently Senator Murray hasn't taken a position on yet. I am concerned that this legislation will damage the economy and hurt small businesses by dramatically increasing the risk of litigation to innovative new small companies. I am extremely opposed to the bill in its entirety and would like to suggest that the Senator reconsider his/her position on the issue.
They're also organizing protests tomorrow in various locations from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., assuming they're not buried in snow.
1
Murray sealed my blind vote against her by emailing me boilerplate "I'm not part of the committee on SOPA but to see all the other great stuff I've done go here!"
I didn't ask what committee she was or wasn't on; I asked (very politely and succinctly and neutrally) what she thought about SOPA, and I got bullshit politician boilerplate.
Bye bye my vote.
I didn't ask what committee she was or wasn't on; I asked (very politely and succinctly and neutrally) what she thought about SOPA, and I got bullshit politician boilerplate.
Bye bye my vote.
2
@ 1, you expected a personal and direct reply? And THAT'S all it takes to lose your vote? Grow up.
Washingtonians are lucky that you have a chance to sway her. One of my (D) senators, Bennet, is the friggin' cosponsor of PIPA. I've sent him a message anyway, but there's no way he does an about face without a HUGE backlash.
Washingtonians are lucky that you have a chance to sway her. One of my (D) senators, Bennet, is the friggin' cosponsor of PIPA. I've sent him a message anyway, but there's no way he does an about face without a HUGE backlash.
3
@1: Every time I write to someone whose jurisdiction includes millions of state residents, I get a handwritten reply that gently but elegantly rebuts my arguments. Sometimes, they enclose a wish, which I can redeem later at my neighborhood Bartell's.
4
Now you've confused my brain... Topic is SOPA but the script is regarding PIPA... Gotta go figure out where Murray is in now xD
5
Also, Senator Murray is not on the SOPA committee because that is the House bill. She is probably not on the PIPA committee either, but she at least will end up actually voting on PIPA.
I actually get *almost* personalized sounding replies from Jim McDermott, and have gotten definitely personalized replies from my state senators and representatives. And all of them include a "If you are interested in what I'm doing" link.
I actually get *almost* personalized sounding replies from Jim McDermott, and have gotten definitely personalized replies from my state senators and representatives. And all of them include a "If you are interested in what I'm doing" link.
6
wow i wasn't even trying to troll you morons @2 @3 @4 @5
all i asked her is what her office thought of sopa in 1 sentence via her contact form on her website.
2 weeks later i got bullshit boilerplate about why her office can't give an opinion on something back.
that's democracy!
and slog commenters are idiots.
all i asked her is what her office thought of sopa in 1 sentence via her contact form on her website.
2 weeks later i got bullshit boilerplate about why her office can't give an opinion on something back.
that's democracy!
and slog commenters are idiots.
8
@6: Shit, if that's all you wanted, here:
"I think SOPA is something you should ask a Congressperson about, moron." - Senator Patty Murray
Vote Murray!
"I think SOPA is something you should ask a Congressperson about, moron." - Senator Patty Murray
Vote Murray!
9
Patty Murray is fast falling down into the company of Chris Gregoire and Joe Lieberman on my "the only possible reason I'd vote for them is if the only other option was Republican" list.
Still, I guess I'll call and try. It's better than back in Texas where Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn basically just laughed at me and called me a fag whenever I contacted them.
Still, I guess I'll call and try. It's better than back in Texas where Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn basically just laughed at me and called me a fag whenever I contacted them.
10
Actually, while I think Swearengen is a hotheaded dick, I do take his point. Murray's being pretty spineless by not at least having something for her staffers to say on the issue. It's not like the question came way the fuck out of left field or something. She really ought to have a position by this late in the game, and the fact that she doesn't speaks poorly of her competence or, more likely, her integrity.
12
Why are we supposed to be against SOPA? To me these file sharing sites are the equivalent of fencing operations, trafficking in stolen goods.
13
@ 10, yes, I agree with that point. Politicians should be straight with the public. However, this is reality - politicians, even good ones, answer emails with form letters, and if they haven't come to a position, they will be slippery and impossible to pin down. Swearengen picks on this one fact to say he's never voting for Patty Murray again - as if the next Senator won't handle constituent email exactly the same way. As if how she answers HIS email matters more than how she votes on budgets, nominations, the president's agenda, and other business before the Senate.
Hence, my admonition to "grow up."
I'm even more frustrated than he is with my senator, because, as I said @ 2, my guy is a sponsor of PIPA. (My other Senator is against it.) He was just elected, so it won't be til 2016 that anything can be done. But this one vote, even if it passes and proves to be a complete clusterfuck, isn't going to be the only thing to consider then. I'm certainly not prepared to say I'll never vote for him again because of it, and his actual sponsorship is much more offensive than any email to Swearengen from Patty Murray.
Hence, my admonition to "grow up."
I'm even more frustrated than he is with my senator, because, as I said @ 2, my guy is a sponsor of PIPA. (My other Senator is against it.) He was just elected, so it won't be til 2016 that anything can be done. But this one vote, even if it passes and proves to be a complete clusterfuck, isn't going to be the only thing to consider then. I'm certainly not prepared to say I'll never vote for him again because of it, and his actual sponsorship is much more offensive than any email to Swearengen from Patty Murray.
14
@12, take a look at how many copyright claims made to or against Google in relation to YouTube videos eventually turn out to be spurious or even fraudulent. If I remember correctly it's something north of 80%. Each of those claims costs time and money to produce and can shut down a video even if it's completely baseless, which most of them are. It should be pretty easy to find this information, because a Google rep testified about it in front of Congress.
Now project that power over the entire internet, every single bit of it; and place the burden of proof solely on the defendant. That's SOPA. It would give virtually any copyright holder, anywhere, the power to take anything they don't like down, and kept down until it was proven innocent. Extrapolate from the current statistics of malfeasance and you can see that in no time at all, most of the internet would have to be down, most of the time, to keep up with all the claims that would fly.
That, and the implementation would simply be technologically incompatible with the way the architecture of internet providers actually works. It's about as useful as a bill demanding that all internal-combustion cars run on water instead of gasoline, and the effect of implementing DNS blocking on the internet at the ISP level would be about as salutary as putting water into a gasoline engine.
But given that you're SRotU, I'm guessing you know all this already, and you're going to support the bill no matter what because liberals love the internet, and fuck them, right?
Now project that power over the entire internet, every single bit of it; and place the burden of proof solely on the defendant. That's SOPA. It would give virtually any copyright holder, anywhere, the power to take anything they don't like down, and kept down until it was proven innocent. Extrapolate from the current statistics of malfeasance and you can see that in no time at all, most of the internet would have to be down, most of the time, to keep up with all the claims that would fly.
That, and the implementation would simply be technologically incompatible with the way the architecture of internet providers actually works. It's about as useful as a bill demanding that all internal-combustion cars run on water instead of gasoline, and the effect of implementing DNS blocking on the internet at the ISP level would be about as salutary as putting water into a gasoline engine.
But given that you're SRotU, I'm guessing you know all this already, and you're going to support the bill no matter what because liberals love the internet, and fuck them, right?
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