Obama Opposes SOPA. There Is a Good Reason.
Jan. 18, 2012
The announcement by the Obama Administration that he has reservations about SOPA sent a warning: expect a veto. The supporters do not have the votes to override a veto.
SOPA -- Stop Online Piracy Act -- is a major threat to free speech. It would allow the government to shut down sites in the name of copyright infringement. There would be no due process.
For a time, it looked like this monstrosity would pass easily. It has the support of Lindsey Graham and John McCain -- always a bad sign. But Marco Rubio also signed on. I have therefore signed off on Marco Rubio.
Warning: there is also PIPA: Protect Intellectual Property Act. It may pass. Obama may veto it. He has not said.
Here is a summary from CBS News.
There are already laws that protect copyrighted material, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). But while the DMCA focuses on removing specific, unauthorized content from the Internet, SOPA and PIPA instead target the platform -- that is, the site hosting the unauthorized content.The bills would give the Justice Department the power to go after foreign websites willfully committing or facilitating intellectual property theft -- "rogue" sites like The Pirate Bay. The government would be able to force U.S.-based companies, like Internet service providers, credit card companies and online advertisers, to cut off ties with those sites.
Now, SOPA is in trouble. It's not dead, but it's in trouble. The good news is this: the Internet is mobilizing against these regulators. Reddit was at the forefront of this. It has shut down today as an act of protest for one day. Wikipedia will join in: today. So has Wikipedia.
Isn't SOPA dead? Wasn't the bill shelved, and didn't the White House declare that it won't sign anything that resembles the current bill?No, neither SOPA nor PIPA are dead. On January 17th, SOPA's sponsor said the bill will be discussed in early February. There are signs PIPA may be debated on the Senate floor next week. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem. We are already seeing big media calling us names. In many jurisdictions around the world, we're seeing the development of legislation that prioritizes overly-broad copyright enforcement laws, laws promoted by power players, over the preservation of individual civil liberties. We want the Internet to be free and open, everywhere, for everyone.
Wikipedia did not offer a call to action: Congress's phone number, plus a link to the House site's page that lets you find your Congressman's name and Web page. It is here: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml. The Senate's web page is here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Today is the day to send a protest email to your Congressman and both Senators.
Wikipedia is a tax-exempt organization. Its lawyers probably warned against trying to tell people how to vote. This site is not tax exempt. So, I recommend that you take action today. Let us send them a message.
The original version of the bill has been shelved. Congress backed down. I doubt that the bill will be reintroduced by this Congress. Let us hope that it will not be introduced again in 2013. We should assume that it will be.
The threat to the politicians in an election year gave Obama a way to curry favor. He saw that this was a way to take a stand that would cost him nothing and gain support with a huge constituency.
The Web has clout. When the new CEO who runs Go Daddy, the domain registration company, came out in favor of SOPA, a boycott began. People switched to different domain registration services. How many domains were lost (at $10 a year)? At least 70,000. The CEO backtracked in 24 hours.
The supporters are in the entertainment industry. Disney is one. They are seeing the end of copyright as we have known it. This has been coming for almost 20 years.
In 1994, the year before the first graphic browser (Netscape) was introduced, which made the World Wide Web a mass phenomenon, John Perry Barlow wrote an article for Wired. When I read it, I knew we were at the edge of a revolution. It was an article that showed the futility of copyright in a digital age. Copyright has always been protected by controlling the containers, not the contents: paper, ink, presses. Digits cannot be easily controlled.
The, in 1998, Matt Drudge revealed that Newsweek had "spiked" the story of Clinton and the intern. Within days, Newsweek published it. There was no place to hide. That event showed that the Web had enormous power.
The pro-SOPA, politicians were playing a futile game. They were trying to lock the barn door after the horses had escaped. They were trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube . . . in the era of YouTube. They are like the bonehead Congressman from Pennsylvania who had the police confiscate every cell phone being used to record his town hall meeting. Dumb. Not just dumb. Imbecilic.
This is why I think that the attempt to control the Internet is about as smart as attempts to control the tides. The forces are too strong. The bureaucrats can take down sites through prolonged legal action. They can bankrupt a site owner. But they cannot take down more than a handful. They are elephants trying to stomp the ants. Too many ants.
Obama has won a low-cost victory. He stuck it to Congress, good and hard. He de-railed the promoters of SOPA. But Hollywood will not turn on him. He has Hollywood in his hip pocket. The old slogan is true: "When you are in anyone's hip pocket, you will be sat on."
Battle by battle, this war will go on. We will win this war. This skirmish over SOPA is more evidence of the power of the Web. This power will increase.